The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JULY-AUGUST 2020 59 We are suggesting that the old program, with its songs and counting games, might be helpful in bolstering the new content. And, perhaps most personally rewarding, I have built a relation- ship with my counterpart at the ministry. I’m on call via his WhatsApp for help and advice. Another watchword fromMark Green’s tenure has stuck with me: “They have to want it more than we do.” The problem with ignoring local actors and dictating the solution is that the host country never owns that solution, meaning they will neither sustain it nor learn lessons from it. My greatest aspiration for the work we are doing now is that because this vision was the ministry’s, it will turn into a sustained radio distance learning education program that the ministry leads after the COVID-19 crisis is over. Jeremiah Carew, who joined the Foreign Service with USAID in 2004, is the education officer in South Sudan. He has served previously in Peru, Afghanistan (two tours), Uganda, Washington, D.C., and Vietnam. Work-Life Balance? Not a Chance Christopher Merriman ■ Frankfurt Work and life comingle in the Foreign Service. We’re told achiev- ing the mythical “work-life balance” is key to longevity in this career. Months of lockdown during the pandemic, however, have obliterated my understanding of what that means. For me, adjusting to this crisis didn’t start to happen until I abandoned all preconceived notions about how to get through stressful circumstances. When the stay-at-home order was issued, my wife and I were quick to focus on the potential advantages of the situation. We thought having two teleworking parents would give us the flex- ibility to cover child care for our 2- and 4-year-old daughters— at home once the preschool closed—and let us both thrive in our jobs. We’d been managing work-life balance in difficult