Undoubtedly, one of the joys of reading is leaving one’s world and visiting others: seeing the world from another’s eyes and experiencing things that we ourselves cannot experience in our lives. /What is the What/ is the wonderfully written story of a young boy’s life in Southern Sudan in the 1980’s. The story chronicles his journey as one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” (more than 27,000), orphaned by civil war who walk in groups of thousands to Ethiopia and then to Kenya. With nothing except the clothes on their backs, the boys, who have recently seen their families killed, face starvation, disease, attacks from soldiers and lions and more. Ultimately, the main character, Valentino Achack Deng, arrives in America.

/What is the What /brilliantly contrasts the difficulties of the war with the difficulties Valentino faces as a young African man with no family in America’s suburbs. Valentino is attacked and robbed in his apartment in Atlanta. He describes the baffling encounters with his assailants, the police and the hospital’s ER.

Beyond a fascinating, heart-rending visit to another part
of God’s world, there is more to learn here. Thousands of Lost Boys
(3800) have been settled in the U.S. since 2001, many in Kansas City.
Jesus said, “Whatever you have done for the least of these my
brothers, you have done it for me.” In what ways could we minister to  these young men who lost everything as young boys? Has the church become their new family? These are questions that ran through my mind as I finished /What is the What/. Dave Eggers has written a marvelous story and has shown how many and varied are the opportunities right around us to do for the “least of these.”