A hippopotamus on the Chari River, north of N’Djamena, Chad, charged our powerboat.

What’s it like to be married to a diplomat? There’s the travel, of course, but, as Jorge Serpa ’83, M.S. ’86, tells us, there’s also the occasional close encounter with a yak.

It all started in 1990, when I met a young diplomat serving at the American Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique. It was, to quote Casablanca, “the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” I married that diplomat, Lucy Tamlyn, and we have since lived all over—in postcard-beautiful places, in exotic-like-in-the-movies places, in a-tad-less-safe places—you name it. Our homes have included Cotonou, Benin; Khartoum, Sudan; and N’Djamena, Chad. We’ve also lived in New York, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Rome, Paris, and France. In Rome, I raced sailboats on the Mediterranean circuit and learned about real Italian cuisine. N’Djamena introduced me to the fascinating world of the Sahel. And Cotonou was all about voodoo.

Lucy has also served in a couple of places deemed by the Department of State as too dangerous for family members, namely Erbil, Iraq, and Bangui, Central African Republic. Lucy went to those posts alone, leaving me free to travel on my own and develop my skills as a travel writer and photographer.

Lucy Tamlyn and Jorge Serpa with URI alumni in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Left to right: Erin Aseli Fleming ’07, Tamlyn, Serpa, Irfan Syed Husain ’87, M.B.A. ’91.

“Our homes have included Cotonou, Benin; Khartoum, Sudan; and N’Djamena, Chad. We’ve also lived in New York, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Rome, Paris, and France.”

­—Jorge Serpa ’83, M.S. ’86

In 2009, with Lucy in Iraq, I did a round-the-world trip using “alternative” transportation, including a transpacific crossing on a container vessel. In Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, I rented a car with a driver and a guide/translator, and we went overlanding for a week. One day, in the middle of nowhere, we saw a yak. I asked the driver to stop, and we got out of the car to get a better look. As we got closer, we saw that it was a mother with a baby. She started to become nervous as we got closer. The guide advised us to get back in the car, and we, smartly, did so. Driving around yaks, sleeping in felt yurts with the locals—it was magic. Then I took the Trans-Mongolian Railway to Lake Baikal in Russia, followed by the Trans-Siberian Railway to Moscow.

But it isn’t all travel and adventure. Being the spouse of a diplomat also comes with a few social obligations. So much so that, these days, when asked what I do, I often reply, “Lunches, dinners, and receptions.” At such events, I have run into my share of notable people, including presidents and politicians. Among them, there have been some truly fascinating standouts, including George McGovern, Colin Powell, and José Mourinho.

The diplomatic life also entails occasional difficulties and dangers. While in N’Djamena, I was evacuated twice, due to civil unrest—the first time with our two kids. The kids and I spent two months in temporary quarters, with the kids in temporary schools. Not easy. Recently, in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (where we now live), I woke up one day at 4:45 a.m. to gunfire next to our house. It was a coup attempt, in which a few Americans were involved, making things very complicated for Lucy.

Sometimes, between our world travel, we get to come home to Rhode Island and take in a Rhody basketball game or two. I guess I’d say I’ve been pretty lucky.

— Jorge M. Serpa ’83, M.S. ’86

PHOTOS: COURTESY JORGE SERPA