How Trump's foreign aid freeze “shakes the entire system”
jAmes Akot has three goats. He shared them with his wife, mother, three young siblings and his two children and in a family in Bahr El Ghazal, northern northern South Sudan. The family of crop Akot was washed away during last year’s flood, the fourth and worst flood in the region in four consecutive years.
This month, food delivery will arrive in his area to tide homes until the next crop. But in late January, Arcot and his neighbors heard that these delivery would not come. Akot is a volunteer community organizer who is reluctant to talk about his plight. Many people in his area are in much worse condition. Four local health centers have been closed. The cholera case is ticking. Too many children are malnourished. There is a local refugee camp, a wedding, scattered with families fleeing the war from the Sudanese border.
Not because in early February, apart from the most urgent and life-saving missions, U.S. International Development funds were frozen. The World Food Program has announced that $404 million in service will be needed to serve the region before the 90-day pause of U.S. government assistance to foreign countries. However, the shutdown has turned many horrible situations into desperate situations. “It has nothing to do with an organization,” said Marta Valdes Garcia, Director of International Humanitarianism at Oxfam. “It is a complete humanitarian system that is in a specific coordination and aims to provide humanitarian assistance to millions of people around the world,” said Marta Valdes Garcia. . Stop working order is shocking the entire system.”
I asked Akot, 34, what would he do now. That was when he mentioned goats. “I had to sell a goat to get 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of flour,” he said. “We can eat it for five to six days because we are a big family. Then I sell one more. So, in those 15 days, We're going to sell three goats. We don't know what's going to happen there.” He smiled nervously as he faced its enormous size.
Read more: How Christian groups respond to Trump's foreign AIDS freeze
Time talked to humanitarian workers who were reluctant to name their fear of retaliation against their employers – the meaning of suspension. Schools for girls in grades 4 to 6 are closed in Afghanistan. Families return to the destroyed neighborhoods in Gaza without access to clean water, shelter or food. Funds for teachers and supplies in Uganda have dried up. Currently, a large amount of seeds are sitting in a warehouse in Haiti, rather than being distributed to farmers. Maternal and family planning clinics in Malawi are closed. In Bangladesh, food aid for refugees will be cut in half in March and completely exhausted in April.
“While all this is bad, things you don’t see right now will be truly devastating,” a representative from an aid organization said. “We prioritize severe acute malnutrition over moderate acute nutrition.” Bad. However, if a child moves from moderate to severe acute malnutrition, it can cause all these developmental problems and hinder them for the rest of his life. Children are in poor health due to the decisions we have to make.”
As the Trump administration pursues the goal of reducing government spending, it seems to take the same approach as the big cats pursue their prey: act quickly and knock down the most vulnerable first. The result is equally cruel. The United States is the largest distributor of funds in the crisis, providing more than 40% of the world's non-military foreign aid. When that wallet is suddenly pulled open, it can put too much pressure on the aid network even for three months that the small holes in the support network will become chasms.
While any regression in the world’s richest economic funding will make you tremble through the industry, this pullback is coming during a particularly catastrophic time. Wars and political unrest in Europe, the Middle East and Africa have created difficulties in mitigating the crisis. Natural disasters – plants, earthquakes, droughts, landslides – also exhaust resources. Last year, Germany was another large donor country, and also expanded foreign aid, but did not completely stop it. Since the future has become very uncertain, it is almost impossible to carefully plan and coordinate what aid organizations need to do.
“We work in spaces like Syria or occupied Palestinian territory,” Valdes Garcia said. “We have established the coordination mechanisms we have to support effective responses to ensure people’s safety.” and ensure that the response to delivery is of quality.”
Read more: In chaos, chaos and Trump's foreign AIDS freeze
One of the biggest concerns to help ground workers is water sanitation. Under the terms of the funding pause, organizations are allowed to engage in “life-saving” activities, including emergency food distribution. But if there is no clean water to wash and prepare, then it makes no sense to deliver food. “It has not been clearly stated whether water sanitation is included in the exemption,” said Valdes Garcia. Without clean water, people die, not just thirst, but Water-borne diseases, such as cholera. Nutrition groups in Horn of Africa are continuing to deliver water to non-human communities, but are not sure if water treatment kits are also allowed, so they have stopped allocating them until funds are released.
It annoys many humanitarian workers as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is under scrutiny for wasting government funds, and many of their investments (such as education) in areas that take some time to return are wasted. After the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, humanitarian agencies spent months in negotiations with Afghan leaders to allow girls to attend third grade in certain areas. Aid agencies there fear that even if the school’s funding is restored after 90 days, the memorandum of understanding signed by the authorities may require renegotiation. “We have lost valuable time, girls can go to school, we may be losing negotiation power with the de facto authorities, and we may lose vital core design elements,” said an agency director.
Even where schools are welcome, progress can be lost. Peter Waiswa worked for the Global Compassion Alliance in Uganda and was the chairman of the Bulogo Primary School Management Committee, which just started the school year. He doesn't think it will last for a long time. For years, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported Uganda children’s education through a program called universal public education to pay teachers and some supplies. “Most schools that manage these courses keep their students highly alert to school,” Waiswa said because they couldn't operate. “I’m talking about millions of students in primary and secondary schools.” Many parents who live less than a dollar a day will not be able to send them if they have to buy supplies.
Agriculture is another area where the slaughter is wasting energy and time. World Relief is one of the few agencies funded by the United States Agency for the cuts to speak out about the impact of funding, he said it has 3.9 tons of bean seeds in Haiti that cannot be distributed due to the cessation order. “If not distributed as soon as possible, the seeds will rot, farmers will miss the planting season, and families will face high risks of food insecurity,” the organization said in a statement over time. “These are real people, real people Life, unresolved. It has nothing to do with politics; it is the real consequence of these funding delays on the people we serve.”
It can easily despair, but for Akot and those who have suffered less aid, it's just another thing they can't afford. “Think about it, sometimes it will cause you difficulties,” he said of his family's situation. “I've been encouraging them, 'Let's wait. Maybe the president of the United States will consider this decision.'” That's what I can tell them of. But so far we have no idea what we can do. ”