CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti — When most of us think of Africa, we think of exotic animals roaming wild in the jungle, safaris on the expansive savannah and hunters looking for their next kill—all images that have been portrayed on the Discovery Channel, in movies like “Tarzan” and “King Kong,” or pictures we have seen in National Geographic. However, for the daughter of a Fairhope woman, life in Africa is very different.

Navy Lt. Fleming L. French, daughter of M. Rivers Brink of Fairhope, is one of more than 1,800 U.S. service members, civilians, coalition forces and partner nations taking part in the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

They are conducting unified actions in the combined joint operations area of the Horn of Africa, which includes a large portion of northeast Africa consisting of the nations of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The task force is here to prevent conflict, promote regional stability and protect coalition interests in an attempt to prevail against extremism.

French, an operating room nurse, has been deployed to this remote location for three months.

“I am an operating room nurse by trade, but here I am doing all types of nursing that includes the emergency room, intensive care, ward, clinic and nursing education. It is very rewarding to be able to care for the personnel here,” said French.

Living in tents, working in temperatures that reach an excess of 120 degrees or more for days on end, constant blowing dust and power outages are just a few of the many hardships that French and her fellow humanitarians must endure during their time here to accomplish this important mission.

“Winning the hearts and minds of the Djiboutians is a unique opportunity to interact with the local people. English discussion groups and the baby orphanage are wonderful opportunities to help people and present a positive image of ‘Americans’ throughout the Horn of Africa,” said French, who graduated in 1987 from Jefferson Davis High School, Montgomery, Ala., and received a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of South Alabama in 1996.

Even after working long hours every day, French and the other military members here still find time to spend some of their off duty-hours helping reach out to those in need. They donate supplies to a local orphanage, help fix up their facility or just play a game of basketball with the kids. They also take part in conversational English classes, which help the locals develop their use of the English language.

Volunteers also provide medical and veterinarian information to the Djiboutians, helping them improve their quality of life by teaching them how to prevent the spread of malaria and cholera, diseases which are very prevalent here. By going out into the communities, French and the others see a way of life that no one in the United States could ever imagine.

“This is a third world country with much poverty. The people are smart — many fluent in four and five languages. The opportunity for change is limited because of limited resources. The life is hard for most Africans. In contrast though, once you get outside of the city, the landscape is beautiful, with breathtaking views,” she said.

In this country, villagers travel with their camels and goats from Ethiopia to Somalia in the desert, by foot in the scorching heat, for hundreds of miles along camel trails that are thousands of years old, to look for drinking water. When they do find water, it is most likely contaminated and shared by animals and humans alike. After a long day of travel, they bed down amongst the palm trees in the oasis at night.

The military members are on a mission to give the people here the education and tools needed to enable them to have a better way of life. From drilling wells to providing clean drinking water to hosting women’s health awareness days, they are making a difference in a region often forgotten by the outside world.

“The one thing that I have learned from my experience here is that material things don’t mean happiness,” said French.

By serving a tour in the Horn of Africa, witnessing the peoples’ constant struggle to simply survive and playing even a small part in improving their lot in life, French and the others have learned a valuable lesson no movie or documentary could ever teach.