Photograph courtesy of Dan Hastings

Dan Hastings (third from right) and Driss Touhami (center), Morocco's royal adviser on human rights, meet with 'sahrawis' (former political dissidents) during a July 4 celebration at the U.S. embassy in Rabat.

Local man returns from Foreign Service

By Shari Kaplan

When he was a student at Fisher Middle School, Los Gatan Dan Hastings got a taste of politics when he got involved in student government. That interest deepened when he arrived at Los Gatos High School. By his senior year, he was student body president.

In the ensuing years, Hastings, now 33, obtained a bachelor's degree in foreign language and linguistics at UC-Davis and a master's in international affairs from Georgetown University. In between, he served in the Peace Corps in Armenia. While in Armenia, he also fell in love with a young woman named Maya, who became his wife.

"Someone had read her palm and told her a blond man was coming for her," the fair-haired Hastings recalls.

After graduating Georgetown, Hastings fed his love of international affairs by working at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., which provides millions of dollars in loans annually to various countries, with an aim to help them fight poverty and achieve sustainable growth.

From 1999 until this July, Hastings and his wife lived in Morocco, where he worked for the U.S. Foreign Service as a political officer in the U.S. Embassy in the Moroccan capital of Rabat. Maya, who is not in the Foreign Service, taught and later coordinated English as a Second Language classes at a Moroccan college and high school.

The couple returned to Los Gatos Aug. 1 for both business and pleasure. Not only did their return give Hastings time to visit with family and friends, but he also had some "official duties," as suggested by the Hometown Diplomats Program, created by Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell.

"I am asking officials to take advantage of trips back [home] to talk to civic organizations, schools, local government offices and local media about their work," Powell stated via a press release. "Reaching out to the public in this way puts a face on foreign policy."

Hastings needs no encouragement to talk about the job he loves so much that he's almost constantly smiling while turning the pages of his Moroccan photo album.

"One of the things that has always interested me is studying other societies and learning about their languages and cultures, and meeting the people," he says. "This might sound cliché, but I think being in the Foreign Service has been the best educational opportunity."

During his spare time, Dan Hastings and his wife Maya enjoyed sightseeing in Morocco. Here, they are joined by Hastings' parents Bill and Elly on a visit to a Kasbah on the edge of the Sahara Desert.




Photograph courtesy of Dan Hastings







As a political officer in the U.S. Embassy, Hastings' days were filled to the brim. Some things were constant, such as reading and responding to email messages and classified governmental "e-telegrams," as well as reading several newspapers to stay on top of local, national and international events.

Other duties that could engage him on any day included writing spot news reports on events in Rabat; writing deeper analytical reports; translating conversations between international diplomats (he speaks French, Spanish, Armenian and Russian); giving tours to visiting American "codels" (Congressional delegates); going for business lunches with political activists, politicians, university professors and journalists; and making appeals for various causes to high-ranking Moroccan politicos.

"It can be tough, because they may not like what you're asking them, or they just might not like the U.S. on that particular day," Hastings says of the latter.

When it comes down to specific issues, those that he most devotes himself to are human rights, women's rights, good governance issues and civic reforms.

"You get to do a lot of important things and see and participate in history being made. If you want to be on the frontlines of history, it's the place to be. It's like a fairytale to me," Hastings adds. "I've always been interested in international affairs, but being able to represent my country is just great."

Hastings' next assignment will be in Egypt, but not until summer 2002. In the meantime, he'll be boning up on the Arabic language and Egyptian culture at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Va., from September to June. Maya will join him for some of the classes but plans to take a break when she gives birth to the couple's first child, due in February.

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For information on the U.S. Foreign Service, or on how to become an officer, call 202.261.8888 or visit www.state.gov/m/dghr/hr/ on the Internet.

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