Bandar Seri Begawan Exotic Post a Vital Link in Asia-Pacific Relations Wildlife Advocates Conservation Team Fights Illegal Animal Traff icking state.gov/statemag February 2012 SKATEBOARD DIPLOMACY Department Reaches Out to Tunisian Youth February 2012 Contents Issue Number 564 22 Peaceful Brunei Living well in the Post of the Month 9 Features 9 Animal Advocates OES fi ghts to protect wildlife 10 FSNs of the Year Six winners represent thousands 14 Department Awards Serving with commitment and courage 18 Fighting Cartels CARSI addresses causes of violence 20 Engaging Youth Embassy helps post-war Sri Lanka heal 28 Skating in the Sahara 14 36 Youth program bridges barriers 32 Focus on Ethics Offi ce helps employees make tough calls 34 Emergency Response State-of-the-art center stands ready 35 FS Singles Course Coping with romance in a fi shbowl 32 40 Retirement Wave RET keeps up with rising workload Columns 2 Post One 3 Letters 35 4 In the News 7 Diversity Notes 36 In Brief 39 Education and Training 41 Obituaries On the Cover 42 After Hours A skateboarder Ollies atop the portico of an abandoned house in Trabelsi, Tunisia. 43 Lying in State Photo Illustration by Isaac D. Pacheco 44 End State Post One One Giant Editor-in-Chief Leap Isaac D. Pacheco // [email protected] An Ollie is the quintessential skateboarding trick where riders launch off the ground without Deputy Editor using their hands to manipulate the board. Th e Ed Warner // [email protected] technique is the basis for nearly every other Writer/Editor trick in the sport, and beginners often struggle until they can master the delicate choreography Bill Palmer // [email protected] involved in kicking the back of the board into the Art Director ground while simultaneously sliding their lead David L. Johnston // [email protected] foot forward to propel the board upward and out. Contacting Us When I was 15 years old, I attempted to many of the American participants have 301 4th Street SW, Room 348 Ollie off a skateboard ramp and jump over returned home. Th e response from citizens has Washington DC 20547 a pair of discarded car tires stacked in my been overwhelmingly positive. Gibson hopes [email protected] driveway. I had become reasonably adept to continue building upon this groundswell, Phone: (202) 203-7115 at executing and landing this trick on fl at cultivating a burgeoning skateboarding culture Fax: (202) 203-7142 ground, but was entering brave new territory among a once-disenfranchised youth, and by launching off the handmade two-foot ramp. giving young Tunisians an opportunity to Change of Address I built up my courage, double-checked the bridge social chasms in their own communities Send changes of addresses to our staff using distance between the ramp and tires and set off through sports. the contact information above. Please include to bridge the gap. While my fi rst attempt at Ollieing over tires your previous mailing address. Last year, another high school student in the driveway ended with blood-covered Submissions set out to bridge a much more signifi cant elbows and a trip to the emergency room, I State divide—one between cultures—when he picked myself up and later succeeded (albeit For details on submitting articles to Magazine, request our guidelines by e-mail at hosted skateboard clinics for Tunisian youths with a helmet and elbow guards). In countries [email protected] or download them to raise money for a sick child’s hospital stay like Tunisia that seek to overcome myriad from state.gov/statemag. State Magazine does (pg. 28). Jared Gibson, an Eligible Family obstacles in their leap toward democracy not purchase freelance material. Member, sought to share his love of a sport and lasting peace, there are sure to be similar that allows its participants to fl y, if only for a setbacks along the path to success. Deadlines moment, with young people that have faced a State Department employees and other Th e submission deadline for the April issue number of seemingly insurmountable obstacles dedicated Americans like Gibson have is February 15. Th e deadline for the throughout their short lives. proven that they will continue partnering May issue is March 15. Embassy Tunis built upon Gibson’s work with people who seek freedom as they by reaching out to professional skateboarders get back on their feet. Th eir work gives State Magazine (ISSN 1099–4165) is and corporate sponsors in the United States to determined citizens the confi dence to elevate published monthly, except bimonthly in July and August, by the Bureau of Human create the PUSH Tunisia Skateboard Program. themselves, providing the encouragement to Resources at the U.S. Department of State. Th e program established skateboard training launch into the unknown, and the sustained It is intended for information only and is clinics throughout the country and launched support they need to soar. not authority for offi cial action. Views and a grassroots movement to bridge cultural opinions expressed