Day 11 - Rabat

An American's perspective on diplomacy

Our days here in Morocco have been extremely packed, full of presentations, dialogues, sightseeing and of course eating delicious food! We have been so fortunate to have this experience and I’m pinching myself each day as I wake up wondering what I’m going to learn. Today our cohort had the privilege of meeting with Jen MacArthur, a “RELO” (Regional English Language Officer), who works for the U.S. Embassy. That is to say she’s a United States diplomat working daily to “promote and facilitate mutual understandings between Americans and the people of Morocco and the greater Maghreb region that also includes Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.” The United States government has twenty-six RELO offices overseas and although they are generally small teams of people, they have mighty work to do. As I sat and listened to Jen talk briefly about her career and what she generally does, I was in awe of everything our government and the willing governments of many diverse nations do to maintain peace in our world and provide for their citizens. I had never really thought about diplomats and their work. I knew that they existed, but as a mom, wife, teacher, sister etc, living a busy life, I just hadn’t taken the time to reflect on and appreciate the work they do. When I listened to Jen talk with passion about the projects she leads, I was impressed and proud to be an American. Jen’s shining star of a project is a program called (V)ELFs -(virtual) English Language Fellows. Her team recruits, trains and places fellows in community outreach programs, teaching people to be (virtual) educators of English. This is such a critical program in Morocco because although many languages are spoken here, most Moroccans that we’ve spoken with recognize that knowledge and fluency in English could help them to land a good paying job and give them an advantage. Another perk of learning English from American fellows is that both the students and the fellows gain knowledge and understanding of each other. Friendships are blossoming and collaborations are happening. These relationships that Jen’s team is facilitating are small but important in building rapport between our countries.

Jen told us a story about when she had returned back to the United States after her first assignment abroad and was chatting with a local woman about her position in public diplomacy in Mexico. The woman had said something to the effect of “I don’t understand why we as taxpayers are spending so much money abroad when we can’t even take care of our citizens at home.” This statement especially stuck with me because I have heard several people from my hometown say such things. At the time, Jen didn’t know how to respond to that statement very well. However, after years of experience and much reflection she would now be able to tell that woman in full confidence that “the more diplomats the United States has, the less people in (military) uniform we will need”. I think that perfectly sums up why the work that diplomats do is so crucially important and something that everyone should be able to understand. I am grateful for the experience of listening to Jen and I am grateful for all the people around the world serving in positions of public diplomacy.

By Liz Peters