隨著中國(guó)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(zhǎng)。在2022年2月7日，中國(guó)國(guó)際中文教育基金會(huì)、吉布提共和國(guó)國(guó)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(guó)四川成都出發(fā)，前往吉布提孔院，開啟了國(guó)際中文教育之旅?？自菏紫仍谑锥技继崾?所高中的高一年級(jí)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(gè)選課名額。校長(zhǎng)們都說(shuō)名額太少了，好多學(xué)生都沒(méi)有報(bào)上名。第一周開課時(shí)，我在嘉博德高中聽課，下課后發(fā)現(xiàn)一個(gè)中年人和一個(gè)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(yǔ)告訴我，就在剛才，校長(zhǎng)同意了他們的申請(qǐng)，名單上最后一個(gè)手寫的名字是他的兒子。這位父親是一名商人，曾到過(guò)中國(guó)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(méi)有學(xué)習(xí)中文的機(jī)會(huì)，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(jī)會(huì)?。】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(guó)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?lái)找我，他曾經(jīng)在中國(guó)獲得碩士學(xué)位，并多次去過(guò)中國(guó)。他的中文很流暢，對(duì)中國(guó)哲學(xué)十分著迷，對(duì)中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)文化也非常感興趣，他希望自己的孩子們也能有機(jī)會(huì)學(xué)習(xí)中文，認(rèn)為這對(duì)他們未來(lái)的人生是非常有益的。他的兩個(gè)孩子正在上高三，他聽說(shuō)本學(xué)期學(xué)校開設(shè)中文課但目前只針對(duì)高一學(xué)生時(shí)，感到很失落，所以前來(lái)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(shí)間去旁聽。就這樣，兩個(gè)孩子開啟了中文學(xué)習(xí)之路，現(xiàn)在兩個(gè)孩子都到了中國(guó)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(yíng)，報(bào)名人數(shù)眾多。因?yàn)槊~有限，最終只能在各高中教學(xué)點(diǎn)根據(jù)期末成績(jī)擇優(yōu)選拔出30名學(xué)生參加夏令營(yíng)。第一天開營(yíng)儀式結(jié)束后，PK12高中的一位學(xué)生家長(zhǎng)來(lái)到我的辦公室，說(shuō)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(gè)孩子的期末考試卷帶過(guò)來(lái)給我看——20分制的試卷，一個(gè)得了18.5分，另一個(gè)得了18分，都很優(yōu)秀。我只能耐心地向他解釋名額確實(shí)有限。他提出如果中途有退出的學(xué)生，希望能讓杜二博補(bǔ)上。正巧有老師來(lái)告訴我，一個(gè)學(xué)生因病退出了。這位父親激動(dòng)地馬上給家里打電話，叫兒子立刻來(lái)報(bào)到。第二天，又有兩位媽媽來(lái)為孩子爭(zhēng)取參加夏令營(yíng)的機(jī)會(huì)，但最終因名額實(shí)在無(wú)法再增加只能抱憾而歸。就這樣，夏令營(yíng)活動(dòng)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(shí)間后，我認(rèn)識(shí)了一些曾經(jīng)在中國(guó)留過(guò)學(xué)的吉布提人，發(fā)現(xiàn)他們對(duì)中國(guó)都有著濃濃的情結(jié)，但除了小部分在中國(guó)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(huì)”群，希望為這些人搭建起一個(gè)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(dòng)的時(shí)候，我也會(huì)邀請(qǐng)他們來(lái)參加，讓他們講述親身經(jīng)歷過(guò)的中國(guó)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(guó)發(fā)起的“消除白內(nèi)障致盲項(xiàng)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(xiàng)目團(tuán)隊(duì)招募到曾經(jīng)在中國(guó)學(xué)習(xí)的留學(xué)生參與這項(xiàng)工作。他們出色地完成了工作，一位幾乎失明的長(zhǎng)者在他們的幫助下接受了白內(nèi)障手術(shù)，親眼見到兩個(gè)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?qǐng)這兩位優(yōu)秀學(xué)生來(lái)到高中教學(xué)點(diǎn)，在“走進(jìn)中國(guó)”講座上講述他們與中國(guó)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(shí)間，在孔院這個(gè)大家庭中還是一個(gè)“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(dòng)人故事，我們便對(duì)未來(lái)充滿了信心和動(dòng)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.