Niger, between fragile happiness and desire for peace
On World Happiness Day, the account of Fr. Mauro Armanino, SMA missionary in Niger, between problems and hopes
(by Fr. Mauro Armanino)
Even happiness, in the Sahel, is made of sand. Everything here is precarious. The climate, jobs, politics, presidential elections, and especially food security. Not to mention schooling, health care, and life expectancy.
It is she, happiness, that allows us to move up in the world and African rankings of the happiest and least happy countries. It is the recent United Nations report that attests to this with certainty. Well, yes. Nigerians feel happier than inhabitants of other West African countries.
Niger is in the number 103 spot, making a jump of a whopping 11 positions from the 2019 edition, where we were just at the unenviable 114 ranking position. We now overtake Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Togo.
Instead, we pass Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Ghana and even Guinea from the recent scandalous presidential elections. Top of the list are the usual ones. Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway.
Said report looks at indicators such as PIB, social services, life expectancy, individual freedoms, generosity and perceptions of corruption. Thanks to the sand, which runs through all these areas, our country has been able to miraculously climb up the ranking that, in human development, has seen it nailed in last place for years now. It is known that the ranking is also made of sand, like the joy of living.
Last in the ranking in human development and mid-ranking in terms of happiness, ephemeral and eternal as sand. In spite of everything and against everything.
READ ON POPOLI E MISSIONE (ITALIAN LANGUAGE)