隨著中國與吉布提合作的深入，吉布提民眾中文學(xué)習(xí)的需求迅速增長。在2022年2月7日，中國國際中文教育基金會、吉布提共和國國民教育與職業(yè)培訓(xùn)部和四川師范大學(xué)3方正式簽署協(xié)議，約定共建吉布提第一所孔院。

As the cooperation between China and Djiboutihas grown， the interest of the citizens of Djibouti inlearning Chinese has noticeably increased. On February7th， 2022， a landmark agreement was signedby the Chinese International Education Foundation，the Djibouti Ministry of National Education andVocational Training， and Sichuan Normal Universityto establish the first Confucius Institute in Djibouti.

2022年8月5日，我和4名公派教師一同從中國四川成都出發(fā)，前往吉布提孔院，開啟了國際中文教育之旅?？自菏紫仍谑锥技继崾?所高中的高一年級開設(shè)了中文選修課，受制于有限的師資力量，每所學(xué)校只能分配到100個選課名額。校長們都說名額太少了，好多學(xué)生都沒有報上名。第一周開課時，我在嘉博德高中聽課，下課后發(fā)現(xiàn)一個中年人和一個學(xué)生在教室外面等我。他們是父子倆，父親指著手中的學(xué)生名單用法語告訴我，就在剛才，校長同意了他們的申請，名單上最后一個手寫的名字是他的兒子。這位父親是一名商人，曾到過中國很多城市，常去浙江省義烏市出差。他最大的遺憾就是不懂中文，所以他希望他的兒子一定要學(xué)習(xí)中文。之前在吉布提一直沒有學(xué)習(xí)中文的機會，現(xiàn)在孔院到他兒子在讀的高中開中文課了，這是多么好的機會?。】粗缸觽z開心的笑容，我第一次真切感受到了在這片土地上開展國際中文教育的意義。

On August 5th， 2022， I left Chengdu， SichuanProvince， with four other teachers， embarking on amission to promote Chinese language education atthe Confucius Institute in Djibouti. Initially， the Instituteintroduced Chinese as an option for first-yearhigh school students across five local schools in thecountry’s capital， Djibouti City. However， due to thelimited availability of teaching resources， each schoolwas only able to accommodate 100 students. Thisrestriction led to considerable frustration among theprincipals because many students were left unable toregister. One day during the first week， when leavinga classroom at Gabode High School， I was greeted bya gentleman and his son who were waiting outside.The father， holding a list of names， proudly informedme in French that the Principal had just approvedtheir application， with the last handwritten name onthe list being that of his son. The father， who oftentraveled on business to Yiwu， Zhejiang Province，regretted that he had never learned Chinese andinsisted that his son should not miss this chance. Thiswas a new opportunity， because before the opening ofthe Institute there was no means of learning Chinesein Djibouti. Seeing their smiles was the first timethat I truly understood the significance of bringingChinese language education to Djibouti.

幾天后，又有一位當(dāng)?shù)厝藖碚椅?，他曾?jīng)在中國獲得碩士學(xué)位，并多次去過中國。他的中文很流暢，對中國哲學(xué)十分著迷，對中國傳統(tǒng)文化也非常感興趣，他希望自己的孩子們也能有機會學(xué)習(xí)中文，認(rèn)為這對他們未來的人生是非常有益的。他的兩個孩子正在上高三，他聽說本學(xué)期學(xué)校開設(shè)中文課但目前只針對高一學(xué)生時，感到很失落，所以前來尋求幫助。看到這位父親失望的神情，我突然想到中文課程是安排在放學(xué)后的，于是建議他們利用放學(xué)后的時間去旁聽。就這樣，兩個孩子開啟了中文學(xué)習(xí)之路，現(xiàn)在兩個孩子都到了中國學(xué)習(xí)。

Some days later， I was approached by anotherlocal who held a Master’s degree from China， havingvisited the country many times. Fluent in Chinese， hewas fascinated by Chinese philosophy and interestedin traditional Chinese culture; this led him to seek asimilar learning experience for his children， thinkingthat it would broaden their horizons. However， hewas disappointed to learn that the courses wereonly open to first-year high school students， thushis two children， now in their third year， had nochance of attending; he came seeking help. Seeing thedisappointed look on the father’s face， I rememberedthat the Chinese classes were held after school， soI suggested that they could sit in on those sessions.They gratefully accepted， and now the children havetraveled to China to continue their studies.