are not necessarily those divisions in Tunisia by providing the country’s of the Department of State. Th e editorial young people with constructive outlets for team reserves the right to select and edit all their passion and energy. materials for publication. Th e positive impacts from PUSH still Isaac D. Pacheco Follow Us Online resonate throughout the country even though Editor, State Magazine state.gov/statemag Corrections facebook.com/statemagazine Dec. 2011, pg. 2 – Post One incorrectly attributed the In the News article “Exhibit twitter.com/statemag highlights DS Partnership with Marines.” Robert Downen wrote the article. Jan. 2012, pg. 20 – Post of the Month courtesy photos should have been attributed state.gov/rss/channels/statemag.xml to U.S. Consulate General Montreal. fl ickr.com/statemagazine 2 State Magazine February 2012 Letters Arlington Hall Addendum was to recruit for the Foreign Service. The regarding America in 3D. We just saw the emphasis was on recruiting minorities, and new issue this morning, and the article In John Elliott’s history of Arlington I identified colleges where we might go. I looks fantastic. We really like your edits and Hall (State Magazine, January 2012, pg. tried to find a school with significant Native appreciate your help coaching us through 32), there was an important omission of American enrollment within the contiguous the process. Good luck with future editions previous occupants. For 22 years from 48 states, and the one I found was of the magazine! January 1963 until December 1984, Humboldt State College in Arcata, Calif. Arlington Hall was home to the newly- Joe Tordella created (1961) Defense Intelligence Agency. I went there and promoted the Foreign Assistant cultural affairs officer DIA later moved to Bolling Air Force Base. Service to the student body. We didn’t get any applications, but I think they were U.S. Embassy in Manila Fred Donner pleasantly surprised to be considered. That Former Foreign Service Officer was probably one of the first times the Sources Sought for Retired DIA Officer Department’s recruiting reached out to the CORDS Book Native American community. Falls Church, Va. I’m a retired FSO looking for written reminisces from officers who served with Norman T. Shaft, Early Native American CORDS in Vietnam for inclusion in an Recruiting Retired Foreign Service officer upcoming book. Please contact me at In the November issue, you had an Falls Church, Va. [email protected]. article from the Office of Civil Rights about American Indians and the State ‘Article Looks Fantastic’ Bruce Kinsey Department. When I was on the Board of We wanted to thank you for all your CORDS I, Long An Examiners in 1975-76, one of our tasks help with the State Magazine article 1968-70 Retirees, Are you Active? If so, how? State Magazine wants stories from retired Department employees with: • Unusual hobbies (Still surfing? Give us a “wave.”) • Special accomplishments (Caught a world-record marlin? Drop us a line.) • Significant second careers (Just launched an NGO? We want to know.) Send an email about your special activity to [email protected] or call (202) 203-7115. In the News Volunteers Help Bring Clinic to Low-income Area Working under a fiery desert sun, a team from the U.S. Consulate in Until recently, the Ruiz family had only enough funds to construct Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, is helping to build a medical clinic in one of the the clinic’s exterior walls. Consulate employees purchased roofing city’s low-income neighborhoods. Last August, 20 volunteers spent five materials with a $2,335 grant from the J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service hours building a wooden roof frame on the clinic. In September, they Trust, and in August assembled the wooden frames to support the roof. added a door and began building a bathroom in an adjoining orphanage. Volunteers Daniel Strebe and Brian Straight worked atop the roof, while The clinic is part of the Jesus es Mana Christian ministry founded by Dylan Fisher and Ken Monteith measured and sawed beams, and Olga Jesus and Maria Ruiz, a Texas couple who have fed thousands of school Bashbush, Ileen Park, Marlene Phillips and Erika Lewis served pancakes children in Juarez since 1996. The clinic will provide basic medical care and fruit salad to community members. Geoffrey Benelisha, Hui-chin in one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in a city where Chen, Olga Bashbush, Juan Pablo Santana and motor pool drivers breakneck population growth has outpaced infrastructure, and rival drug Adrian Navarro and Javier Lopez helped paint the church’s exterior walls. cartels are warring. Other volunteers included Rachel Atwood, Jake Goshert, Maribel The clinic’s densely packed neighborhood is home to many factory Gutierrez, Charles Hendrix, Tim Lewis, Charles Park, Martin Phillips, employees but has no nearby doctor’s office, although a doctor from Jerome Sherman and Claudia Zamarripa.