“Now is not the time,” I bit off, still watching Elias and Tsehay, who were now bumping shoulders with the officials and nodding at whatever they were being told. After a moment they walked off, heading back to our table, leaving the two men to their now almost certainly cold lunch.

Sam looked like he was about to argue some more when Elias and Tsehay came back to the table. As they sat down, I leaned over to Elias and said, “Thanks for helping with that.”

He gave me a tight smile and turned to Sam. “He said we can come to the office next week.” He cleared his throat, as if unsure how to deliver the next part of the update. He didn’t shy away from Sam, though—he looked at him straight in the eyes when he spoke. “He asked that either Tsehay or Desta attend the meeting, though.”

Sam immediately got red in the face, his expression turning cold. “Who told you to get involved in this?”

I sucked in a breath at the callousness in Sam’s tone. His words clearly implied that Elias, being a lowly logistics coordinator, had no business talking on our behalf. Even though so far this week, Elias had made sure things ran smoothly in every way possible. Not to mention that if he had not intervened just now, there probably wouldn’t have been any chance at an interview with anyone.

I was about to say something, but once again Elias stood his ground. “I got involved when I saw there might be an issue with the way we were communicating. Mr. Dawit has been working with Aid USA for a long time. I know him from other program visits. Personal relationships are important here.”

Sam had a nasty grin on his face when he spoke again, his eyes intentionally trained away from Elias. “Next time I’m trying to do my work, I’d appreciate if the support staff would keep to their jobs.”

The tension at the table was palpable, and it was harder and harder to not yell at Sam. I almost did, but when I opened my mouth to do so, Elias caught my eye and shook his head. His gaze was weary but surprisingly unaffected, like Sam’s vitriol was more tiring than anything else. I wondered how many times he’d had to deal with people like Sam. Despite the urge to rail at Sam for his stupidity, I acquiesced to Elias’s request and quietly went back to my lunch as everyone else did the same.