US embassy cable - 04DJIBOUTI1487

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 001487 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NAIROBI  PASS TO PAMELA BELLAMY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, SCUL, KPAO, EINV, DJ 
SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION WEEK SHORT, BUT SWEET 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY: This year's International Education Week 
(IEW) was successful, despite the fact that the Eid, paired 
with the Muslim work-week, shortened observance to three and 
a half days. Embassy-sponsored events included a soccer 
tournament, book donations, a lecture, art exhibitions, an 
Ambassadorial visit to a local school, and a lunch for 
children at the Ambassador's residence. The week's showcase 
was the school-to-school exchange project. END SUMMARY 
 
2. (U) Embassy Djibouti's participation in International 
Education Week (IEW) was a school exchange organized by the 
Public Diplomacy Officer. One hundred and fifty Djiboutian 
elementary/Middle School students from three schools drew 
pictures, wrote essays and created skits to express the 
theme "A Day in My Life." Three Ohio schools were identified 
to do the same.  The projects will be packaged and mailed to 
their counterparts in each country.  Photos were taken at 
every event and will be burned to compact discs for each of 
the six participating schools (US and Djibouti), the 
Ministry of Education and the Embassy. 
 
3. (U) The Embassy provided beads, paint, macaroni and 
tissue paper to the Djiboutian schools that focused their 
IEW projects on art, due to a lack of English speakers. The 
Public Diplomacy Officer encouraged involvement by visiting 
the classrooms of participating schools over the course of 
November. 
 
4. (U) Other Embassy-sponsored events included a book 
donation to Middle School students, a panel about how to 
study in the U.S. for college students and a football 
tournament for high school students. The events were 
exceptionally successful exchanges that stressed not only 
the importance of education but also the bilateral 
relationship. Post was impressed by some of the sensitive 
themes explored by the students, including environmental 
pollution and female genital mutilation. Ideally, the 
relationship will continue between the US schools and the 
Djiboutian schools throughout the year with pen pal letters 
and other school-directed exchanges. 
 
5. (U) A breakdown of IEW events, with results, follows. 
Please note that all events were conducted in French, unless 
otherwise noted. 
 
On November 16: 
 
-- IEW officially opened with banners over all of the town's 
main entrances. The Public Diplomacy Officer visited each of 
the schools for a project exhibition and handed out t-shirts 
to every participating student and teacher with the 
Department's official IEW logo (translated into French), and 
the slogan "Rapprocher les systems educatifs Djibouti-Etats- 
Unis D'Amerique." The Public Diplomacy Officer also met with 
the Parent's Associations at some of the schools to discuss 
the importance of education. 
 
On November 17: 
 
-- Ambassador attended an exhibition and ceremony at Charles 
D. Foucault Middle School and, in conjunction with the 
Minster of Education, passed out t-shirts to participating 
students - who are part of an English class. She also passed 
out two books in English to each student, "The Prince and 
the Pauper" and "Girls Who Rocked the World." (This is the 
school that did not receive a materials donation). The 
ceremony was covered by the local media. 
 
-- The Public Diplomacy Officer gave a radio interview on 
the importance and goals of International Education Week. 
 
-- The Public Diplomacy Section hosted a panel discussion at 
the local university titled, "So You Want to Study in the 
US." The panel consisted of a short presentation by a 
representative from the International Foundation for 
Education and Self Help (IFESH) and was followed by a 
question and answer session. An IFESH teacher, the Djibouti 
IFESH coordinator, Embassy Djibouti's Consular Officer and 
Embassy Djibouti's TOEFL Administrator comprised the panel. 
About 75 people attended. 
 
On November 18: 
 
-- Twelve students, chosen by teachers from the 
participating classes for their high potential, attended a 
peanut butter and jelly and chocolate chip cookie lunch at 
the Ambassador's residence, followed by a tour of the 
residence and Embassy grounds by the Ambassador and the 
Public Diplomacy Officer. 
 
-- The visit was followed by a tour of an exhibition set-up 
in an Embassy conference room of all the student's IEW 
projects, so each could see the efforts of the other 
schools. 
 
-- The first round of an IEW girl's football tournament, 
organized by the Embassy for middle and high school aged 
girls, took place. Eleven teams, from both Djiboutian and 
French schools, took part and the number of spectators on 
the first night exceeded 200 people. Each participant 
received an IEW t-shirt (in different colors for each team). 
 
On November 19: 
* Tournament finals. The winning team in each division 
received a trophy donated by a local vendor. A third trophy 
was awarded for sportsmanship.