CJTF-HOA Civil Affairs Team Helps Rebuild Fire Devastated Neighborhood in Djibouti City

Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa Djibouti City, Djibouti, Aug 17, 2009. Zamzam Ahmed

Dinbil was asleep in a second floor bedroom, her one-year-old daughter beside her, when the fire began that destroyed 21 homes and displaced 126 people in the Quarter 7 BIS neighborhood in the Boulaos commune of Djibouti on August 10, 2009.

"My house was the first to catch fire," stated Dinbil as she stood in the charred shell of a building, she, her husband, Moustapha, and their two young children call home. When neighbors pounded on her door early Monday morning and called for her, the house was engulfed in flames.

Dinbil, forced to drop her infant toward the arms of her neighbors below, later jumped out the same second floor window to escape the flames. In just minutes her family's home and its contents perished in the quickly moving electrical fire that continued to rip through the commune claiming 20 more homes in its path.

Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa's D Company, 478th Civil Affairs Battalion, Team 4, learned of the fire on Tuesday during a tour of the commune with its president, Abouboker Moussa Areh. "We assessed the situation and looked to see how we could help," said Team 4 leader, U.S. Army Captain Rob Meehl. "With donations from the chapel, Joint Forces Five and the CAV (Community Action Volunteers), we were able to deliver clothing and personal hygiene items. And, we brought mattresses, as well as, wood and tin to help with the rebuilding of their homes."

Soldiers from the 478th Civil Affairs Battalion and Sailors from Maritime Civil Affairs Team 104 spent most of Wednesday morning loading a trailer, a truck, and a flatbed at Camp Lemonier with the donated material. It only took minutes for the teams to unload the items once they arrived at the commune and were met by several hundred Djiboutian neighbors waiting to lend a hand.

The fire burned for an hour and Areh estimated it would take the neighborhood three days to rebuild its homes. "This is good for the people here. The neighborhood will be rebuilt with the materials delivered today," Areh said.

Pointing toward the flatbed where Djiboutians, civil affairs members, and volunteers worked side-by-side unloading wood, Dinbil said, "I am so happy to see them here today. My home was rented, so if it were not for these things, my family would have no home to live."

Nimo Adawe lives next door to Dinbil. She sat on a piece of cardboard on the dirt, her home just a pile of ashes and rubble behind her. Adawe watched Meehl's team unload metal sheets, wood, clothing, and supplies to help rebuild the 21 homes lost in the fire. Clasping her hands together she said, "I lost everything important to me. All my goods, all I cooked with and owned." The mother of three is happy her children are safe, but said she is also feeling dejected with only the clothes on their backs and no roof over their heads. "But, now, I'll have a home again," she said through a smile.

Horn of Africa soldiers help to rebuild burnt out homes

U.S. Army Capt. Sean Meehl from 478th Civil Affairs Battalion and Lt. Darren Denyer from Maritime Civil Affairs Team 104 off-load lumber for Djiboutians whose homes were destroyed by a fire. The fire destroyed 21 homes, displacing 126 people Aug. 10, 2009 in Quarter 7 BIS neighborhood in Boulaos commune. Soldiers from the 478th Civil Affairs Battalion and Sailors from Maritime Civil Affairs Team 104, assigned to Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa delivered supplies and donated material to the victims. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Trina Jean-Jeaques

Tags: 478th Civil Affairs Battalion, Boulaos commune, Capt. Sean Meehl, combined joint task force horn of africa, djibouti, fire in the Quarter 7 BIS neighborhood, Lt. Darren Denyer, Maritime Civil Affairs Team 104

What's worse?

I am now getting scared. I mean I know dust can be frustrating, especially when you are trying to clean the back of the TV, but how do you handle "widespread dust"? What kind of a tool is needed to clean that?

I can't believe it!

This picture is a screen cap i just took from weatherunderground.com. note the forecast is not partly sunny or sunny or cloudy with a chance a rain. Nope, the forecast for today is SAND.

DJ Golf

So there is a golf course here. No I have not made it out there to golf yet. Only to do some work related water stuff. Anyway, I just thought I should share with you guys what the golf course looks like over here. If you couldn't have guessed, it is dirt. The tee is dirt raised up on a bed of rocks, and the green is simply painted dirt. So if any of you were planning on coming over for a visit, make sure you bring your clubs.

I guess I am not taking enough pictures. So here are some I just took. These give you a somewhat good look at where I am. The first one if of the desert. There is a lot of that around here. The second is of the beach, there is a lot of that here too. The third one is of camels. There are a lot of camels here. Oh and camels do not get out of the way of your cars. Goats get out of the way. Camels just stand there and look at you like you are stupid. The fourth one proves my point. There are no "Danger Goat Crossing" signs or 'Danger People Crossing" sings. Just the camel ones. Camels! The fifth one is a pretty typical house in the outskirts of the cities. The people will use anything they can get their hands on to build, or improve their homes. It is kind of amazing the things I have used for a house. The last one is an example of what you see in more urban areas. The buildings vary from brick and mortar to tin and rope. It is pretty amazing.

So there you some pictures of Dj. I will start sending more of these, I mean I have a fancy camera, I should use it. I would like to take a picture of my totally awesome camera and send it too, but I have not quite figured out how to do that. I will just say that it is purple, and that is pretty cool.

Dissapointment

So in Iraq I was working out a lot, and dieting really well. About half way through my tour there I started this thing called "Fat Boy Friday" and it was so great. The way it worked is on Friday I could eat whatever I wanted and not workout. There were some days I would be amazed at how much I would eat. So, I have been working out a lot here, and really eating healthy, so I figured "Fat Boy Friday" was due for a comeback.
Well, let me just say that I am really ashamed at what I ate today. It was so disappointing. I really tried to do my best. I got off to a good start and for breakfast I ate a bagel sandwich. This thing had two servings of creme cheese, 10 big slices of bacon and cheese. I was feeling pretty good at this. It tasted awesome, and was so completely unhealthy. I was excited about this day. Well then lunch rolled around, and all of the sudden I got confused. See around here Tuesday is the day the serve tacos, it is great. It is called, simply enough "Taco Tuesday". I love "Taco Tuesday" but because it is not friday, I usually hold back on that day. Well today for some reason there were tacos. "Taco Friday"? What is that all about. It really messed me up. It doesn't even sound cool, "Taco Friday" sounds stupid. Now considering that bagel could not have been more than 1,000 calories I thought I was really going to be down with this, regardless how dumb the name was. And then something really strange happened. I was not hungry. I forced myself to make an enormous plate of nachos, but the whole time I just kept thinking this is not right. By the time I was done with my nachos, I could barely make it to the ice cream bar to make a cookies n' cream sundae. I mean I made it, and ate it, but I just couldn't get into it.
Well then dinner rolled around, and I ate like 20 pieces of fried shrimp and that was it. I was done. No ice cream after dinner. No cans of pringles. No six packs of soda. No candy. I was full. I think I might have packed away 5,000 calories today, at best. What a loser. I suck.

Some more action shots.

Rob sent me these pictures of him helping unload wood of a truck for local kids to build a youth center. Kind of sounds like the kind of stuff he does at home, just a little more intense I guess. Anyway, he is going to try to start writing some stuff to put on the blog soon, no promises, but hopefully soon.

A little behind but Rob wanted to make sure I posted this.