The Foreign Service Journal, December 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2018 35 I covered other PEPFAR events during my years at the embassy, too. I took this picture, at right, of women and children at Mapa Health Clinic, a beneficiary of PEPFAR in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, in November 2013. The women were waiting to be seen by a doctor during the handover of a PEPFAR-funded health clinic to the Mapa community. A local nongovernmental organization, the Tabitha Cumi Foundation, partnered with PEPFAR to build the clinic; the name Tabitha Cumi literally means “Woman Arise.” I captured tragic moments, as well. Working for the State Department can be fun, but it presents peculiar challenges and risks, which sometimes put the lives of both Americans and local staff at great risk. From local travels on roads littered with potholes and lurking armed robbers, to air travel in jerky airliners, the risks are indeed legion. I live with sad memories of the late Major Joseph Jolly Haydon Jr., head of the Office of Defense Cooperation, and eight of my FSN colleagues, all of whom perished in a domestic plane crash on Oct. 6, 2005. Major Haydon and eight local staff members were returning to Abuja from Lagos—the major had been at a meeting in Germany—when the plane they were traveling in nosedived at Lisa Village in Ogun State, killing all 117 passengers on board and reminding me of the risks that came with the job of working for the State Department. I attended a memorial service held in honor of Major Haydon, taking pictures as his widow, Maria Haydon, planted a tree in remembrance of him. Representatives of the Chief of Army Staff of the Nigerian Armed Forces attended the memorial to offer condolences. I was there during the February 2015 presidential elections in Nigeria when, to promote free, fair and credible elections, President Barack Obama’s special envoy, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, held closed-door meetings with then-Presi- dent Goodluck Jonathan—the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party—and Muhammadu Buhari, the opposition party leader and presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress. Ambassador James Entwistle also cham- pioned a crusade throughout the 36 states of Nigeria to commit politicians to a pledge of nonviolence before, during and after the elections. Women and children line up at Mapa Health Clinic, a beneficiary of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Mrs. Haydon plants a memorial tree on embassy grounds during the memorial service. IDIKAONYUKWU IDIKAONYUKWU