REI has more than five staff (and their families) who live and work in the Horn of Africa in one of the hottest places on earth: Djibouti. What is Djibouti like? Read this BBC Correspondent's article called "A Life of Constant Thirst Beside Djibouti's Lake Assal" for a taste.

On Thursday, October 28, 2010, Mount Merapi erupted, spewing hot gas and debris that killed 35 people. The eruptions continued into Friday, forcing 50,000 people to stay in temporary camps outside the radius of the blast. Those in the camps couldn’t even use the water to clean the food because it was so full of dust.

“11:45PM: Wake from a light sleep. Dogs are barking. Check the street. A car is stopped 200 meters up the road. Watch as it drives away. The two pedestrians who were there half an hour ago are gone. No glow of flames from the fields across the street or the village across the fields. No sound of crowds. Back to bed. 1:30AM: Wake up and check the roads again. 3:00AM: Wake again. It would be a beautiful spring night if not for the adrenaline.

“About a month before, I’d written a letter to send to friends and family at home to tell them about our work in Kyrgyzstan. The new English curriculum and books were on schedule to be completed and printed for the local language school that we run, and we were six months ahead of schedule on our other business goals.

Then the revolution came and changed everything…”