The Dust of Africa

by Shel Arensen

After his parents drop him off at a boarding school in Kenya as a young boy, Clay crosses the threshold into an unknown and often-hostile world. Ox, the captain of the rugby team, rescues Clay from the paddling machine and becomes his mentor. Titch, a boy in his class who struggles to read, befriends Clay in his lonely days at boarding school. Clay develops a passion for rugby, which helps him carve out his niche wherever he finds himself-in Kenya as a child, in the apple country of Washington state as a junior high student, back in Kenya in high school, in a college in California, and finally in Sudan where he joins up with his friend Titch during a lull in that country's civil war. The Dust of Africa is a story of a lasting friendship forged in shared struggles and joint exploits on the rugby fields in Kenya. Clay and Titch are forever marked by the land of their childhood, two young men who can't wash the dust of Africa off their feet.

286 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2008

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Parts of this book are based on a true story. The author grew up in Kenya and even now he & his wife work as missionaries there. It opens up the world of MKs (missionary kids) who live in remote areas of the world and are sent to boarding schools for education at quite a distance from their parents. The main character is Clay Andrews, who lives at such a school from age 7-18. Naturally, he spends summers with his parents and some years they all travel to the US to visit family.

But school becomes "home" and Clay's devotion to rugby and his friends and to Africa itself create enormous problems when he returns to the US for college on a rugby scholarship in the 1970s. So many things in America are foreign to Clay--banking, pay phones, appropriate clothing to wear, etc. Clay longs to return to Africa and his devotion to rugby is the only reason he stays.

Without including spoilers, I will just say that I found the book fascinating, possibly because missionaries have long been a part of our family's lives although we know none whom had to send their children away to school. However, we know quite a few whose children experienced severe culture shock on returning to the US for college. I found it intriguing to read about this from the perspective of an actual MK.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted so much to like this book, but just couldn't get past the author's constant stories about what a great rugby player he was.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way, way too many descriptions of rugby games, but if you skim over those, it's still a pleasurable, easy-to-read novel that touches on some of the struggles of a missionary kid.