In late January I was fully prepared to depart for Nepal on a volunteer business assignment with the Agriculture and Forestry University of Nepal.  The Nepal in-country team was scheduled to meet me at Katmandu Airport and escort me to my assignment. The assignment was to train graduate students in agribusiness management with a focus on problem-solving, leadership, team management, and communication skills critical for running a business.

Donald Trump had been inaugurated scarcely one week prior…and so came the bombshell: All foreign aid was abruptly frozen, then later cut.  Most foreign aid is delivered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID.) Many of the USAID programs are in fragile countries that are highly reliant on U.S. aid to support health systems, nutrition programs and to stave off starvation.

My program, funded by USAID, was called Farmer to Farmer (F2F).  While I am not a farmer, once a farmer harvests his or her crop, he must do something with it.  So, 72 times since 2010 I have provided business assistance (like marketing lessons and strategic planning) to poor farmers, agricultural cooperatives, and small businesses in poor countries. And as you see above, even universities. But no longer. Since F2F is not a life saving program – – merely a life improvement program – – it has been permanently terminated. I never expected that Trump’s chaos would affect me so soon and so directly.

Bummer for me…but super-bummer for all the poor people around the world who benefit (benefited) from USAID assistance.

Other USAID programs have also been cancelled.  Programs that provide clean water to rural Zambian communities, seeds for planting annual crops in S.E. Asia, HIV antiretroviral medicines in Tanzania, and feeding for malnourished babies around the world have all been axed. And while a few of those axed have since been reinstated, funding has not resumed.  Consequently, such assistance is still shut down. With no funding, assistance cannot be delivered. And these are life-saving programs.

Some Americans will support the dismantling of America’s foreign aid programs, believing that as a country we spend too many of our federal dollars on foreign aid.  However, U.S. adults tend to overestimate the share of the federal budget that is spent on foreign aid. Surveys from the Kaiser Family Foundation have found that on average, Americans say spending on foreign aid makes up 31 percent of the federal budget.  The actual is less than one percent.  The US ranks 25^th out of 38 OECD countries (a club of wealthy nations) in its generosity of foreign aid as a percentage of its Gross National Income. That is well in the bottom half of donors.

One of the NGOs I worked with had already spent $52 million when USAID was dismantled.  They don’t know if they will ever be reimbursed for those dollars spent on their humanitarian efforts around the world. Their few programs that have not yet been terminated are at a standstill without funding.

I recently wrote to my congressman and my two senators in, admittedly liberal, Massachusetts:

“You may be aware that USAID funds the Farmer to Farmer (F2F) program. And the freezing of USAID activity also freezes the F2F program.

I am a multi-year volunteer with F2F: over the past 15 years I have completed over 70 assignments in nearly as many low and middle income countries.  One common theme from these assignments is that the US is highly respected and appreciated for the services it provides through F2F. 

Hundreds of other volunteers and I have helped poor farmers improve their crop yields, reduce post-harvest spoilage, and find markets for their crops.  The thousands of beneficiaries, both direct and indirect, live better lives as a result of the USAID-funded F2F program.

I urge you to convince the Trump Administration to reinstate such an important and well-received program. This program is just one of many key soft power tools of the US to foster relations with communities around the world.”

_ _ _ _

As usual, Micky had planned to join me near the end of my assignment. We often explore the country or region after my assignment ends. But my assignment ended before it even started. Nevertheless, we went anyway. First to chaotic, hectic, poor, but fascinating Katmandu, Nepal.  We eventually left Katmandu for an athletically challenging three-day trek around the rim of the Katmandu Valley.  We hiked through small villages where the poverty was obvious. Next, we traveled to the totally different, but equally fascinating, Kingdom of Bhutan. Not wealthy, but less poor. Bhutan is known for its adherence not to growth of Gross Domestic Product, but to increasing its Gross National Happiness.  This GNH metric includes compassion, respect, community and family measures. I will soon post a selection of photos from our trip, but since this report is meant to address the demise of US foreign assistance I will stop here.

However, readers of this blog should feel free to contact your government representatives, especially if they are friendly with Marco Rubio. Or Elon Musk.