I always enjoy going to the Horn of Africa school for our English Discussion Groups. It is in a smaller district and the students, of both Djiboutian and Somali ethic background, speak relatively good English. During this session, we talked about life in Djibouti, what makes us happy, and what makes us sad. I learned several new things this night. First, most homes don't have refrigeration and if they do, they mostly just store water in it. Most foods are prepared fresh each day and if there are any left overs, the left overs are shared with poorer families. For breakfast, a common dish is pancakes with either sugar or liver. For lunch, rice or spaghetti, and for dinner, beans. The students asked if I could bring some doughnuts to the session as they have seen pictures of them but have never tasted them. Most families in Djibouti do not have pets, although cats are acceptable. One American favorite that you won't find in Djibouti is dogs. While there are dogs in Djibouti, the Djiboutian Muslims believe that dogs are unclean and if a dog licks you, you must wash 7 times with one of these times with dirt. They said that it is too disruptive to have a dog in case it tries to lick you while you are praying. It interrupts prayer as the person must stop praying and clean themselves. The young student seen throughout these pictures, is a young boy we nicknamed "Jerry". We don't know his real name, but we have called him Jerry so long that the Djiboutians now call him Jerry as well. He's one of two young students that participate. The other young boys are local boys that live near the school and get excited when we show up. When asked what makes him happy, Jerry quietly looked up and said, "Power Rangers". For students from Somalia, the fighting within Somalia is very serious to them. They are concerned about the Somali's killing each other and the genocide taking place.
