The Foreign Service Journal, May 2014

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2014 35 association. Over the following years, it held many conferences and continued to grow. Several years ago, they informed me I’d been formally recognized as “the Father of UZTEA”! B U R K I N A F A S O A Sister Schools Project By David Patterson Hometown: Evansville, Ind. In 1998, when I was serving in Ouagadougou as the informa- tion programs officer, Ambassador Sharon Wilkinson asked me to go “up country” to a small village an hour’s drive from the capital to be the U.S. embassy representative at the dedication of a new schoolhouse built by USAID. Though USAID had officially shut down operations in Burkina Faso in 1996, the school was one of its last projects. The headmaster at the school pointed out that the 30-odd students did not have even basic supplies such as pencils or paper. As a result, he had to write the lessons on the chalkboard, and the children had to memorize everything. He asked me to please have the embassy supply these items, and I told him I’d see what I could do. Back at the embassy, I was told we could not do that. So I con- tacted Highland Elementary School in my hometown of Evans- ville, Ind., to see if they could possibly help. The fourth-grade class went into action, and within a month I had more than 30 kits. Each was a large, two-gallon Ziploc bag filled with notebooks, crayons, pencils, pens, scissors, water color paints and a ruler. I soon made another trip to the village. What joy on the chil- dren’s faces as each was presented with a bag full of school sup- plies! I truly felt proud to represent America. Later, while on home leave, I visited the Highland Elementary class to thank them and give them photos of the event at the village school. Last time I checked, the fourth-grade classes of the two schools were still corresponding—by mail. Highland had asked for their sister school’s email address. They were shocked when I explained that there was no electricity in this village, let alone computers! It gave the kids a new perspective on life. G E O R G I A Untangling an Adoption Crisis By Robin Busse Hometown: Charlottesville, Va. I was proudest of being in the Foreign Service when I helped untangle an adoption crisis in Georgia. In September 2003, Georgia changed its adoption law virtually overnight and without notice, shutting down the process. There were six American fami- lies whose cases had started under the old code but had not yet made their way to conclusion. After intense behind-the-scenes work, “my” six cases were eventually released. One child was so ill that I held the immigrant visa interview with his adoptive parents in his hospital room in a rundown, Soviet-era clinic. Another couple was briefly detained and had to leave their baby in foster care. After the adoption was approved, I escorted this family to the airport because they were so scared they might be arrested again. We walked through immigration where, as expected, they were carefully scrutinized as the first foreign adoptive parents allowed to take a Georgian out of the country under the new laws. M E X I C O A Poignant Introduction By Javier Alfredo Araujo Hometown: El Paso, Texas One of my proudest moments in the Foreign Service was dur- ing the summer of 2013, when the U.S. consul general in Ciudad Juarez invited me to share the podium to launch “100,000 Strong in the Americas.” More than 500 students from northern Mexico came to learn about President Obama’s initiative to increase edu- cational exchanges between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean. The goal is 100,000 exchanges annually in each direction. The consul general introduced me as a diplomatic colleague who, 35 years earlier, had sat in the very same room awaiting a student visa! A F G H A N I S T A N Women’s Basketball in Kabul By Rose Naputi Hometown: Merizo, Guam On March 7, 2012, in Kabul, during turbulent and troubled times in a country devastated by war, I had an awesome opportu- nity to celebrate International Women’s Day in a friendly basket- ball competition between a U.S. teammade up of embassy and International Security Assistance Force women, and the Afghan Women’s Olympic basketball team. This event brought together women of all ages and cultures from our military fighting forces, our embassy staff and, most