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Mother of Three Reflects on Work in Afghanistan
FrontLines - November 2009
By Jan Cartwright
For Sarah-Ann Lynch, a seasoned
Foreign Service Officer
and mother of three—ages
15, 12, and 8—the most difficult
thing about serving in
Afghanistan was making the
decision to go. The year-long
position would entail an extended
separation from her family.
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Sarah-Ann Lynch’s work in
Afghanistan has been her
most memorable assignment
at USAID.
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“What I told my kids is that
this is a really important effort
that I needed to be a part of,” she
said. “I think they understood and
were proud of what I was doing.”
In July 2008, Lynch arrived
in Kabul as the director of the
Agency’s Afghanistan program
office. Knowing that the separation
would be difficult, the family
“tried to treat it as kind of a normal
year, maintaining routines as
much as possible.”
As head of the program office,
Lynch was in charge of assembling
and managing the team
that handled strategy and budget
functions for the office, as well as
donor coordination, information
management, and cross-cutting
issues such as gender.
“We had such a committed
and solid team, both on the
American and Afghan sides—and
it’s rewarding for me to know
that this team that I helped put
together is still together, doing
great and very important work to
improve the lives of Afghans.”
The pace and pressure of
the work was relentless but
invigorating. Within two weeks
of arriving, Lynch was asked to
give a presentation on all USAID
programs in the country to senior
Afghan government officials.
“When you went to sleep at
night, you never knew what challenges
you would face the next
day. It was definitely an exciting
job,” she said.
Lynch was able to get out
of Kabul fairly frequently for
meetings and project visits. One
of her most vivid memories is
of a dedication ceremony she
attended for a women’s garden
center in Baghlan province in
northern Afghanistan. The project
would allow local women to
receive training and also have
private space to themselves—
a rare opportunity for many
Afghan women.
“I got to sit down with a small
group of women at the center.
Like women everywhere, they
just want more opportunities
for their children and for themselves,”
said Lynch, who has
some insights into the struggles
and rewards of motherhood.
While in Afghanistan, Lynch
kept in close touch with family
back home. “We Skyped,
we phoned each other, and we
e-mailed, so I kept in lots of
communication that way. Plus,
employees are allowed four
breaks during the year, and I did
manage to touch base with my
family on all of those breaks, so
we had the human contact as well
during the year. And I think that
really helped a lot, because I did
stay connected.”
Lynch grew up in Stoughton,
Mass., and attended Mount
Holyoke College and Tufts
University’s Fletcher School of
Law and Diplomacy. Although
she started her career working in
international business, she was
always drawn to development,
having served in the Peace Corps
in Morocco.
Lynch has been with USAID
for over 16 years and has served
in Bangladesh and Peru, but she
counts her posting in Afghanistan
as her most memorable assignment.
It was also the fulfillment of
her dream to work in a region that
she had studied in graduate school.
“My experience in
Afghanistan turned out to be even
more enjoyable than I had anticipated...
we all felt that we were
taking part in something very
important. It made us want to
work hard to make a difference.”
Lynch is now based in
Washington as director of strategic
planning and programs
for the Afghanistan-Pakistan
Task Force.
★
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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