The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2016

70 JULY-AUGUST 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Happy to Be Alive BY ALAN L . ROECKS W hen I retired from the State Department Foreign Ser- vice in 2012, I was in good health. But a year later, in October 2013, cancer struck. Over the next two years, after 21 painful immunotherapy treatments and numerous hospi- talizations, I would lose a kidney and bladder, and now wear an external pouch. I was depressed and wondered if I would make it to age 70. Fortunately, I had a spiritual companion. When times were difficult or I had considerable pain, I would close my eyes and Mother Teresa magically appeared to comfort me. My wife, Jane, and I had happened to have a private, 45-minute meet- ing in her Kolkata office years before. Mother Teresa thought I was there for visas, but I had brought used computers, which it turned out she could not use. Though I had planned to write in retirement, it didn’t hap- pen—the medical challenges created writer’s block. (This is my first writing since retirement.) Channeling frustrations of self-pity into something positive, I set up an American Foreign Service Association retirement group in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, established a nonprofit foundation and a A Retirement Adventure BY JUAN BECERRA T he thought of retiring was frighten- ing, but I can attest that there is life afterward. You do have to make adjust- ments to survive financially, however. I wish that I had known the value of formulating a “What do I really want to do?” plan before retirement. Financial stability and a home are important, but so is keeping yourself occupied after you retire. As a Vietnam veteran, I decided that I would help my fellow vets by vol- unteering at the local Veterans Affairs hospital. That turned out to be rewarding as well as challenging, because I didn’t always understand the patients I worked with. I had been lucky enough to return from Vietnam with mini- mal problems, but many of my peers had not been so fortunate. The same was true of many veterans of other wars and con- flicts. Despite my best efforts, I could not relate to them. So after a year of volunteering at the hospital, I decided to start traveling to visit family and friends and visit places I had always wanted to see. I did that for several years until one day, when I received an email from a Foreign Service colleague asking me if I might be interested in doing “While Actually Employed” (now “re-employed annuitant,” or REA ) work. I jumped at the chance and here I am today, heading off to an assignment in South Africa next. I would advise anyone interested in volunteering to try it out for a while and see if it’s really what you want to do. I found that I missed the travel, the adventure, the challenge of FS work and my Foreign Service colleagues. I have given myself an “end date” of 2017, and still plan to “completely” retire next year. I am happy and ready for the next adventure in my life. Juan Becerra served in Rome, Abidjan, Belgrade, Doha, Baku, Geneva, Belmopan, Berlin and Washington, D.C. So far, he has worked as a WAE in Abuja, Niamey, Brazzaville, Ouagadougou and Kinshasa. Juan Becerra (third from left) at an Information Resources Management award ceremony at Embassy Brazzaville in 2015. COURTESYOFJUANBECERRA