Balbali School of English

This school welcomes all of those who want to practice their English at no cost. During our last session, we ran into many Somalis, Djiboutians and Ethiopians. It is our job to enrich the community with the knowledge of the English language, the finance language of the world.

To get there, we had to travel down a beaten path far from the reaches of paved highway. The van wobbled up and down as it rolled over sporadic boulders embedded into the path. As we drove along, we gathered wide-eyed stares and kids chased us as we made our way to the Balbali School of English. The school was situated in a narrow alley surrounded by Muslim style mosques. Clearly, it was a place which felt like it had been here for centuries. Progress is slow; it seems not much development has happened here since the dawn of mankind.

Getting out of the van, I was greeted with handshakes and the occasional, “hi” and “nice to meet you”. I strolled into the tin building. The walls were covered with faded travel posters, maps and English words taped to the wall. It was a learning environment that I had never seen before. It was quite shocking to me and I was going to do my best to make some kind of difference in the lives of these people by sharing my time.

The topic we spoke of involved Djibouti's most popular drug, khat. We asked them if khat should be given up for Ramadan. Most of the population agreed and said that it should be banned from the country because it does no good.

Family Back Home

New Topic at Horsed School of English

Last Monday, we had a heated debate about solving world hunger due to the over population of the Earth. It was very interesting that many of the people in the class room was from all over the Horn of Africa and not just Djibouti alone. Some of the kids were from tribes from Ethiopia. Really good night.

English Discussion Group - Horsed English School

Horsed English Sign
The English Discussion Group project helps build relations and improve understanding between the people of the Horn of Africa and the United States.

The school I've been going to is called the Horsed English School in Djibouti. The building itself is made of tin, wood and stones. The floor is dirt and the small classrooms have wooden flooring. The classroom had electricity, a fan, wooden tables, wooden stools and a big green chalkboard. As a representative of the Asian American population, I was very happy to volunteer and offer my time as an English teacher. The English teacher, Hassan Mahamed was very hospitable. He gave me a tour of their library. For this school it was quite impressive. There was two large book shelves filled with approximately 300 books. Across the street was the movie theatre playing two Bollywood films (Indian Fliks). It was also in a tin building.
Bollywood Movie Theatre
The English topic last week was: "What is your Favorite Sport?".

Most of the Djiboutian teens really like soccer. Well, in this part of the world, it is referred to as football. Most of the sports mentioned were, soccer and basketball. Soccer is really popular because you don't need any special equipment and it can be played anywhere. You just need a ball.

The American group with me had mentioned some sports such as motorcycle racing, surfing, golf and dodgeball. I think it would be fun to teach them dodgeball. However it may be hard without some "dodgeballs".

Naruto and Jigglypuff in Djibouti
Djibouti Stadium