The Foreign Service Journal, May 2008

“T here are First-World types in the ForeignService, and Third-World types, but theGormans,” a friendonce saidof us, “areSecond-Worlders.” It’s true.We always seem to pick those middle-of-the-road places: hard, but not to the point that we can’t take the kids. Our current post, Beijing, is our fourth hardship post (15-25 percent) in a row. There’s amethodtoourmadness. Becausewehave three small children, with another on the way, it makes sense for me to stay home right now and care for them— the day-care costs would make short work of my husband’s government salary. But this means we have to find posts where we can afford to live. One of the reasonswebidonBeijingwas becauseof the 15-percent hard- ship pay. Whenyougo toahardshippost, youexpecthardships. Andwe’vehad plenty. Thepollutionhere canbe so bad that a thick fog settlesover every- thing, making your eyes feel like they’re bleeding whenever you step outside. Myhusband’s commute— most nights well over an hour — combined with the long working hours requiredat a vast post suchas thisprettymuchguarantee thatwe’ll never eat dinner as a family. InOctober,mypreviouslyhealthy husbanddeveloped severe breathing troubles. A lifelong runner, he began wheezing as he climbed the stairs; at night, it sounded likehewas drowning inhis sleep. Hewas initiallydiagnosedwith reactive airway disease and then a severe sinus infection. After an inhaler, steroids and some four to five courses of antibiotics, his condition improved. Butonlyafter a triptoHongKong,where the air is cleaner, did his symptoms subside. And the worst hardship of all, in my opinion? About two months intoour tour, I caught amysterious virus that causedme to go deaf in one ear. The doctors in Beijing weren’t equipped to handle the emergency, so I was medevaced to Hong Kong. There, doctors tried to restore my hearing, though warned that theoddswereagainstme, givenhowmuchtimehadelapsed. Back home in theStates, or at apost thatwasmoremedicallyadvanced, I would have been able to get treatment at the ER within hours, improving my odds. Here, not so. I’m now permanently deaf in one ear. Then again, as a colleague pointed out, “I suppose that’s one of the reasons you get hardship pay over there.” I suppose it is. Imagine my shock, then, when a fewmonths later, State decided to reduce our hardship pay. One of the rea- sons cited was the “improved quality of locally provided health care.” I could relate numerous examples why this simply does- n’t ring true, and so could many other family members here in Beijing. Many of us have a story of some health problemwe’ve developed since arriving at post. Another reasoncited: improved air quality. We spouses all had a good laugh at that one. At the time, our kids were having an indoor playdate, because the air that day was so bad that they couldn’t go outside. In fact, two days afterChristmas the airpollution indexwas 433 indowntown Beijing, 500 in the suburbswherewe live. Toput things intoper- spective, on an unhealthy pollution day in a major U.S. city the API is between 40 and 60. We’re all just a bit suspicious about thispaycutwe’vebeenslapped with, followingas it does on theheels of thedecision to take awaybusiness- class travel for flights over 14 hours. (Our travel time to post is right aroundthe14-hourmark.) But,okay. Reduce thehardshippay if youmust. Here’s the thing, though: we chose this post based inpart onwhat it meant for our pocketbook. We knew the risks involved, though we couldn’thave imaginedwhat the real- ity would be. We need that money, and it isn’t right to take it from us, and from families like ours, who came here in good faith, believing they would be compen- sated for the risk they chose to take. If State needs to reduce hardship pay, for financial or other reasons, they ought to grandfather in the policy. Peoplewho are alreadyassignedtopostshouldnotbegivenpaycuts—theyshould be allowed to keep what they were promised when they moved here. Future bidders can be promised less, and they can make decisions for their families based on their own financial calcula- tions. But please, don’t try to tellme that the qualityof life inBeijing has risentosuchanextent thatmy familydeserves apaycut. Given all thatwe’ve been through inour first sixmonths at post, I don’t buy that argument — I just can’t afford it anymore. Donna Scaramastra Gorman is a freelancewriter whosework has appeared in Newsweek , the Washington Post and the Christian ScienceMonitor. Her family has been posted inMoscow, Yerevan and Almaty. They are currently assigned to Beijing. Editor’s Note: A letter signed by a majority of Foreign Service members at Embassy Beijing — 98 employees — was sent to the director general to express concern about the decrease in the differential. FS VOICE: FAMILY MEMBER MATTERS BY DONNA SCARAMASTRA GORMAN Thanks for Your Service ... Now Here’s Your Pay Cut The Gorman family at the Great Wall of China. A F S A N E W S MA Y 2 0 0 8 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 57