The Foreign Service Journal, May 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2022 43 By working half time during this 10-year period, I was able to gradually transition tomore typical retirement avocations— woodworking, diving and sailing. to me, so I wouldn’t starve, and we enjoyed zipping around by moto taxi. I also returned to familiar missions, such as Nepal where I was able to save the government housing money by living with my daughter, Bronwyn, who had joined USAID as an FSO when I retired. It was very personally satisfying to help Nepal’s health sector recover from the earthquake in 2015. Finally, I went to Ghana in January 2020 for the first of two monthlong assignments, but COVID-19 put a stop to that. So I resigned my personal services contract and reentered retirement full time, yet again. b This retirement strategy has worked very well for me. I was able to “keep my hand in” public health on a part-time basis and provide some greatly appreciated support to beleaguered mis- sions based on my 30 years of experience. At age 70, I decided to finally hang it up and leave this work to younger minds and bodies. By working half time during this 10-year period, I was able to gradually transition to other more typical retirement avocations, such as woodworking, diving and sailing. Indeed, this article is being drafted from a sailboat I am crewing from North Carolina to the Virgin Islands! Consulting allowed me to make a consid- erable amount of money to finance my retirement, including lots of tax-free per diem and frequent flyer airline mileage. I realize that this lifestyle is not for everyone, but it surely worked for me! n