Africa

21 DEC 17
I wrote most of the following post seven years ago. Time flies. Time flies. Added to it a little bit because, well, you know, writers can't seem to leave well enough alone. lol. At least not this one.

Assignment Africa: 21 DEC 2010 
My last night in Djibouti. Hopefully!

I ate chow at the Combat Cafe with some of my brothers. When I saw the rice and beans I yelled, "Hey it's 'Me' night!" 
Not the best by far, but in a sick, against everything that Mexicans hold dear way, their attempts at enchiladas remind me of my grandparents on both sides of the family. It was sad and touching at the same time, like even the cooks knew I was leaving and were trying to help with this 'eh, close enough' reminder of my favorite dish. I choked it down, sitting outside in the heat of the night.

After chow, I walked across camp towards my office. Stopped and said goodbye to a couple of fellow PA types walking the other way, and discussed how the camp smells like wet dog after it rains. Which is odd, because no dogs to be seen for miles. Couldn't decide if the stench was any better than the overwhelmingly aromatic way the camp reeks on a daily basis because of the burning junk from the nearby Douda dump.

Following the gravel road, I passed by EMF (our Medical clinic). Yesterday they gave me a parting gift of a letter in my medical record that said something like, "This guy breathed in a lot of 'crap' while he was here." Went right next to the similar letter I got from Afghanistan. What do I get for two of those? Some sort of prize? Maybe a new lung? I'd like to stop hacking and coughing soon, I stopped smoking many, many, many moons ago.

Speaking of moons, there is a full moon hanging in the sky, hidden by clouds thick with rain. Not a usual sight in bone-dry Djibouti! A little way up the street, local street sweepers are lined up, doing their thing, pushing a little harder than usual. The dirt road is not dusty tonight, but muddy and thick with wet globs of clay. Hey, it's a job. Push dust or push mud, get paid the same. I wondered if any were chewing Khat.

I stroll a little further down the hill, and come across a loose marching column of Kansas guardsmen, some of America's finest, armed and ready to take over the next watch at the main gate. I step aside and watch them as they pass. They are walking along a line of tall, thin Acacia trees, and they remind me of the dwarves in the opening scenes of Snow White. But it wasn't really a Hi-Ho kind of thing. These guys carried M-16's, no axes here. They were a more serious set of dwarves, too. No Happy or Dopey, more Angry and Dippy.

Walking a little further, I pass the cannons. the bare flagpoles and the White House. No more would I see the Djiboutian flag flying next to the U.S. flag, no more would I hear the Djiboutian national anthem, the song always makes me want to say "Yee-haw!" at the end.

A final short stretch of gravel over mud and I am at my CWU door. Well, mine no longer, I turned it over to a guy that I hope will keep the CLDJ PAO torch burning for another year. But I still think of it as my office, and I am reminded of how precious 'MY' office was to me. I enter and see Mahamed's desk. We said goodbye today. He brought sambosas for me one last time. We hugged, like brothers. I worked with him closely for almost a year, and I feel that someday, Insh'allah, we will meet again, and this time I will make it all the way through Ramadan with him. I look forward to this with a hunger born of memories and hope.

So here I am, sitting at my desk, 'my' desk, near midnight now, a few hours away from leaving this country that I never heard of before 2009. A country my students back in the states laugh at every time they hear its name. "Ja-booty."

I cannot help but think of the places I've been, the people I've met, and the things that I have seen and done. I have changed this tour. Physically, mentally and spiritually. More than any previous trek around the world. Africa has changed me in ways I would not have believed. Have I changed Africa? No. In fact, despite the time spent here, I feel I have barely wet my toe in the vast ocean that is Africa. I jumped with the Massai, yes. I swam with whale sharks, yes. Visited Uganda, Ethiopa, etc... But I have not yet truly immersed myself in Africa. This continent is too huge. That voyage must wait for another time.

Someday, I will hear Africa calling to me. I will answer, ready to dive deep.

I will remember this place. 
Always.