AAFSW — Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide
Expanding Access and Opportunity
Shirley Helm — SOSA awardee portrait

2025 SOSA Winner

Shirley Helm

4,000 hours. The first Deaf Tajiks in the FLEX exchange. A legacy that signs.

Tajikistan · Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs · Foreign Service Office Management Specialist

SCA

Shirley Helm arrived in Dushanbe as a Foreign Service Management Specialist. She left as the person who changed what was possible for Tajikistan's deaf community. Over more than 4,000 volunteer hours, Helm built an ASL education program from nothing — writing her own curriculum, securing grants to bring in a deaf American instructor via Zoom, and launching independent classes that turned beginners into fluent signers. When two of her students became the first Deaf Tajiks ever accepted into the FLEX exchange program, Helm personally escorted them on their first trip to the United States to attend a Gallaudet University summer camp. She organized Deaf Awareness Week at the embassy, traveled to remote regions to train teachers, and advocated — with her presence and her time — for a community that had long been invisible to Tajikistan's institutions. Four thousand hours. A nation's deaf community, changed.

Voices from the Field

“Watching refugee children enjoy their childhood again... after a few visits, children are dancing, creating beautiful art, making friends. Ukrainian mothers thank us every day.”
Meredith WiedemerMoldova
“It allows me to transcend languages and cultures and feel unified.”
Debra StockQatar
“It is communicating with the language of love. They have shown me that the impossible is possible.”
Debra StockQatar
“By volunteering, we exemplify the best of the American tradition of helping and raising our communities — whether in small town USA or at some distant outpost abroad.”
Denis RajicShanghai, China
“Serving as a volunteer is a means of giving back to a community that takes care of you.”
Vicki DanielShanghai, China
“Witnessing the project grow beyond my initial idea into something that the people of Madagascar have embraced is a priceless gift.”
Justin WimpeyMadagascar
2025 SOSA Winner
“Even small acts of service can create lasting ripples of hope, belonging, and connection.”
Jennifer SturgeonNetherlands
“Every year, I'm blown away by what people are doing overseas.”
James A. Baker IIISOSA Co-Founder
“Volunteerism by members of our Foreign Service community is not just a kindness. It is an essential and underappreciated dimension of American foreign policy.”
Susan BakerSOSA Co-Founder
“Watching refugee children enjoy their childhood again... after a few visits, children are dancing, creating beautiful art, making friends. Ukrainian mothers thank us every day.”
Meredith WiedemerMoldova
“It allows me to transcend languages and cultures and feel unified.”
Debra StockQatar
“It is communicating with the language of love. They have shown me that the impossible is possible.”
Debra StockQatar
“By volunteering, we exemplify the best of the American tradition of helping and raising our communities — whether in small town USA or at some distant outpost abroad.”
Denis RajicShanghai, China
“Serving as a volunteer is a means of giving back to a community that takes care of you.”
Vicki DanielShanghai, China
“Witnessing the project grow beyond my initial idea into something that the people of Madagascar have embraced is a priceless gift.”
Justin WimpeyMadagascar
2025 SOSA Winner
“Even small acts of service can create lasting ripples of hope, belonging, and connection.”
Jennifer SturgeonNetherlands
“Every year, I'm blown away by what people are doing overseas.”
James A. Baker IIISOSA Co-Founder
“Volunteerism by members of our Foreign Service community is not just a kindness. It is an essential and underappreciated dimension of American foreign policy.”
Susan BakerSOSA Co-Founder