Foreign service worker inspired by childhood in Boston

Growing up in Dorchester, Alonzo Fulgham remembers the 1970s court-ordered busing to desegregate schools and how it polarized the community. People who worked together and played together were forced to take sides.

Now, as a foreign service worker, Fulgham takes the lessons he learned wherever he goes.

''It taught me early on how to deal with diversity," said Fulgham, 47. ''You have to learn to get along with, to work with others, to work out your differences. That's pretty much what you do in diplomacy."

On June 21, Fulgham was named the new mission director in Afghanistan for the US Agency for International Development. During his one-year post, which begins July 29, Fulgham will focus on rebuilding infrastructure, developing agriculture, improving education and healthcare, and reconstituting basic governance.

The agency reopened its office in Afghanistan in January 2002 after the US military helped oust the Taliban following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. USAID has a $623 million budget this fiscal year for Afghanistan. Despite the violence in the war-torn country, Fulgham said he isn't afraid, but rather is honored to get the aid agency's second-biggest job, behind only Iraq.

''I think we're going to face incredible challenges in trying to institute the rule of law in a country that's been in civil war for 25 years," Fulgham said during a visit to Boston last week. ''A lot of people want to see this happen very quickly, but it's going to take time.

''Freedom isn't free. You can't stand on the sidelines and watch people take on the difficult task and continue to live the life that we live."

Fulgham's boss, James Kunder, who is assistant administrator for Asia and the Near East, said Fulgham was the ideal candidate because of his familiarity with the Middle East and his leadership style. In recent years, Fulgham served in top posts in Serbia and Montenegro and in the agency's Asia Near East Bureau.

Fulgham is described as a compassionate and respectful leader who expects his colleagues' best work.

''Working in Afghanistan requires essentially reconstructing a country in the middle of an ongoing conflict, and that's one of the most difficult tasks," Kunder said. ''There are very significant security threats against the personnel who are building schools and hospitals because, let's face it, the Taliban rebels and those who oppose human progress in Afghanistan don't want to see women's rights and job placement in Afghanistan. So what we needed in Afghanistan was not just someone who would build countries up, but could do that in conflict situations."

Fulgham graduated from Hyde Park High School and studied economics and business at Fisk University. His stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in Haiti between 1984 and 1986 marked the beginning of his foreign service career. Spending time working in one of the world's poorest countries, and understanding America's power to implement change, reshaped Fulgham's outlook. He started working for USAID in 1989 in Swaziland.

He has two children, Jacqueline, 13, and Travis, 9, who live in Jordan with his first wife. Fulgham is expecting a third child with his current wife, Nicole, a vice president for Teach for America in Washington, D.C. He won't be able to take Nicole or his newborn child to Afghanistan, but he plans to return for the baby's delivery later this year.

''He really shows what can happen to an average guy who is motivated to do something else," said Matt Graham, a childhood friend.

''Growing up in Boston has helped him to understand conflict, to help him understand human dynamics," said another childhood friend, Patricia Knight, 45. ''These are certainly great tools that will come in handy as he goes to Afghanistan."