The Foreign Service Journal, March 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2013 9 members of the Foreign Service should have the option of homeschooling their children and the expenses for doing so should be reimbursed, my own children would not have traded their experience in international schools for any other kind of education. This is especially true of their time at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt School in Lima, where Ms. Power is now stationed. Both my daughters graduated from FDR and went on to successful college careers, as did the vast majority of their classmates. The teachers and administra- tors there were well-trained, and the students were highly motivated. When my second daughter was a senior, we learned that students at FDR taking the SAT and ACT exams compared favorably to students from Montgomery County and Fairfax County schools in the Wash- ington, D.C., area. In addition to the academic excel- lence we encountered at international schools, our children had the oppor- tunity to meet and befriend both American and host-country nationals in their age groups. Some of these asso- ciations endure to this day, more than 30 years later. Although Ms. Power did not comment on this aspect of her own children’s lives, it would have been dif- ficult for my children to have made such contacts any other way. Having served on boards at two international schools, I extend my best wishes to the selfless educators and their supporters who make education a meaningful learning and socialization experience for the next generation. I am grateful to the State Department for its efforts on their behalf. Vance C. Pace FSO, retired Kaysville, Utah Remembering Surayia Rahman My wife and I enjoyed the article about Nitun Kundu (“Nitun Kundu: A Success Story”) in the December Journal . Michael Kristula does a good job of help- ing to explain why so many Americans are touched by people they meet while posted to Bangladesh. Surayia Rahman, a contemporary of Kundu, is another Bangladeshi artist who also touched the lives of many Ameri- cans posted there. Although Surayia had no formal art training, and little formal education, she was one of the first Ban- gladeshi women artists whose work was sold abroad. Her exquisitely embroidered tapes- tries, which drew on the ancient Ben- gali quilting tradition of nakshi kantha, were given for years as state gifts by the government of Bangladesh. She was also commissioned to do work for the opening of the current embassy building in 1989, where her art is displayed in the lobby. Americans from State, USAID, USIA and the Public Health Service bought these works of art while in Bangladesh and brought them home. They cherish the memory of the modest, spiritual and hardworking woman who overcame numerous obstacles to support her family and hundreds of desperately poor women through art. Nitun Kundu’s art is justly celebrated. He is featured in Bangladesh Art , a 2003 book that helped to drive interest among Bangladeshis in the contemporary art of their compatriots. Surayia, unfortunately, is today little remembered in her own country, perhaps because of her lack of formal artistic credentials. To help preserve the stories of Surayia, her art and the women she worked with, we are making a documentary film, “Threads: The Art and Life of Surayia Rahman, ” which will be of interest to Americans and others who know of this remarkable woman and her art. You can find out more at kanthathreads.com . Leonard Hill FSO, retired Lukebay, Wash . Diversity and FS Children Equal employment opportunity counselor Krishna Das appropriately noted the value of diversity promotion in his January letter (“Diversity at State”). As a parent, I see the discussion of how to bring up our children within the Foreign Service community as equal parts inter- esting, challenging and crucial. I think we can all agree on how necessary it is for parents to serve as role models for their children from the very beginning, particularly in teaching the lesson that everyone, despite appear- ances or stereotypes, deserves respect. As Das noted, State Department children are exposed to diverse cultures, and we as parents should demonstrate why this is such an advantage to their own growth as human beings. Building a culture of diversity starts at home, a literal reality for many State Department families. We speak different languages, come from distinct cultural backgrounds and practice different reli- gions. And yet in most cases, our children are growing up in a culturally richer envi- ronment than we (parents) experienced. Children in the Foreign Service live the concept of diversity and its social implications on a daily basis. That said, it is often necessary for us to ask: What is our role as parents in this process? How can we assist our children to appreciate the value of diversity? There is no single answer, but we need to start by being as involved as possible