The Foreign Service Journal, March 2013

34 MARCH 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL eral of the International Organization for Migration, and every- one who has worked in State’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration, or the refugee affairs offices at USAID. Finally, I salute all refugee service organizations and the volunteers who work tirelessly, often under harsh, dangerous conditions, to support refugees and empower them to prepare for the next chapter in their lives. Rachel O’Hara, a State Department Foreign Service officer since 2011, currently serves in Chennai. Vietnam Memories BY BRUCE BEARDSLEY T hough I didn’t begin my diplomatic career with an interest in refugee affairs, I soon developed one. Looking back, I would say that was truly the most important aspect of my career. My military service in Vietnam from 1965 to 1966 sparked a lifelong appreciation for the country and its people. That fondness only grew when I returned there as an FSO in 1970 to live and work in a rural district. So you can imagine the anxiety I felt as I followed the news of the North Vietnamese Army’s advance on Saigon in the spring of 1975. I was called to help out in the evacuation of Vietnam that April, ending up as a civil coordinator on Wake Island—where I lived with 12,000 evacuees! A few years later, as the plight of those fleeing Vietnam by boat turned into a humanitarian crisis, I again left my assigned post to work at refugee camps in Malaysia. Inspired by that experience, in the mid-1980s I chose a full-time, four-year assignment in Bangkok with the Refugee and Orderly Depar- ture Program. There, in addition to running what was then the State Department’s largest refugee resettlement and protection operation, I was able to revise the way in which goals were set and achieved. I visited hundreds of refugees in various states of distress, and even traveled to Hanoi (despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations) to negotiate agreements governing our work. Those advances enhanced the efficiency and focus of the ODP process. Working with Vietnamese, Cambo- dian and Lao evacuees and refugees was the most gratifying part of my 31-year Foreign Service career. Seeing the refugee population on Pilau Bidong shrink due to my efforts, or hearing people’s expressions of appreciation as they were reunited with their families, was always an inspiration to me. This wasn’t just true in Southeast Asia, either. The energy radiating from Kosovars in 1999 when I was assisting their return to rebuild their lives was equally gratifying. I enjoyed the adrenaline rush that came after each successful bureaucratic battle, whether with the interagency process or host governments. But more important, I came to see my own prob- Working with Vietnamese, Cambodian and Lao evacuees and refugees was the most gratifying part of my 31-year Foreign Service career. Vietnamese “boat refugees” crowd around the interview area at Pulau Bidong, Malaysia. This island off the coast of Trengganu peaked with about 45,000 refugees in the fall of 1979. Photo courtesy of Bruce Beardsley