The Games, similar to the Commonwealth Games or the Olympics, presented a number of opportunities for local Christians and church groups. The Alliance of Evangelical Missions and Churches (AMEEN) hosted a celebration of praise in their new building. This structure was built in 1 month on land adjacent to the athletes’ Francophonie Village.

At the eleventh hour, the government donated money to the evangelical community for outreach activities scheduled to take place over the 10-day period. Churches joined together under the banner ‘Flamme Niger’ to offer counselling for the athletes, concerts, JESUS videos, and French and Arabic New Testaments.

Flamme Niger

Elaine Martinez, a SIMer working with the Flamme Niger chaplain team, spent mealtimes at the dining hall, where the team served 1,000 (of a total of 3,000) athletes at a time. She helped distribute more than 1,700 New Testaments, with special tracts for the athletes. A total of 249 complete Bibles were sold.

Elaine was thrilled at the many opportunities she and her team members found to talk about Jesus’ love and forgiveness. And she was heartened by the openness of the young athletes from so many countries, some of which are closed to the gospel. A number of others, including Nigerien officials and people working in the Francophonie Village, were just as open.

The impressive closing ceremony for the Francophone Games featured a huge cultural parade of Niger’s different ethnic groups with 200 camels and horses. On their backs were chiefs and officials in traditional robes and turbans, with colourful trappings for their mounts.

The drums, dancing, and local music all contributed to a spectacular show, and an event of which Niger can be very proud.