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CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti – Sometimes the easiest way to make an impact and get to know your neighbor is through good old-fashioned fence building.
For several Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa personnel, the “fence building” project to get to know their Djiboutian neighbors was conducting cleanup and landscaping at a local health facility.
Focusing their efforts west of Camp Lemonier’s gates, U.S. Army 1st Lt. Benjamin Sklaver and his team of 30 Airmen and Marines from CJTF-HOA recently conducted a much needed cleanup and landscaping project at the Hayableh Clinic.
According to Sklaver the clinic is a woman’s and pediatric clinic that performs HIV testing, low-risk prenatal pregnancies and births and care of pediatric patients.
“I feel like the work we are doing within the local clinics here, such as the cleanup project we (CJTF-HOA) did within Hayableh, is about doing acts of goodwill,” said Sklaver. “I find that one of the wonderful things about civil affairs is not only going into these places to do a specific mission and to support CJTF-HOA, but we are also able to impact the lives of the people in these areas in a very personal way and we really get to know people on a personal level.”
During the cleanup, Sklaver commented that he and his team were able to impact the lives of a family visiting the clinic. While in the midst of their cleanup mission, Sklaver noticed a woman came to the clinic and gave birth to a new baby that same day. Afterwards, the woman and her husband did not have the funds to travel back to their home with their new baby.
“We (the members of CJTF-HOA) were able to give this family the assistance that they needed to get back home - we gave this family the money so that they could afford to take a taxi ride home,” said Sklaver.
According to U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Charles Parnell, one of the team members who assisted with the cleanup, “we cut the grass surrounding the entire area located around the Hayableh clinic.”
Parnell also said members of CJTF-HOA put the final touches on the Hayableh clinic that day by removing a load of trash the size of a large dump truck from the clinic grounds.
CJTF-HOA members completed the day by bringing in a dump truck load of sand, gravel and dirt to spread around the clinic. Sklaver noted that the mixture of dirt, sand and gravel would serve as a protection barrier against mosquitoes at the clinic.
“All in all, our brief time spent cleaning up Hayableh clinic was a project that the people of that area received warmly and I felt that this outreach had a positive impact on all of the local individuals who use this clinic,” said Sklaver.
The mission of CJTF-HOA is to prevent conflict, promote regional stability and protect coalition interests in order to prevail against extremism. The CJTF-HOA organization began operations at Camp Lemonier, Djibouti May 13, 2003. It works with partner nations on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, consequence management, civic action programs to include medical and veterinary care, school and medical clinic construction and water development projects.
Source: CJTF-HOA, Feb 26, 2007 |