horn of africa | Rachel Pieh Jones

Publication Day(!!!!) and Why This Story Matters Right Now

I used four exclamation points in the title.

Let that be a sign unto you.

Publication date…today!

Find Stronger than Death at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and IndieBound

Why this book, why right now?

Has anyone else noticed how broken and sad and angry the world feels lately?

I feel it in my bones, a hunger for hope, love, compassion, goodness.

But, I don’t want those if they come through avoiding the hard things like racism, elitism, cruelty, harassment, oppression, diseases, stigmas.

This story required me to write straight into the hard.

Like being a white woman in Africa. Like engaging in violence on female bodies and fighting violence on female bodies. Like war and poverty and humanitarian failures.

But also, this story showed me the way to finding that hope and goodness I’m desperate for. It isn’t in sweeping hard conversations under the rug, it is in diving right into them with humility and humanity.

That is why now. Because I believe you are also desperate for hope, goodness, and light. You don’t want to retreat into the corner, surrounded by people just like you. You’re willing to cross boundaries and to learn how to love and live better in the diverse world that is our real world.

You’re willing to go to hard places and be changed there.

You want a love that is stronger than fear.

You want a life that is stronger than death.

Find Stronger than Death at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and IndieBound

By Rachel Pieh Jones|October 1st, 2019|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: annalena tonelli, horn of africa, stronger than death|0 Comments

Stronger than Death, Book Cover Reveal!

I wrote a book.

I’ve actually written many books, from the cloth-covered book about animals running a race I wrote in elementary school, to the several novels that are completed and gathering dust on my hard drives (for very good reasons!), to my self-published books the Djiboutilicious cookbook, Finding Home, and two editions of Welcome to Djibouti.

This coming book has been the work of my heart for almost five years. It is the biography of Annalena Tonelli, a woman who faced disease, terrorism, massacres, lonely isolation, and chose love over fear.

“People would call her a doctor, a missionary, and a nun. And they would call her a saint… Should Annalena be made into a saint? That was how I thought of her, at first. I only knew the high points in Annalena’s life. I knew nothing of the dark valleys, her secret and controversial compromise. I knew she had accomplished something remarkable, something about tuberculosis but also about love and faith…”

It is the product of collaboration with Matt Erickson, so many people I interviewed all over the world, those I followed and pestered, and the Plough Publishing team.

A few months ago I shared the book cover in my Stories from the Horn newsletter.

Now, I want to share the cover here, too.

You may have already seen it, if you’ve visited the Plough, Indiebound, or Amazon, but let’s make this the formal “cover reveal”.

Are cover reveal parties a thing? Like for pregnant moms and gender reveal parties? I feel like they should be, with balloons and a cake a fireworks. Well…oh well.

There is so much I want to tell you about the book, like who endorsed it and some behind the scenes stuff. Like how I’ve been changed through this project. Like how it feels to write a book while dealing with cancer. Like all the ways this book connects to current issues from Ebola to cross cultural relationships and humanitarian aid, to conquering fear and talking about race and faith. I love the way this woman turns these conversations upside down in surprising, even shocking ways.

But for now, here’s the cover! No drama, no explosions, no band playing in the background. Just me and my excited little heart.

(Number 1 new release in Kenyan History!)

You can preorder it here

Plough

Amazon

Indiebound

What could be stronger than death? Only a love bigger than fear and bigger than hate. We need this message more than ever.

By Rachel Pieh Jones|August 12th, 2019|Categories: africa, christianity, Faith, Islam, somalia, Writing|Tags: annalena tonelli, ebola, horn of africa, somalia, stronger than death, tuberculosis|2 Comments

When Things Crash and Stories from the Horn

Don’t let me hold your phone, drive your car, or borrow your computer. Don’t ask me for tech help on your blog, newsletter, Facebook account, or anything else.

I have been run into twice in the past few months by motorcycles. They literally ran right into the car. Once on the driver’s side and once on the passenger side.

Both times the motorcycle driver was at fault, like going the direction on the road, passing on the wrong side, not using turn signals, multiple witnesses all agreeing with them being at fault, all kinds of at fault. I will not publicly go into all manner of not okay-ness in how I was held to blame.

Sometimes, Djibouti wins.

I downloaded an update on my phone and it never worked again. Go to the Apple store, says the internet. I say, “The nearest Apple store is off the continent.“

The water proof bag I used to carry items wasn’t actually water proof. Not for me. For so many others, yes. Me? Not this time.

My website crashed.

My computer crashed.

I ruined my newsletter list.

I can fix it. We can fix it. The technician and mechanic can fix it.

But what a headache. Aren’t all these things supposed to make life easier?

I’ll tell you what was easier: not having a phone because it broke. No pressure to take photos – just memorize the moment, just experience the moment. No pressure to respond to messages. No need to post updates.

Still.

Writers gotta internet. Or something like that.

And nowadays, writers gotta newsletter.

