The Foreign Service Journal, July/August 2018

26 JULY-AUGUST 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Helping Others Gives Purpose Joyce Ann Reed Administrative Assistant for Communications I was in the Communications Center hallway on the top floor, escorting a member of the Kenyan char force who was doing rou- tine cleaning. I heard a loud crash on the roof, and then there was total darkness. I was having trouble breathing. I saw debris all over my clothes and in my hair when the emergency lights came on. Once the door to the ambassador’s office was unlocked, I took the Kenyan employee’s hand and led her through it, then out of the bombed building to safety. I immediately turned our car into an ambulance, loading bleeding Americans and Kenyans to be taken to the hospital. I also helped with the triage that was being organized by our doctor, Gretchen McCoy. In the afternoon, I went to the USAID building to help with the reorga- nization of the American embassy. The effect the bombing has had on me in the long term is that I do not feel safe anymore, no matter where I go. I experience painful feelings when I have flashbacks of the bombing. These flashbacks can be triggered by certain sounds, smells or just see- ing or hearing about other similar events. The bombing damaged my husband’s life as well, since he was one of my co-workers at the embassy. Our children’s lives were forever changed. I take medication given to me by my psychiatrist, whom I see monthly for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. I continue to keep in touch with other survivors through our nonprofit charity, The American Society for the Support of Injured Survivors of Terrorism. This is my way of saluting the courage of survivors; helping others affected by terrorism gives me purpose. Staffing the Hotline Maria Mullei USAID/Kenya Senior Agricultural Development Adviser and Senior Assistant Team Leader (FSN) I worked for USAID/Kenya from 1982 to 2006. I managed several agricultural programs, as well as the Women in Development portfolio, and was also an election observer for the 1987 election. When the attack occurred, I was at home. That evening, USAID Dep- uty Director Lee Ann Ross called to ask if I would be willing to help set up a hotline center that concerned Kenyan families could call to ascertain the status of their loved ones—like a crisis hotline in the United States. The major dif- ference in this case was that none of us had any idea how to run such a center, let alone how to answer the frantic questions that were coming our way. But I reported to work immediately and worked two long weeks assisting the bereaved families. It is almost impossible to express how difficult this job was. Distraught families were calling to find out if their loved ones were alive or dead. I did not know how to answer. The only rule we were given was not to tell anyone of a death over the phone. We were told to ask each family to come to the USAID building, where we would tell them in person. Our hotline team worked under the most extraordinary circumstances. I remember very clearly one of the difficult cases with which I dealt. A husband had dropped off his wife for work in the morning and thought nothing was amiss, even after he heard about the bombing. When he arrived home later that day and his wife was not there, he decided to check the local hospitals. When he didn’t find her in any of the hospitals, he still assumed that she was fine and that she would show up sooner or later. It did not occur to him to check the mortuary. The following day, the husband and some of his relatives came by the USAID building to check the status of our informa- tion. I took his call and went downstairs to meet the family. It was I who broke the news that his wife had died. The husband collapsed on the spot. I am still haunted by the sights I saw, the images on the television and the job I did. I still have not gone to the former embassy site where the names of my former colleagues are listed. I have tried to avoid anything specifically related to the Navy Seabees shoring up damage to the underground parking area at the embassy in Nairobi. COURTESYOFWORLEYANDJOYCEREED