It Was Never a Job
A podcast about life overseas with USAID. Former USAID Foreign Service Officers recall moments of danger, traveling to monitor remote projects, hosting VIP visitors, how moving to a new country every few years impacted their families, and more. Their stories are harrowing and hilarious, heartbreaking and joyful. Because USAID service was never a job. It was our life.
Episodes
Reactions to Loss
This whole show is a reaction to the loss of USAID.
Not so much the loss of the Agency’s lifesaving programs or its contribution to our national security. Not even the loss of a part of our country’s own sense of itself.
This show focused on the loss of the community of under 2,000 Foreign Service Officers who, along with our loved ones, spent our lives and careers overseas in the world’s toughest
LGBTQI+ Diplomats
USAID’s LGBTQI+ diplomats had different experiences, navigating the policies and norms of both the U.S. and the places where they served.
Many countries around the world don’t recognize same-sex marriages, and therefore don’t grant diplomatic status to most spouses of LGBTQI+ Foreign Service Officers. Without the protection of that diplomatic accreditation for their families, USAID staff either pu
Pets.
USAID’s overseas staff took their whole lives with them from country to country, including their pets.
Living and working all over the world offered plenty of opportunities for USAID staff to adopt dogs and cats in need of love and care.
Those canine and feline companions became dear members of many a Foreign Service family. But the process of moving from country to country with animals posed end
Other Stories
I’ve had a lot of conversations as a part of making this show. In most cases, I was able to find thematic groupings to create episodes. But there were also a bunch of harrowing, hilarious, improbable stories that just didn’t fit under any single category.
And so here’s an episode of other great stories. Locusts. Girl Scout cookies. Highly unexpected compliments from strangers. It’s all here.
If yo
Friendship
Life overseas with USAID meant spending years at a time far from extended families and home communities. During those times, the Agency’s staff found new connections with the colleagues and families serving alongside them.
Those attachments often formed quickly – sometimes ending when it was time to move to the next assignment in the next country – but other times growing into lifelong bonds.
Clos
Health & Healthcare
The experience of navigating health and health-care captures both the adventure and the mundane realities of everyday existence overseas with USAID. Mystery ailments and emergency room visits feel very different in unfamiliar languages and cultures. But regular checkups and annual visits need to happen all the same.
Nearly every U.S. Embassy overseas has an in-house clinic called a Health Unit, wh
COVID
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was difficult for just about every person on the planet. We all have losses from that time, some large and tragic, others small but often long-lasting.
For those posted abroad with USAID, the experience varied tremendously depending on your location. Every country made its own rules about masking, isolation, businesses, testing, and vaccines. Countries with weaker loc
Connecting with the Military
USAID people have a lot in common with military people: a wicked sense of humor, a sort of weird enthusiasm for hard problems, and a commitment to getting the job done no matter what.
When USAID folks and military folks encountered each other in our overseas deployments, we bonded quickly, having both chosen a path of service, often in harm's way, and often far from our loved ones.
USAID and DoD p
"Wow" Moments
Life and work with USAID offered amazing experiences.
Visits to the wildest, most beautiful, most remote places in the world. Meetings in the Presidential palace or the White House. Real human connection across wide gulfs of language and culture. Seeing firsthand how our work helped families and communities live better lives. Service to the United States through service to the world.
Next time you
Duty Officer
A US Embassy has no higher purpose than serving Americans overseas. When a fellow citizen loses their passport, ends up in jail, gets seriously ill, or dies in another country, specialized State Department officers are there to help them. Those State Department officers who focus on services for American citizens do plenty of work on nights and weekends, but they need a break sometimes.
So when an
Diplomats of Color
This episode doesn’t need much of an intro or summary. It doesn’t have obscure government acronyms or a lot of Embassy inside baseball that needs explaining. USAID’s diplomats of color had different experiences, and this episode shares a few of them.
Learn more and get in touch at www.itwasneverajob.com.
VIPs and Visitors
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
Family
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 s
Field Visits
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 h
Danger
USAID didn’t work in easy countries. The Agency’s purpose was to help the United States, by helping others, in some of the toughest places in the world.
USAID staff lived and worked in those places. In all but the most dangerous assignments, their families were with them, going to school and driving on the local roads. US diplomats, including the ones who served with USAID, are all under the prote
Trailer
This podcast shares the stories of former USAID Foreign Service Officers, who recall moments of danger, traveling to monitor remote projects, hosting VIP visitors, how moving to a new country every few years impacted their families, and more.
On this show, we’re not here to talk s*** about DOGE, or lament the changes to foreign assistance, or share again the earnest facts about the many lives USAI
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