The Foreign Service Journal, July/August 2018

54 JULY-AUGUST 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL My advice? Be resilient. Aim for work-life balance. Take vaca- tions. Find a hobby. Focus on family. And above all, do not be afraid to seek help. We all need it at one point or another in our careers. One more thing: As I learned the hard way, our children also feel our stress and can fall into depression themselves. Make sure that you listen to them. Did my therapy affect my security clear- ance? No. I am just grateful that I finally got help. Bring Us All Together Tibruss Minja Mailroom Supervisor, Information Programs Center (FSN) God is great to us every day. On the morning of Friday, Aug. 7, every one of us was expecting a nice weekend while working half- day hours. Abruptly, between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m., the embassy ground was covered in debris, fire everywhere, people running around bloodied, others holding their hands over their faces. I will say, “Oh! It’s my Lord God who makes that day for me!” My work was in the mailroom. With one of my colleagues, Chris, we were to send our diplomatic mail pouch to Washing- ton. We had the pouch ready to send to the airport, and we were outside by the main entrance where the car was already wait- ing for us to load the pouch. We loaded those bags, and Chris escorted the bags with the driver to where we prepare the freight documentation. The car left at least five minutes before 10:30 a.m., and I was at the main gate talking to two of the guards: Mtendeje (who perished, may he rest in peace) and Mathew (who survived). I remembered that I left the mailroom door open while taking those pouches out, and the Marines usually take care of watching the door from their end. So, I told the guards, “Sorry, I have to go back to the office.” I got to the door of my office and walked several steps before I heard a big boom. The shaking went on for a minute—a really A memorial to the victims of the embassy bombing was erected at the national museum in Dar Es Salaam. A stone memorial listing the names of the victims is located on the grounds of the new embassy. LAIKAACFROMU.S. [CCBY-SA2.0],VIAWIKIMEDIACOMMONS