Stories from the Horn #145
January 11, 2022
Welcome to 2022!
Start your year with a new book, if you haven’t already read Pillars! You can even get the audiobook FREE with an audible subscription at Amazon. The voice actor does an incredible job reading.
Also check out Stronger than Death for an inspiring story of love during a time of violence and disease and clashing religions and cultures.
On to other news from and about the Horn of Africa…
In personal Djibouti news, this year is the absolute BEST year since 2005 for whale sharking. If you live here, do not miss your chance to swim with them this year. My whole family swears up and down and up and down that there has never been a year like this. And we’ve had some excellent years. Go with Rushing Waters or hire a boat straight from Arta Plage to get the best experience. There are other organized tours but they usually have more people, more boats, and less freedom to spend as much time as you’d like in the water.
Miss Djibouti! (by Miss, I mean like the beauty pageant)
A disgruntled employee slit the throat of his boss at a garage in Djibouti. The man was caught by the police. This kind of violence is quite shocking and rare here, a tragedy.
Nebraska Guard helps a Djiboutian village restore their water supply
Djibouti, the movie, a review. This is a pretty accurate review of the film. In our opinion (me and my kids) it was hilarious because it was so bad. I could be missing something but there were moments we laughed so hard we could barely stay in our seats but not because the film was trying to be funny, it was just so ridiculous and impossible to believe. Because we live here and we know where these places are and how things work and, well, it felt goofy. Every Djiboutian in the film is a bully, some even ready to stone a man holding a baby because…we don’t know why. Also, the story line was dubious at best. At one point the couple flees a shooter (the wife’s brother who never says anything but makes a really great angry face and growls) and forgets to bring their baby but they don’t realize it for quite a long time and we started to ask each other, “where is the baby?!” It appears that the men don’t know how to climb ladders but you’ll have to watch until the very end for that memorable scene and you likely won’t make it that long.
The film is beautiful because Djibouti is beautiful but go see Dhalinyaro instead, which I’ve seen three times, and it makes me cry because it is so lovely.
If you watched Djibouti, what did you think?
Minnesota Somali becomes highest government-appointed employee in the Biden administration
Another hotel aiming to the best ever in Djibouti, but has yet to be built. I love these preemptive “I’m the Best!” claims. We will see. My question is, will their workout facility be cheaper than the Kempinski’s, which costs over $500/month for 1 person and is not awesome?
State of Press Freedom in Somalia, 2021. Short version: not great.
Somalia may be on the brink of another famine
Al-Shabaab targets soldiers trained by the US military in Dadaab camp in Kenya
Somaliland urges USAID to make their climate commitment more than “hot air.” This could possibly apply to many other USAID projects.
In 200 million years Somalia, India, and Madagascar will be one continent. Will this article be around that long, to prove that they said it first?!
Special Quran holds signatures of (almost) all Minnesota government Muslim employees
Inside Turkish Airlines service to Somalia, 10 years
See you in two weeks!