A Foreign Service Officer will be directed on their first two tours. Which is to say that although some things are taken into consideration, entry level officers (ELOs) will essentially be told where they’re being sent for their first two tours of two years each.
At the beginning of their six week orientation, US direct hires (USDH) — as opposed to local hires — are given a list of locations that are willing to take on brand new ELOs. The new hires then have a week or so to learn as much as possible about those locations. Specialists, grouped by trade, sort their lists into a ranked order and return it to their career development officers (CDOs). Generalists, on the other hand, get such long lists that they sort theirs into high, medium, and low priorities before returning their lists to their CDO’s.
There were a LOT of great locations on that list of Ma’s; two of the posts even included language training, even though her group had been told that her trade rarely receives language training.
She and most of her “trademates” coordinated their responses in an attempt to have more control over the system. In the end, she submitted her list the day before it was due.
And then we waited some more.
Finally, with a week of orientation left, a giant ceremony referred to as Flag Day was held. Ma and 229 of her classmates were presented with a little flag representing their first posts.
Although I won’t be posting pictures of anyone without permission, and likely won’t be posting pictures of Ma and Pops, I found this picture on the internet when I searched “flag day State Department,” so I guess it’s fair game. This photo was not of Ma’s orientation class, but kind of gives you an idea of the end result:
Where are we going, you ask? I’ll give you a hint…
That’s right; we’re going to the République du Niger, also known in the local Hausa language as Jamhuriyar Nijar, or the Republic of Niger. Though the State Department prefers the use of the nee-zhair pronunciation, ny-jur is also, apparently, acceptable.
Embassy Niamey is located in a new facility certified LEED Platinum by the US Green Building Council; Niamey, a city of 1.8 million, is located in the southwest corner of Niger (at the red pin):
It gets really hot there. Fortunately for me, because it is located in the Sahel region, it’s a (mostly) dry heat:
Although the position at the embassy isn’t language designated — language training isn’t required for someone in Ma’s position — Ma does speak French and is very much looking forward to getting back up to snuff.
When do we leave? According to the training schedule provided by the CDO, Ma’s training in the DC metro area should be concluded by early August, which means we’ll be heading out soon after that.
Of the people in Ma’s trade group, all but two got either their first or second choices — and those two got their 4th choices, so it seems like coordinating paid off!
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