The Foreign Service Journal, April 2010

A P R I L 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 45 F O C U S O N T H E F S R O L E I N H A I T I R EMEMBERING T HOSE W E H AVE L OST he devastating January earth- quake in Haiti took the lives of at least 230,000 individu- als and decimated the country’s physical and institutional infrastructure. Among the casualties were a long-time Foreign Service officer, the wife and two children of an FSO and at least six dedicated Foreign Service Nationals. Victoria DeLong, 57, a veteran of the Foreign Service and an AFSA member who served as the cultural affairs officer at Embassy Port-au-Prince, was killed on Jan. 12 when her home collapsed. Posted in Haiti since Febru- ary 2009, she had fallen in love with the country’s people and culture and called this tour the highlight of her 27- year diplomatic career. “Victoria was a veteran Foreign Service officer who worked tirelessly to build bridges of understanding and respect between the people of the United States and the people of Haiti,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clin- ton said on Jan. 15, after speaking with the DeLong fam- ily. “She served her country with distinction and honor, and she will be sorely missed.” Born and raised in Southern California, Victoria De- Long joined the Navy in 1973. After completing her tour, she served at the naval station in San Diego while work- ing on her bachelor’s degree at National University. It was a fellow student, Dorothy Ledger, then on a educational break from her own diplomatic career, who introduced Ms. DeLong to the Foreign Service. She joined the FS in 1983, shortly after completing her degree. According to Ledger, who remained a lifelong friend, it was a career choice that Victoria DeLong never regretted. “She ab- solutely loved it,” Ledger told the Washington Post from her home in Kentucky. “She loved the travel. She loved her job. She just loved all of it.” ‘She Loved Her Job’ In addition to Haiti, Ms. DeLong served in El Sal- vador, Costa Rica, Papua New Guinea, Germany, Aus- tralia, Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mauritius. In Mauritius, as part of a small embassy staff, she worked closely with then-Ambassador Cesar B. Cabrera on issues such as ter- rorism and piracy, accompanying him on a trip to Djibouti to meet with U.S. military officials stationed there soon after his arrival. Foreign Service work is “a vocation,” Amb. Cabrera explained in an interview with the Wash- ington Post on his work with DeLong. “It’s a calling,” he said. “She had the calling.” The intelligence and determination Ms. DeLong brought to her work were impressive, former U.S. Am- bassador to Haiti Janet A. Sanderson told the Post . But it O NE F OREIGN S ERVICE OFFICER , THE WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN OF AN FSO AND AT LEAST SIX F OREIGN S ERVICE N ATIONALS WERE AMONG THE CASUALTIES . B Y S USAN B RADY M AITRA T Susan Brady Maitra is the Journal ’s senior editor.