This is what is drilled into us everywhere I go online. Build your email list. Facebook and Instagram could crash or close (like they did on July 3 this year – anyone else have image issues? I swear I had nothing to do with that). Don’t let someone else have control of your work.

And I’ve discovered that I really love working on my newsletter and building that email list. People don’t comment on blogs that much anymore and Facebook and Twitter sorta overwhelm me. But in my newsletter, I get to be myself without blabbing it all over the internet. And I get to respond, one on one, to comments and questions and feedback.

I get to work on essays that in the past I would have tried to pitch to magazines but now I love keeping them just my newsletter.

Here are some of the wide-ranging recent topics:

How love in dating is different to love in marriage
Female genital mutilation from the voices of Djiboutian women
The story of a man who lived with a bullet in his head for 18 years and what happened when it came out
The next one will be about the cheek kissing greeting. Ever wonder if people accidentally kiss on the lips? I don’t know about people, but I do know about me…

I curate stories from the Horn of Africa and Somali news from all over the world. I love doing this – keeping myself and readers up to date on what’s happening in the places we care about, super cool stories about the new superfood: camel’s milk or about Somali yoga lessons on the beach in Mogadishu or about the apparent new Cold War between China and the US taking place in Djibouti, about disastrous White Savior problems in Uganda…

I give loads of book recommendations, including Kindle Deals for the best books, usually under $3.00.

And we do this silly thing where I take quotes from famous people from Gandhi to Oprah to Mr. Rogers and replace the word “struggle” with the word “snuggle.” Because we could all use a little more snuggle in our lives these days.

Its kind of like letting people see the things I love to talk about. Like if we sat down over coffee, I would probably ask you what great book you’re reading. Or what fascinating story has gripped you lately? Or do you have any idea how to untangle the mess or how to celebrate the successes in the Horn lately?

Last week, I switched email providers because I wanted to be better able to provide great content and meet the needs of readers.

Alas.

Remember how nothing was working?

That didn’t work either.

I feel like an idiot. I probably am one. Or didn’t read the instructions well enough, though I felt certain I did. I don’t know.

In any case, a lot of people’s emails fell through the cracks. Like a lot, a lot.

And if you don’t want to read Stories from the Horn anymore and your email fell through – no worries! I’m glad you hung around for a while and you’re welcome back any time, but you are also totally free to head out in other reading directions.

If you do subscribe and still want to, Aweber has assured me, they have solved the problem. So hang tight, some of you have contacted me and I will make sure you’re all added in correctly. I’m so sorry for the hassle and confusion.

If you have never subscribed but are intrigued by what is on offer, I’d love to have you join in. Its totally free, I will never sell or give out your email address. You’ll get a free download: 25 Things You Need to Know but No One Will Tell You about Moving Abroad (and a bonus, secret free download too, once you confirm.)

And if you do subscribe and hit reply to the email when it comes into your inbox, to send me a message or ask a question, I promise to respond. I read every single email and (so far) am able to respond to them all. It might take a day or two, but I love hearing what drew you to Stories from the Horn or ideas on what you’d like to hear more about from me, suggestions on how I can serve you better, or just a “hi!”

Here’s a link for signing up, if you haven’t already seen it posted like, everywhere, on the blog.

Do you have a newsletter? I’d love to check it out.

Send me your link or include it in the comments.

By Rachel Pieh Jones|July 7th, 2019|Categories: Djibouti Life, Expat Thoughts|Tags: djibouti, horn of africa, newsletter, stories from the horn|0 Comments

Pirates! Poverty! War! FGM! On Manipulating Headlines to Capture a Reader

How the heck do writers get people to care about other parts of the world?

Editors often tell me (in my many rejection letters) that North Americans don’t care about the Horn of Africa.

Unless I can come up with a salacious or titillating angle (both intriguing words), why would a reader in, say, Minnesota, care about Djiboutian girls making bead jewelry? Maybe they like working their hands to create beautiful things. Maybe they are serving their families by earning extra income, maybe they are developing math, business, negotiation, marketing, and general work ethic skills, maybe they are forming a beautiful community.

But.

Who cares?

Clearly, I do. And clearly, I hope you do. But writing about community, creativity, and beauty isn’t click-bait the way other things are.

(By the way, you can see the handiwork of these young women on Facebook and Instagram and you can even purchase it as of April 2 here)

Stories of hope and joy out of a far away region and culture, struggle to capture the attention of a general reader.

This is why Syrians are crying out for people to care but few respond. It is why many have not even heard of the war in Yemen, what has recently been called the worst humanitarian crisis in 50 years, even with Syria in the picture.

How do writers up the readership on stories from this part of the world which I find inherently fascinating and which I love, but about which few outsiders care?

Here’s what I came up with (while on a run with a friend who also cares about this part of the world):

It has to be about FGM. Female Genital Mutilation. Or pirates, poverty, war.

