The Foreign Service Journal, December 2022

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2022 43 Despite the heavy lifting required, Ms. Carlson feels thank- ful that she could bring her community together to promote children’s education and make a difference in the lives of the local population. On receiving the Avis Bohlen Award, she says: “I am truly delighted, as I have never received an award like this before. In my time in the Foreign Service as an EFM, I have been incred- ibly proud to support our amazing members and FSOs. What a unique life experience we have had!” Originally from the United Kingdom, Ms. Carlson had a successful career in information technology before moving to Portugal with her three children. It was there that she met her husband, who had just been accepted into the Foreign Service, and his two children. Since then, Ms. Carlson has sought to build bridges between the Foreign Service community and locals overseas, always inventing ways to contribute to the host communities by orga- nizing events and supporting CLO initiatives at every post. Now a naturalized U.S. citizen, Ms. Carlson holds a master’s degree in international elementary education from George Mason University, and a certification for literacy instruction from the Orton-Gillingham Academy. She and her husband hope to retire to Ireland and create a home base there for their family of five children and several grandchildren. Nelson B. Delavan Award for an Office Management Specialist Denis Rajic Supporting Community in Extreme Lockdown D uring a season of particular hardship at Consulate Gen- eral Shanghai, Denis Rajic applied his organizational and problem-solving skills to the community’s most critical chal- lenges. His commitment to the well-being of staff and their families ensured that the mission ran efficiently despite the city’s unprec- edented lockdown measures. Mr. Rajic arrived at post in 2019; shortly thereafter, the country was overcome by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being the only office management special- ist at this 400-person mission for most of the rating period, he provided outstanding support to the busy front office and guar- anteed the consul general and deputy principal officer were always fully prepared for the day’s engagements. In response to the biggest surge in infections since the start of the pandemic, in April 2022, Shanghai authorities announced a four-day citywide lockdown. When days turned to weeks, essential supply chains collapsed, and food and medical sup- plies began to dwindle, the State Department evacuated all family members and nonemergency staff. As his wife and three children flew home—their second ordered departure from Shanghai—Mr. Rajic volunteered to stay behind. Due to heavily restricted public services, mountains of trash accumulated at American embassy housing compounds and the main consulate building. Mr. Rajic negotiated with the foreign affairs office to convince the local neighborhood committee of the Communist Party to allow trash removal. When this request was denied, he tried again until he received approval. Mr. Rajic’s persistence directly contributed to the health and safety of this compound and community. American citizens still in the region were soon clamoring to escape the city and what many described as “a dystopian nightmare.” However, the pouch containing dozens of passports had been held up at the airport, and the consular section sought a volunteer to retrieve them. With his characteristic alacrity, Mr. Rajic stepped up, donned full personal protective equipment, and talked his way through multiple checkpoints to successfully recover the documents. When colleagues trapped in their apartments began to run out of food, Mr. Rajic sprang into action. Coordinating with the network of vendors he had developed, he convinced an authorized food distributor to use its government permission to provide families with essential provisions. As the crisis dragged on, locally employed (LE) staff reached out with increasingly desperate calls for assistance obtaining The memory of the shortages imposed by the war in Bosnia had mentally and emotionally prepared me for many of the challenges that we faced under lockdown in Shanghai. —Denis Rajic Denis Rajic.