Embassy life can be pretty fancy. Diplomats meet with heads of state, CEOs, and Ambassadors. The President, Cabinet secretaries, and other Washington bosses visit. The only thing that’s a bigger deal than a VIP is a *V*-VIP. That’s of course a VERY very important person – usually code for the President, the Vice President, or the Secretary of State. Congressional delegations – abbreviated “Co-Dels” – travel the world to see firsthand the quality and impact of foreign assistance.

The theater of pomp and circumstance that often comes with these visits is an important part of diplomacy, signalling friendship, power, or rivalry between countries.

But before the photo ops and major speeches, the rank-and-file of the Embassy toil for weeks to choreograph every detail and plan for every contingency. High-level officials – and their staff – have high expectations. Security preparations are uncompromising. Members of Congress sometimes bring their spouses, who get their own bespoke itineraries, full of cultural experiences, and sometimes retail.

USAID staff took their turn, planning and organizing, and often helping visitors get outside the capital and connect with ordinary local people.

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The families of USAID’s foreign service staff had a tough job.

They moved every few years, to new schools, new houses, new cultures and climates. Spouses and kids had to reinvent themselves in every place, looking for employment and new friends, trying to figure out soccer or dance class in a language they hadn’t learned yet.

And after all that work to find a place, usually after more than their share of tears and frustration, just when they figured out whatever place they were in, it was time for the next posting in the next country.

Extended families back home visited to experience how different – or sometimes not so different – life abroad could be. USAID folks even convinced most of our people back home that we didn’t actually work for the CIA.

So for as hard as it was, the bright side was awfully bright: USAID families speak languages, adapt to anything, and can find – or create – a community for themselves anywhere they go.

We came away with a clearer picture of life in the USA, and gratitude for the many blessings this country offers us.

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USAID's real work took place outside the capital city. The greatest needs and opportunities for development assistance were in the more remote, more disease-affected, more unstable areas.

USAID folks would speak of visiting “the field” when going to see projects in these areas. Sometimes a visit to the field meant a simple drive or short commercial flight. Other times USAID’s teams rode military helicopters, boarded a State Department plane, or did their best to find a seaworthy boat.

It was important to get there, in order to see whether programming was happening as expected and to hear from beneficiaries and implementers how projects were going. Field visits helped us stay connected to the real-world results that flowed from all the memos and meetings and emails that it takes to make anything happen in government.

Those opportunities USAID staff had to get out from behind the desk and get their shoes muddy were the occasions that made all the bureaucracy worth it.

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