Work in Chabelley

My job here in Djibouti is Country Engineer, where I facilitate and oversee construction projects.   I work in J-34 which is one of the shops within the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA).  HOA is a command made up both of all 4 US services, plus individuals from other countries. 

The plan for me is to inherit Kenya projects in the January timeframe when the AF Officer currently working them rotates out.  In the meantime I am assisting the Djibouti project officer, who is juggling many projects, and not all of them going well.   Specifically I have been assisting with a town called Chabelley, which is about 11km southwest of the base.  About a year ago a medical facility for the birth of children in the town was built.  The project was started without any real supervision by J-34 and a contractor who really doesn’t know how to construct a building.  The first attempt resulted in a concrete structure that could be broken apart with bare hands.  The entire structure was torn down and the contractor is starting again, but with much more careful supervision.  I have quickly learned that quality (and safety) on the jobsite are nearly nonexistent here. 

The road out to Chabelley is actually National 5 (N5), which is nothing more than gravel.  Even in the nice Toyota Land Cruiser diesels we drive, it’s a rough and tough road.  For the first couple of miles outside of Djibouti City, the road is lined with trash piles which include cars, cows, camels, food waste, home waste, and industrial waste.  The smell is pleasant.  

My first trip was to only verify that the depth of the slab areas was dug out to 35cm.  LT John Mietus (a fellow ED) is measuring the depth of the survey lines.  The guy in the middle is the foreman and the other guy is one of his regular workers who we have affectionately named ‘pink pants’.  

We verified that there was a consistent 35cm depth across all of the spaces where they were to put in at 20cm deep layer of compacted rock.  Here is a view of the majority of the worksite.  The base is just barely visible on the horizon on the left side of the photo. 

The town is very interested in what we are doing, and often sit on this embankment and watch it.  They are very confused why there was a building built, then torn down.  Through our interpreter we try to explain that the building would be a nursery and that the first one wasn’t safe, but they don’t comprehend that.  They think that if the walls could stand up, it would be fine.  

On the return trip we experienced the true essence of Djibouti driving.  This is a taxi, it is not stopped, but trying to merge with us.  We are doing about 60-70kmh and the just moved right in on us.  Yes the door is open, all the taxi buses go around with the door open, with people hanging on.  The best are the ones with groups of people on the roof.  They really look like they are about to tip when they enter a roundabout.  I always wonder if someone will just come flying out.  LT Mietus says they do sometimes, but its normal. 

                                          

Our second trip out there started well, an early morning start on a day when they were to pour many of the slabs.  When we arrived this lamb was parked in front of our Toyota. 

At about 0900 this lamb was unhappy escorted out of the work area, ‘baaing’ all the way.  Then the ‘baaing’ stopped.  

We had all named the lamb “Dinner”, but we should have named him “Lunch”. 

On this trip we brought 3 Seabees with us that really assisted in this job.  LT Mietus and primary inspected the batches of concrete as they were turned and ensured a proper mix and consistency.  The Seabees taught the workers the proper way to lay it down and finish it. 

Our main mission here is partnering with the nations to accomplish our goals, one of them being providing the basic needs for the people.   The Seabees did a great job working through our translator, Abdallah, to show them how to correctly lay a slab and make it look good.  

During the day, I noticed one of the big issues was the bags of cement.  They were from Pakistan and someone smart decided to make them 50kg bags, which almost outweighs the workers.  I would see 3 or 4 of them struggle the bags over to the cement mixer, then try to cut it open with a disassembled razor blade.  I couldn’t stand to watch this inefficiency anymore and started hefting the bags for them to the mixer and then quickly slice it open with my Gerber tool. 

The children from the town would gather around, often time coming right to the fence and poking in.   The workers didn’t want them down there and would often throw a handful of rocks at the corrugated metal fence, and scare both the children and us.  The kids would make a game of it until one would get hit and you would hear the yelp, then the game would end for a bit.  We gave the kids some nuts and granola bars that we brought, which they were ecstatic about, running into the village with it held above their head. 

To put into perspective the town where these people live, think of the movie District 9.  Those shacks would be a step up.  Many of the homes in this town is nothing more than piled rock walls with some metal and plastic sheeting for a roof.  Understanding from the interpreter, they don’t eat but a couple times a week, so the fact that they slaughtered a sheep and served us food was a great honor.