State Dept honors Foreign Service families for ‘exceptional’ volunteer work abroad

The State Department sends Foreign Service officers all across the world to advance America’s diplomatic mission.

But those Foreign Service officers, and the families they bring with them, often contribute to the mission through off-the-clock volunteer efforts. 

Now the State Department is honoring these members of the Foreign Service community for their volunteer work overseas. 

For Robert and Kimberly Gudenkauf, a big change in their overseas community started with a simple act — taking in an injured stray dog.

“We rehabilitated him, and then realized we couldn’t keep him, and there was nowhere for him to go,” Kimberly Gudenkauf said in a recent interview.

“We were able to find a very small [non-governmental organization] that operated an animal shelter, and we went to drop him off there. And we were kind of heartbroken by the conditions of the shelter, and decided that we wanted to do everything we could to help them and to help the animals at that shelter,” she added.

Robert Gudenkauf is a special agent with the Diplomatic Security Service. And Kimberly, before Foreign Service life, was a veterinarian, with a master’s degree in public health.

They’re both stationed in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It’s the coldest capital city in the world. Temperatures can plummet to -40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Not having enough or adequate shelter space has life-or-death consequences for stray animals in the city. 

“The animals that don’t make it to the shelter do face very harsh conditions, where they freeze to death in the winters, or they’re shot by contracted hunters. That’s how they control the stray populations there,” Kimberly Gudenkauf said.  “So we made it our mission, started raising funds started gathering volunteers, started working at the shelter and improving the infrastructure.” 

Before long, the Gudenkaufs created a network of more than 80 volunteers. They’ve teamed up with international organizations to find permanent homes for dogs in the U.S.  and Canada.

So far, they’ve raised more than $40,000 for veterinary care and infrastructure improvements at local animal shelters.

This work is also leading to policy change. Mongolia earlier this month passed its first animal rights law. Kimberly Gudenkauf said that’s something she and her husband spoke to high-ranking government officials about.

“It’s not just the animals at the shelter that we ultimately want to help. It’s all of the animals in Mongolia. We are very much trying to encourage the change of just culturally how animals, stray animals are viewed there [and] really encouraging spay and neuter programs,” she said.

Robert Gudenkauf said this kind of volunteer work has been “one of the most rewarding aspects” of life overseas.

“We’ve served in places where there often aren’t a lot of other Americans …. and so we carry that, as a full-time job, even outside of work. And we’re trying to create a positive reflection of our country and of the colleagues that we have at the embassy. So this is a great example,” he said.

 It’s because of this work that the Gudenkaufs received one of this year’s Secretary of State Awards (SOSA) for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad.

Former Secretary of State James Baker and his wife Susan helped create the SOSA awards 33 years ago. They honor Foreign Service professionals and their families for acts of public service that go above and beyond their official duties.

The State Department, in partnership with the Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide (AAFSW), held a ceremony on Nov. 29 at its headquarters to honor this year’s award recipients.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the award winners in a video message that they made “extraordinary contributions to the communities in which they serve.”

“They, along with so many of our colleagues across the department, volunteer not for recognition, but out of a sense of duty to do everything in their power to improve the lives of their neighbors in the communities in which they’re serving,” Blinken said.  

The State Department also recognized another husband-and-wife team.

Ed O’Bryan, a Foreign Service Officer, and Alesia Krupenikava, a professional associate for public diplomacy,  won a SOSA award for their work through a U.S.-based nonprofit called Technovation Girls. The program promotes STEM skills for girls and young women.  

The six-month program takes participants through a curriculum on technology and entrepreneurship. O’Bryan said about 400 girls and women around Turkmenistan are participating in the program.

“They identify a problem in their community. They research it, they try to find a tech solution —usually a mobile app, or now they use AI.  They also study entrepreneurship to make it sustainable. So they write a business plan, they actually code a real app, and then they have a pitch that they give in front of an audience of judges,” he said.

Technovation Girls is worldwide, and certain projects advance to a final round of competition at an event each year in California. 

This year’s SOSA award winners included some familiar faces. Krupenikava won a SOSA award in 2017 for standing up the same program in Ukraine. She couldn’t travel to be at the award ceremony, but O’Bryan said they’re both glad to be recognized for their work. 

“We moved there, and a woman had planned to start it and she wasn’t able to. And my wife just being a good, person said, I’ll try. And next thing you know, we had a couple hundred girls all across Ukraine, learning technology and entrepreneurship skills,” he said. 

O’Bryan said he and Krupenikava have started chapters of the Technovation Girls project on three continents. 

Jerry Case is an eligible family member traveling with his wife who works in the Foreign Service. They’re currently stationed in Turkmenistan.

But Case won a SOSA award for his work at their last post in Dublin, Ireland. There, he helped a project to refurbish more than 2,000 bicycles for Ukrainian refugees.

Case is an avid biker himself, and a retired National Park Service ranger. He said Ukrainians fleeing war in their home country arrived in Ireland with few options for getting around.

“If they were fortunate enough to have a suitcase of clothes,  that was a big deal. So when they get there, kids need to go to school, and mom needs to find some work. And without a way to do that, other than public transportation, we provided them a great benefit, in giving them a free bicycle,” Case said.

George Cornick is an EFM now stationed in Nairobi, Kenya. He’s being recognized for his work on several volunteer projects in Kampala, Uganda.

Among his projects, Cornick mentored youth at a refugee center, where he taught teens life skills and job interview techniques. He also formed a step-dancing group.

“By teaching them the steps, that’s the plug to get them in to teach them more life skills. They were able to do very well, so I’m really proud of all of them,” he said.

Mandy Brown, an EFM in Doha, Qatar, received a SOSA award for her work in supporting Afghan refugees. Brown is part of a group of volunteers called the “Doha Do-Gooders.”

If that group sounds familiar, it’s because another one of its members, Debra Stock, received a SOSA award last year.

Brown supports the local American school, and the Qatar Little League, which gets local youth into baseball and softball.

Foreign Service life is all about travel, moving posts about every two to three years, but Brown says this volunteer work is a great way to feel part of a community. 

“Volunteers that come together, it’s just become a family. And it’s a great way to get to know people,  be part of the community, and make a difference, hopefully, in someone’s life,” Brown said.

The State Department also honored Daniela Garcia, who received a SOSA award for her work supporting an orphanage in San Salvador, El Salvador.

Garcia, an EFM, was unable to attend the ceremony, but led efforts to raise funds to expand the orphanage and create a safe home for pregnant teenage orphans, many of whom have been victims of serious abuse.

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.