Insights From Acting Administrator Alonzo Fulgham
FrontLines - July 2009
As in many families, it often takes a tragedy to remind us of the greater purpose to which we dedicate our lives and our day’s work.
Over the past few weeks, the USAID family has been reminded once again that the work we do across the globe calls for unyielding determination, compassion, courage, and sacrifice—sometimes the ultimate sacrifice.
John Granville, a democracy and governance officer in USAID’s Sudan mission, and Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, a driver and Foreign Service National better known to his friends as A.R., were killed in Khartoum on New Year’s Day 2008. Late last month, a Sudanese court convicted five men for their roles in these slayings.
And once again the USAID family stopped to remember our two colleagues, for a brief time replacing everyday discussions of program priorities and fiscal year budgets with talk of the nobility of public service and the heartbreak of lives cut short too soon.
A.R. was one of the original members of USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team in Darfur in 2004 and joined the Sudan office as a driver the next year. A Washington colleague said that he never had a quiet or jokeless ride when the 39-year-old father was at the wheel.
John went about his official duties with a light heart. Colleagues describe a young man of 33 living a life of joy and purpose— whether distributing solar-powered radios to connect rural South Sudanese to discussions about national elections or keeping coworkers and friends in stitches with tales of his adventures.
To be sure, many of the men and women of USAID put their lives on the line every day as they go about their efforts to support humanitarian and development programs in some of the world’s most dangerous locations.
As mission director in Afghanistan, I saw first-hand the kind of commitment to duty that a hardship post requires of USAID staff. These are the same attributes one might find in USAID staff working in Iraq, Pakistan, Colombia, Yemen, Georgia, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and many other countries where our jobs require work under precarious conditions.
Ours is a mission that provides a roadmap to peace and prosperity. But we often face danger, conflict, and even resentment along the route. USAID’s men and women working on the ground in these places deserve our deepest gratitude.
Is the work difficult? Undoubtedly. Is it worth the effort? Absolutely. I have a feeling that A.R. and John Granville would agree.
“I am doing what I love every day of my life,” John once told his mother. “How many people could ever say that?"
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