Americans bear witness to Djibouti's potential

DJIBOUTI CITY, DJIBOUTI -- For many Americans on the U.S. base here, helping Djiboutians is not just official duty.

It's a personal mission.

Several sailors, airwomen and soldiers fill two SUVs with boxes before heading to a school in Hayabley, a nearby village.

Lt. Cmdr. Vinh Mai, a doctor from Falls Church, Va., collected the boxes of sweaters, children's clothes, English-language books, shoes and pens. The Vietnamese-American Medical Association of Northern Virginia donated the items, says Mai, 33, an endocrinologist with the 14th Expeditionary Medical Facility.

Twenty students, ages 7 to 18 -- the boys in jeans and T-shirts, the girls in colorful dresses and headscarves -- sit on well-worn wooden desks, smiling and greeting Mai as he walks around saying, "Hello! Hello!" He shakes each boy's hand, to more big smiles.

Abdel Kareem Moussa, 18, says he hopes to travel to America. "I want to become a pilot," the tall, lanky student says.

Moussa, who is fluent in French and Somali, explains in perfect English that whenever the soldiers visit, "we try to speak English with them; and it's good, it's practice."

Mai volunteers at several English-language schools "to learn about their culture and help them learn English."

"I think Djibouti has a lot of potential," he says. "The people are very eager to learn and move forward."

Other soldiers and sailors volunteer at a local orphanage run by a stout French nun. They often find 62 crying babies on the floor, some trying to stand; they hold the youngsters and play with them.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Valentin Olmeda of San Juan finishes feeding and cleaning an infant, then puts him in a crib.

"I like to work with the babies. I work in some orphanages in Puerto Rico," says Olmeda, 52, of 1st Battalion, 65th Infantry Regiment, 92nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Puerto Rican National Guard.

Making his eighth visit to the orphanage, Capt. Justin DeVanna, 32, of Wooster, Ohio, describes it as "an opportunity. They don't have anybody."

"I thought it would replace my son," confides the veterinarian of the 14th Expeditionary Medical Facility. "It doesn't.

"I'm watching him grow up on computer."


Source:pittsburghlive.com/