Stories from the Horn #167

April 18, 2023

My family has a tendency to underestimate the difficulty of hikes and paddles and swims. We also like to climb new hills, swim in new waters, and kayak to new beaches. On a regular basis while driving out of the city someone will say, “Hey, we never climbed that hill,” and we pull over and start to climb.

On Easter weekend we attempted to reach “the island”, a sliver of beach “five points” over from Arta Plage where we camped out the night before. My daughter, a friend, and I took off with water and wearing beach shoes and swimsuits and shorts, over the hills along the coast. My husband took the kayak and we planned to meet at the island and snorkel back.

After more than an hour of scrambling over rocks and pressing through thorn bushes, each of us with sliced up bloody shins and hands, we approached halfway and realized the island was still really really far away and the return swim was really, really, really far. We were already quite tired.

Thankfully, we managed to wave down the kayak. He pulled up to the beach, we slipped and slid down the hill, grabbed our snorkel equipment and started back. The water was really, really wavy and really really murky, and swimming along the coast means cutting in and out, not shooting straight across, which felt perilous. This increased the length of the swim dramatically.

We all started to get sea sick and took turns in the kayak, which didn’t help.

Finally, we made it back and sort of limped/swam up to the coast. The whole thing took 3.5 hours and we only went halfway.

We didn’t make it. But we tried. And that makes all the difference.

I’m the most cowardly among my family, always the most cautious. I’m thankful that they push me and their onward! style of courage, their we-can-do-it attitudes are partly, I think, a product of living in the Horn.

Onward!

now to the stories…

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The Horn Region

Fierce fighting erupts in Khartoum, Sudan. The Presidents of Djibouti, Kenya, and South Sudan plan to travel to Sudan to work toward peace.

TV show “Hunted” star Jordan Wylie honored. Jordan and I met during the Somaliland Marathon event in 2018 and he graciously endorsed my book Stronger than Death. He has done several charity projects around the Horn of Africa. He is also the author of several books which touch on his adventures in the Horn region:

Running for My Life

Citadel

The Power of the Paddle

Islamic and Christian groups on the “frontlines” in the looming famine crisis in the Horn. Interesting article. I have a few issues with it - “Somalians” for example - do better reporting before writing that. Also, are these groups on the frontlines or are the people suffering on the frontlines? And finally, I recently learned that there are specific requirements necessary for the declaration of famine and tossing the word around lightheartedly can be detrimental, actually, to regions receiving the help they need when they need it.

An OpEd about youth unemployment in the Horn. We see a lot of this in Djibouti. It is so hard, even for university educated people to find work.

Ethiopia’s Amhara region hit by massive protests blocking a major road

Somalia

The Hunger Crime, a novel about humanitarians in Somalia and around the world. I have not read it, just sharing it as a new book based in this part of the world.

Farmers turn to sunflowers in light of a khat export ban

Female journalists pressing on in Somalia, despite dangers

A day in the life of a Somali healthcare worker. This contains beautiful and devastating photos.

Somalia banned guns from the streets of Mogadish

Djibouti

The Doctor Traversing Djibouti’s Deserts

A bit dated now but super interesting 8-minute video produced by my husband’s research organization. He is the voice, reading their work.

Interview with Ismail Omar Guelleh, Djibouti’s President. This is all in French.

All for this week!