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U.S. Foreign Service Officer headed to Wuhan, China

The mission of a U.S. diplomat in the Foreign Service is to promote peace, support prosperity, and protect American citizens while advancing the interests of the U.S. abroad. The work that diplomats do has an impact on the world as they serve at one of any of the more than 270 embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions in The Americas, Africa, Europe and Eurasia, East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia.

The duties of a Consular Officer include to provide emergency and non-emergency services to American citizens and protect our borders through the proper adjudication of visas to foreign nationals and passports to American citizens. We adjudicate immigrant and non-immigrant visas, facilitate adoptions, help evacuate Americans, combat fraud, and fight human trafficking. Consular Officers touch people’s lives in important ways, often reassuring families in crisis. They face many situations which require quick thinking under stress and develop and use a wide range of skills, from managing resources and conducting public outreach to assisting Americans in distress.

Global Ties Conference



Last week Thursday, I made the long drive to Detroit to attend the Diplomacy Begins Here conference put on by Global Ties U.S. and the Department of State.  Here's how the event was advertised: Global Ties U.S. and our members, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, are hosting a series of Diplomacy Begins Here summits across the United States that will bring together local, national, and international leaders from the business, government, and nonprofit world. Together, we will foster connections and growth in the international exchange community and celebrate the critical role that public and citizen diplomacy programs play in building a more peaceful, prosperous world at home and abroad.



The conference was only a day long and I had a fantastic time as the emphasis was on the power of youth international exchange as a type of diplomacy, which is something I'm really interested in.  The keynote speaker was the former ambassador of Kuwait, Amb. Lebaron, who talked about his time in the Middle East and ways to improve international relations.  Here's a few things that he said:

"Recognize and be proud of exchanges as strategic instrument of US influence around the world. Exchanges are a way to increase prosperity, but they're much more than that. They're a long term solution to a long term problem. They recast the US as more than just a military presence."
"We treat exchanges as a nice thing to do, not a necessity. We've got to change that paradigm...in international relations, what we do matters so much more than what we say."
"Everybody I talk to is focused on leaders in the Middle East. We think of the region as problem, not people. We need to engage people - everybody else - not just leaders."

Some other highlights of the event included a diplomacy simulation of a refugee crisis, meeting and hearing about a diplomat in the foreign service and listening to a panel of experts talk about peace and conflict resolution.  It was also really fun to network and talk to the others there.  My favorite group was the language teachers who receive the international students and teach them intense English for a few weeks to get them university-ready.
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    Sarah Sanderson
    I am currently in Mandarin language training as a new diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service. Sean and I depart for Wuhan, China in November 2019 for my first tour in consular affairs.
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