2023年暑期，孔院組織了首屆中文夏令營，報名人數(shù)眾多。因為名額有限，最終只能在各高中教學(xué)點根據(jù)期末成績擇優(yōu)選拔出30名學(xué)生參加夏令營。第一天開營儀式結(jié)束后，PK12高中的一位學(xué)生家長來到我的辦公室，說他的雙胞胎兒子杜一博（Abdallah）被選上了，杜二博（Abdoulkader）則因落選而傷心。他們都很喜歡中文，學(xué)習(xí)也非常認(rèn)真。這位父親還把兩個孩子的期末考試卷帶過來給我看——20分制的試卷，一個得了18.5分，另一個得了18分，都很優(yōu)秀。我只能耐心地向他解釋名額確實有限。他提出如果中途有退出的學(xué)生，希望能讓杜二博補上。正巧有老師來告訴我，一個學(xué)生因病退出了。這位父親激動地馬上給家里打電話，叫兒子立刻來報到。第二天，又有兩位媽媽來為孩子爭取參加夏令營的機會，但最終因名額實在無法再增加只能抱憾而歸。就這樣，夏令營活動在當(dāng)?shù)赜窒破鹆艘徊ā爸形臒帷薄?/p>

In the summer of 2023， the Confucius Instituteof Djibouti held its first Chinese summer camp，which was rapidly enrolled to capacity due to itspopularity. We could only accommodate 30 studentsfrom different high schools， who were selected onthe basis of their academic performance. After theopening ceremony on the first day， a father fromthe PK12 High School approached me in my office.He explained that although one of his twin sons，Abdallah， had been accepted to the camp， the other，Abdoulkader， was devastated to miss out; both boyswere passionate about their studies of Chinese andworked hard. The father showed me their final exampapers; out of 20， one had scored 18.5 and the other18， both excellent grades. I sympathized with hissituation， but explained the limitations of numbers.He asked whether Abdoulkader could join if a placebecame available， andas luck would have it， ateacher mentioned that astudent dropped out. Thefather immediately calledhome， excitedly tellingAbdoulkader to come andenroll. The next day， twomothers came， hoping tosecure a place for theirchildren， although I unfortunatelyhad to turn themaway due to the limitedcapacity. This situationhighlighted the growingenthusiasm for Chineselanguage learning that thesummer camp has ignitedin the community.

在吉布提工作一段時間后，我認(rèn)識了一些曾經(jīng)在中國留過學(xué)的吉布提人，發(fā)現(xiàn)他們對中國都有著濃濃的情結(jié)，但除了小部分在中國企業(yè)工作的人，大部分人已經(jīng)很少使用中文了，彼此也不熟悉。于是我在WhatsApp上建立了“吉布提留華同學(xué)會”群，希望為這些人搭建起一個校友網(wǎng)絡(luò)，促進(jìn)彼此的交流和聯(lián)絡(luò)。在孔院舉辦一些活動的時候，我也會邀請他們來參加，讓他們講述親身經(jīng)歷過的中國故事。

After spending some time in Djibouti， I met severallocals who had studied in China and held a deepaffection for the country. Despite this， only a few hadworked for Chinese companies; additionally， few had continued to use Chinese， and they had lost touchwith each other. To reconnect these individuals， Iformed a WhatsApp group named “Djibouti AlumniAssociation of China.” When the Institute organizedevents， I invited them to share their personal storiesand experiences of China.

由中國發(fā)起的“消除白內(nèi)障致盲項目”在吉布提開展，需要懂中文的本土工作人員。最終在孔院的協(xié)助下，項目團(tuán)隊招募到曾經(jīng)在中國學(xué)習(xí)的留學(xué)生參與這項工作。他們出色地完成了工作，一位幾乎失明的長者在他們的幫助下接受了白內(nèi)障手術(shù)，親眼見到兩個孫子的出生。為了表達(dá)感激之情，他用其中兩位幫助他的工作人員的名字為孫子命名?？自阂惭堖@兩位優(yōu)秀學(xué)生來到高中教學(xué)點，在“走進(jìn)中國”講座上講述他們與中國的故事。

When China launched the “Cataract BlindnessEradication” project in Djibouti， there was a demandfor local staff who were familiar with Chinese. Withsupport from the Institute， the project team recruitedstudents who had studied in China to assist with theproject. They excelled in their roles， and thanks totheir efforts， an elderly Djiboutian， who was almostblind as a result of cataracts， regained his sight aftersurgery and witnessed the birth of his two grandsons.As a heartfelt gesture， he named the boys after thestaff members whohad supported him.We lat e r i nvi tedthese exceptionalstudents to sharetheir experiences athigh school lecturestitled “ExperiencingChina.”

吉布提孔子學(xué)院正式揭牌僅一年多時間，在孔院這個大家庭中還是一個“新人”。學(xué)院的老師和工作人員要面臨的困難和迎接的挑戰(zhàn)還有很多。但是每當(dāng)我們看到這里的人學(xué)習(xí)中文的熱情、聽到那些因中文學(xué)習(xí)而改變了人生的動人故事，我們便對未來充滿了信心和動力。

Inaugurated only one year ago， the Confucius Institutein Djibouti remains a “young member” of the largerConfucius Institute family; we are bound to face manychallenges. However， the local enthusiasm for learningChinese and the transformative stories of the individualstouched by our program continue to inspire and drive ourcommitment to this vibrant community.