The Africa Moment In The Book Of Mormon

I had doubts as I settled into my seat at the Fox Theater for The Book of Mormon (the play, not the book).  I have never watched an episode of “South Park”; was I really going to enjoy an entire musical written by the South Park guys?

I expected a show filled with raunchy mocking of the Mormon religion.  

The first act delivered plenty of mockery: pointing out that Mormons believe that President Thomas Monson speaks directly to God, they believe that ancient Jews built boats and sailed to America, they believe that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri.  This last belief elicited a lot of guffaws from the St. Louis audience, most of whom have been to Jackson County.

In the play, two young American men are sent to Uganda by the Mormon Church with a mission: to teach about The Book of Mormon.  They are clearly out of their element in Uganda.  More mockery ensues.  Then the curtain falls for intermission.

I was dissatisfied.  I saw that something was missing from the play: the Africa Moment.

I knew what was missing because I was a young American man, sent to Nigeria by the United State Peace Corps, with a mission to teach mathematics and to show Nigeria what America and Americans were like.

I remember my Africa Moment.  I arrived in Nigeria with weeks of training behind me.    But then I stepped into an African classroom for the first time.  I was unsure of what these students needed.  I was unaware of what they knew already. I was overwhelmed by the fact all the students had black skin and wore identical white school uniforms. And I was uncomfortable by the fact that they all had Muslim names and I didn’t know how to pronounce their names correctly.

I stood there in my white skin in front of the blackboard, 36 pairs of eyes looking at me, waiting for me to teach them mathematics.  That was the Moment: I was face-to-face with Africa.

Africa always wins.  I had to adjust, scramble, experiment, until I finally hit my stride.

When I hit my stride, there came another moment.  I began to identify with my students.  We were all part of the same school, working toward a common goal of getting everyone to graduate.  And I knew how to pronounce all the students' names correctly.

The curtain at the Fox Theater rose for the second act.  Those South Park guys must have known what I was waiting for. 

Elder Cunningham is preaching about The Book of Mormon.  This is his Africa Moment: the Ugandans are not interested.  Africa wins --- Elder Cunningham starts making things up and pretending they are in the book to get the interest of the Ugandans.  Elder Price goes to confront a warlord.  This is his Africa moment: his religious teachings have no effect.  Africa wins --- he must find some other way to influence the warlord.

As the second act goes into full swing, the play focuses on how the missionaries adapt and have some success.  The missionaries, to show that they now identify with the Africans, sing a song called “I Am Africa”.

I was amazed.  The South Park guys somehow knew what I went through, and they replicated here on stage. 

Towards the end of the second act, there is no more mockery.  Things become so warm-hearted that the finale is actually a tribute to The Book of Mormon (the book, not the play).

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In this YouTube video you can listen to “I Am Africa” from the Broadway show soundtrack (2 minutes long)

I Am Africa

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com