So here are some possible headlines, to get clicks, readers, and attention. Whether or not they actually represent reality is highly debatable.

For a story about Dreamer and Co, the bead business:

Girls Saved from Pirate Marriages Turn Trash to Treasure

(granted, they were never at risk of getting married to pirates, but I suppose its possible, in the sense of all things are possible)

For a story about the most amazing place I visited in Hargeisa, Somaliland during Marathon week, a place that almost made me cry:

They Don’t Have Clitorises but They Have a Library!

(because who wants to read about a library in Somalia, even if it is the most inspiring place in the entire city)

For a story about the incredible strides Somali women are making in medicine:

Raped in the Middle of the Day, Now a Medical Student

(as if sexual assault has anything to do with her capability as a student or doctor)

For a story about the running club in Djibouti, Girls Run 2:

With No Bras, Underwear, Socks, or Shoes, Girls Still Run

(as if the most important thing about them is what they lack, rather than what they have to offer)

Of course FGM, piracy, poverty, rape, war…all these things are significant issues for the region, for the world. I’m not saying they don’t matter or shouldn’t be written about. I write about them, I talk about them with friends. And there very well could be a place in an article about the first class of medical students to graduate to write about assault and trauma. But using those kinds of troubling details as the main point or a kind of requirement for getting through the editorial doors, skews stories and perpetuates the ‘exotic’ otherness of people, rather than our shared humanity.

We are all broken, broken in unique ways. We can also all celebrate unique stories of healing and beauty, while lamenting the brokenness, without dehumanizing each other.

Maybe it is wishful thinking, to imagine people care about those far away and outside our own borders. There is both too much brokenness and too much beauty to expect anyone to hold it all. I can’t summon the emotional energy to care about all the joys and problems of the world. But at the same time, there are billions of us. Surely there is room for all the stories, surely we can diversify a little bit more, stretch our minds past presidents, past preconceived ideas, past our comfort zones.

Surely we can tell all the stories, in all their dark and beautiful complexity, without insisting on twisting them.

(and no, I will not be using any of those headlines. Preempting the fail of sarcasm online here)

By Rachel Pieh Jones|March 30th, 2018|Categories: africa, Writing|Tags: djibouti, headlines, horn of africa, somalia, writing|0 Comments

Modern Nomads Journal

I love artists. I love when people living abroad use their authentic talents to delve into their host cultures and I love when they do it in collaboration with local artists who can teach the foreigner, provide insight, and give broader perspectives, like how does this event fit into the historical realities of this location…

That’s why I love this project: Modern Nomads Journal. It doesn’t hurt that it is beautiful and expertly crafted. It also doesn’t hurt that writers I’ve worked with at EthnoTraveler, like Abdi Latif Dahir, are featured in interviews or that a female Somali playwright tells her story and her dream inside the pages of this 88-page journal.

Last week they launched a kickstarter campaign to fund the first printing of the journal, to which I happily contributed. This week they are busy launching their Somali-language magazine Dhugasho and I am happily promoting the English-language journal to Djibouti Jones readers. Head over to their kickstarter page, donate if you feel so inclined, and look forward to getting a copy of this lovely journal in your mail box (actual mail box).

Journal Introduction

There are few nomadic societies that have been catapulted into the 21st century as dramatically as the Somali. 20 years of war have scattered hundreds of thousands of Somalis all over the world. People who were born in little desert villages and grew up herding camels are now young professionals in London, Toronto, or Minneapolis. And as their large families often live in a dozen different countries, many Somalis live uniquely international lives as modern nomads.

But while most of those who have left their country as refugees keep up their connections with home, and try to preserve their rich cultural heritage and history, a new generation of diaspora Somalis is growing up that has never seen the Horn of Africa. Raised in Western or Middle Eastern cities and surrounded by American, European, or Arab friends, they are more interested in pop culture than camel culture, and often barely speak their mother-tongue or know their place in the clan system.

As new catastrophes force new refugees into the West, and old diaspora members return to their home country, the clash of cultures within Somali society is being fought wherever Somalis live. Whether a family in the Netherlands, trying to teach their children the old traditions and values, or a family in Mogadishu, struggling with an influx of “Westerners”, every Somali is confronted with cultural change, and everybody has to ask themselves what it really means to be Somali.

We want to capture a cultural heritage that is in the process of being lost forever, and help the Somali people to remember and treasure their past. At the same time, we are hoping to document the amazing changes that are happening within Somali culture, and to catch a glimpse of the new rich and diverse society that is emerging out of the ashes of a long civil war.

Follow Modern Nomads Journal on Instagram and be sure to check out their Kickstarter campaign, less then three weeks to go!

And a personal side note, Djiboutian artists (story-tellers, photographers, poets, writers, painters…) I would love to connect with you and to hear how you are sharing your story and art with the world…please leave a comment or contact me.

Don’t forget to sign up for Stories from the Horn, Djibouti Jones’s monthly newsletter coming to your inbox on April 1