The Foreign Service Journal, October 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2018 41 Not just tales of many travels during a too-short life, they are the story of an FS community that supported her, and supports us all. BY L ES L I E BASSETT Jessica’s JOURNEYS Leslie Bassett retired in 2017 from the Senior Foreign Service. She is a former U.S. ambassador to Paraguay. Ambassador Bassett has also served as deputy chief of mission in Manila, Mexico City and Gaborone. She served informally as coordinator of Women Ambas- sadors Serving America at the State Department. E xpatriates share the wanderlust gene embedded deep in our DNA— perhaps a throwback to nomadic ancestors, perhaps just a tick in the evolutionary clock. Whatever its origin, it prompts us to constant movement, exploration, investigation and introspection. It means we carry with us always the cords of childhood that connect us to family and the bonds of global adventures (and misadventures) that link us to a found community of like spirits. We carry home in backpacks, suitcases and ship- ping boxes. We carry families in our hearts, our stories, our much-thumbed photos and our social media. Jessica el Bechir was an explorer, a truth-teller and a col- league whose indelible spirit made her a cherished member of many families, both genetic and peripatetic. She was itiner- ant even in her youth—first an exchange student, then a Peace Corps Volunteer before joining the State Department Foreign Service. I knew her as a consular officer and general services FEATURE Jessica’s friends and colleagues erected a sundial in the Embassy Rangoon garden in her memory. HANNAHDUFFORD