Memoir Reading Blog #10

In their last month in Nairobi, Scott and Krystyne spend most of their time wrapping up loose ends for their departure to Canada. Krystyne plans to spend a week in Paris with a friend, then meet Scott in Tangier. Scott plans to fly across the Sahara and the Atlas Mountains into Morocco, which will allow him to fulfill his planned circumnavigation of Africa. Despite the political instability of West Africa, Scott decides to take the risk and leaves Nairobi, after many heartfelt goodbyes, and heads for Entebbe International Airport in Uganda. As Scott touches down at Entebbe, his tailwheel blows out, leaving his plane stranded at the airport. Eventually, Scott manages to get Jim Heather Hayes to fly down another tail wheel, which is then attached to Scott's plane. Now three days behind schedule, Scott continues onwards, only to run into a violent thunderstorm above the Ruwenzori Mountains. Scott manages to punch through the center of the thunderstorm after being thrown around inside the cockpit like a ragdoll. Once he arrives at the city of Doula in Cameroon, Scott is presented with another problem. The airport has run out of fuel and a new shipment is not expected anytime soon. Already behind schedule, Scott finally manages to find fuel on Malabo Island, and is almost attacked by an angry mob until an airport representative diffuses the situation. Scott also flies over the Sahara Desert without any electrical systems when his plane suffers an electrical failure and starts to drain the power from his single battery, barely making it to Dakar by the skin of his teeth. Finally making it to Tangier, Scott is reunited with Krystyne and begins to prepare to fly the final leg of his voyage back across the Atlantic. Flying back via Greenland and the Canadian north, Scott finally lands in Toronto after flying over twenty three thousand miles.

Their shared experience has changed Scott and Krystyne's view of Africa. While reflecting on his two and a half year stay in Africa, Scott mentions that his longing to return to Africa has never really left him. However, he also expressed joy at finally landing on Canadian soil. Life returns largely to its regular routine for Scott, but he never forgets his experience. He writes beautifully about his experience in Africa when a woman asks him at a dinner party, "Tell me about Africa." Scott simply cannot find the words to describe to her the geographical beauty, the corruption, crime, and poverty of African society, and the steadfast dedication of many of the aid workers stationed there. Finally, he manages to blurt out the words, "My heart is Africa...It's over there in Africa." This simple statement sums up all of the changes that Africa made in Scott's life. Africa captured his imagination, his mind, and his heart in such a way that it made him inseparable from it. This bond between Scott and Africa is expressed several times throughout My Heart is Africa and is arguably the main theme of the novel. More than anything else, Scott wrote the book with the intention of expressing the changes that Africa made in him, and how they've made him a better person.