The Foreign Service Journal, May 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2022 41 President’s Malaria Initiative countries. I had a wonderful time helping to develop that program and was also able to greatly expand the family planning, maternal and child health and other disease portfolios to the point that when I left, the office budget was over $120 million a year, with 20 employees. So my quiet new job became one with giant challenges and responsi- bilities. Not without stress but with many successes. I loved the work and the life (I was a sailor and the diving secretary of the Dar es Salaam Yacht Club). But when I men- tioned to my wife, Deborah, that we should start looking for another post, she resisted. Deborah was ready to enjoy the North Caro- lina coastal home we had purchased, spend more time with extended family and launch a few creative endeavors. I was still focused on my international public health career and was not sure what else I could do outside USAID, where I had seniority and stable employment. Deborah was also concerned for my health. I was exhausted from the long hours and responsibilities. She argued that I should retire, relax and take on some consulting where I would be paid more, set my own work schedule and have fewer actual responsibili- ties. After looking at the surprisingly old man in the mirror, I agreed. b In March 2010, at age 60, I took the Foreign Service Career Transition Center Job Search Program (aka Retirement Semi- nar), which I found very well done and useful. I retired and began collecting my annuity. Rather than starting a second career, I looked to my role model for retirement, USAID Health Officer Sam Haight, who had been my mentor in Ecuador dur- ing my Peace Corps service. After his retirement from USAID, Llewellyn’s retirement office, November 2021. COURTESYOFCHARLESLLEWELLYN