Morning In Djibouti

Sunrise over the encampment, March 2006

11 March 2006, Camp Lemonier, Djibouti - Horn of Africa

I have awakened after 5 hours of uneasy sleep to the sound of leaves falling upon the tent, the familiar cawing of the local crows, a full bladder and the strange whine of a struggling mosquito trying to get in one last "meal" before the sun rises above this vast lunar landscape of a country...

Good morning, Djibouti...

It has been another night of nothingness, which suits me just fine. I have found 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep to be most appealing to me and my body - the short period of recovery is just enough to keep me and my brain going the rest of the day.

It is strange how the body remembers and how it can fall back into a cycle of "work/rest" - very much the same way it did in Iraq where many of my waking hours were spent teaching and roaming the vast world of the internet while spreading my ongoing diatribes and gospels accordingly.

The clouds block the moon this early morning, and a warm breeze is blowing through the camp from the Northeast. There is still a faint stench of burnt trash residue wafting from the trash dump just outside the perimeter, which is an all too common smell in this part of the world. It seems to go hand-in-hand with all the trash, broken equipment and abject poverty within the borders of this tiny country.I am hopeful though - hopeful that this second Saturday spent in Djibouti will be a quiet and uneventful one. Granted it will be far from cool. The heat and humidity have managed to increase over the last few days which resulted in our first “black flag” days - an ominous sign that the encroaching summer months will be very uncomfortable ones.

The camp is beginning to stir to life as the pulse of the camp begins to quicken on this early desert morning. The minions wake to the very same partly cloudy sky that I have described in my previous paragraphs and like hapless zombies stuffed into air conditioned coffins, they too raise and stumble into this morning to shuttle themselves off to various work spots on the camp or trot off to an early morning breakfast gleefully served to the famished crowds by pleasant and smiling food workers.

Scary sometimes because it makes you often wonder why the food workers are always smiling...

Do they know something that we don't?

Originally published 11 March 2006 on the blog "Totum dependeat (Let it all hang out!)"