The Foreign Service Journal, June 2012

J U N E 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 31 would speak on our behalf and raise issues with the only interlocutor ca- pable of getting things done: the Department of State. And so the International Foreign Service Asso- ciation was born in 2009. Washington has always shied away from having a true dialogue with the global Locally Employed Staff community, claiming that FSN committees from different coun- tries would never agree to a united position on these is- sues. But despite distinct benefits packages based on local prevailing practice, we do indeed have common interests. TRINEA, because it brings together three distinct groups of LES in the same country, is a potential model for a global approach. In just a few years of existence, IFSA has already proven that its members around the world can agree on issues that transcend the local level, and that they are ready to work directly with Washington. We are confident that a partnership between the Department of State and IFSA will benefit both sides. Jon Miracle joined the Embassy Brussels staff as a com- puter specialist in 2000. He has been a member of TRINEA, the embassy’s FSN association, for six years and its chairman for three. F ASCINATION AND F RUSTRATION By Aneta Stefanova, Sofia My experience as a Foreign Service National working at the U.S. embassy in Sofia can be summarized in two words: fascination and frustration. On good days, it’s a dol- lop of fascination and a pinch of frustration. And on bad days? On bad days, there is nothing fun or fascinating about our deep frustration as members of the embassy’s local staff. In many ways, the embassy is like my family. I started as the mission’s switchboard operator at the age of 19, while most of my friends were emigrating from Bulgaria. Some of the Americans I first met at the embassy bonded with me despite the lingering cold shadow of the Iron Cur- tain. My Foreign Service colleagues were there for me when my father passed away suddenly and when my mother fell ill soon af- terward. They offered everything from emotional support to hot meals, and even medical care for my suffering family. They are still the most amazing, kind and sup- portive people I have ever met, and epitomize the best of what America offers to the world. The embassy has also given me an unprecedented opportunity to develop professionally. I have seen many of my Bulgarian colleagues move up through the ranks, supported by adequate professional training and mentoring. My fellow FSNs deserve special mention for their unsurpassed hard work, professionalism, expertise and passion for working for the United States, despite the cultural differences and institutional lines that separate us from our American colleagues. As a press specialist, my day starts at the break of dawn with reading the local press and briefing the ambassador and the country team on the news of the day. It then speeds through attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies for humanitarian assistance projects, answering press in- quiries, analyzing media sector developments and provid- ing a cogent explanation of my country’s complicated past, with its political and economic implications, to my Amer- ican colleagues. After so many years at the embassy, I sometimes take my fascinating work for granted. But 20 years of fantas- tic, sometimes funny and occasionally stressful memories still remind me of how special the institution I work for truly is. And this is where that healthy dose of frustration comes in. My Foreign Service National colleagues and I appre- ciate the special place the U.S. holds in the world, and de- fend and promote it every day. We do so not just at work but also in our social lives, when our job becomes our iden- tity as people. We do it because we are loyal to a country which, since the start of the 20th century, has been a force for good, de- spite widespread, simplistic and unfair criticism for being the “world’s policeman.” Yet America’s uniqueness also creates a sense of ex- ceptionalism among some Foreign Service personnel that frustrates us in our everyday work on many occasions. It means we are not “like everyone else” in our country, in F OCUS It soon became clear that the important decisions were all being made back in Washington with little local input.