Learn about Djibouti from an REI worker’s perspective.

Rachel and Tom Jones, along with their kids, have lived in Djibouti doing REI work since 2004. Read her story below as she reflects on what she’s learned as an American living in Djibouti over the past six years. To read more of her reflections on Djibouti, check out her blog.

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Being an expatriate in Djibouti is an opportunity to learn to live all over again.

I stepped off the plane in 2004 and thought I knew something about living in east Africa. I had already finished a teaching stint of eight months in Somalia where I had learned how to tell goat meat from camel meat, how to ignore machine gun fire and how to explain English idioms to non-native English speakers. But Djibouti is an entirely different place and I soon realized that I’ve only begun to learn.