Keeping Camp Lemonnier Djiboutiful

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Jared Walker | 180207-N-JY474-018 CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti – Air Force Capt. Balaji Narain, a volunteer for Operation Djiboutiful, picks up trash around the Camp Lemonnier cantina, Feb. 7. Operation Djiboutiful is a program that takes place three times a week to pick up trash and help maintain the cleaniness of the base. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jared E. Walker/Released).  

DJIBOUTI, DJIBOUTI

03.10.2018

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Jared Walker 

Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti

CAMP LEMONNIER, Djibouti – For 30 minutes a day and three times a week, personnel onboard Camp Lemonnier (CLDJ) participate in a program dedicated to cleaning the base.

The name of this program is Operation Djiboutiful, but many here just refer to it as Djiboutiful. Djiboutiful is a play on the name of the country of Djibouti, which is in the Horn of Africa and is sandwiched between the countries of Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. This program is provided through the volunteer organization on Camp Lemonnier known as Friends of Africa Volunteers (FAV). Through FAV, the project leads and many of the volunteers learned about Djiboutiful and got involved.

“Back in July when I first arrived on base, I started attending the FAV meetings. Well one day while attending a meeting, it was announced that an assistant lead for Operation Djiboutiful was needed. So I volunteered and have been involved with Djiboutiful ever since,” said Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Daniel S. Richards.

The lead of Operation Djiboutiful is Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Daniel S. Richards and the assistant leads are Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jared E. Walker, Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Jose Romero, and Marine Corps Cpl. Emily Revoir.

While military members are encouraged to participate, civilian contractors take part in cleaning around the installation as well. One such person is Alteece Redic, who is a constant presence around the base because of her involvement with several base programs.

“I got involved because a friend suggested that I join Friends of Africa. When I joined, I saw the programs that they offered and Djiboutiful was a program that I knew I could get with and help make changes here at Camp Lemonnier,” said Redic.

There are two ways to get involved with Djiboutiful. Base personnel can join FAV and learn about it during the bi-weekly meetings or they will see people picking up trash around the base and will inquire and start showing up to help.

Part of helping to make change on Camp Lemonnier is to keep the base clean. To do this, the lead and assistant leads set up materials for volunteers.

“The assistant leads or lead will pull out boxes of gloves and trash bags and wait for the volunteers to show up. When they do show up, they hand us their volunteer sheets which we then sign and hold until they get back from cleaning. We direct them to go clean a place that we feel needs to be cleaned up,” said Revoir.

Due to the large size of Camp Lemonnier, Operation Djiboutiful is setup to clean both around the living quarters and the working areas as well.

“So many of our hard working volunteers stand up to contribute here on CLDJ,” said Army Capt. Joseph Winkelman, current president of Friends of Africa Volunteers. “They come from all services and ranks. It is not surprising to see an Army Private picking up trash shoulder-to-shoulder with a Navy captain. One of the greatest gifts a person can give is his or her own time and its alive and well here with the Friends of Africa.”

While Djiboutiful has been on Camp Lemonnier for quite some time, Richards has been surprised with the increase in volunteers that have shown up to participate.

“We used to see around 20 to 30 volunteers, but lately around 40 or so have been showing up. By having more volunteers, we can affect more [change] here on base. Regardless, I would still like to have more people come out. But in the meantime, let’s keep Djiboutifying Djibouti,” said Richards.

Camp Lemonnier is one of Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, installations that conducts eight lines of operation to support air operations, port operations, safety, security, housing, MWR, Fleet and Family Support and what is called the core: the fuels, water and power that keep the bases operating.

Camp Lemonnier’s mission includes enabling joint warfighters operating forward and to reinforce the U.S. – Djibouti relationship by providing exceptional services and facilities for the tenant commands, transient U.S. assets and service members.

• Date Taken: 03.10.2018
• Date Posted: 03.10.2018 04:16
• Story ID: 268926
• Location: DJIBOUTI, DJ