‘Thrown Out Like Garbage’: Inside the Last Days of USAID

The Trump administration has pulled the rug on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), bringing its humanitarian work abroad to a stop. USAID has been a critical component of American “soft power” since the JFK-era, communicating the ideals of America as a force for good in the world by fighting hunger and offering relief services in impoverished and war-torn nations. 

Its $40 billion annual budget is a miniscule slice of overall government funding. But the agency had emerged as bugbear for Elon Musk — the oligarch who runs the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, a post he earned by virtue of the $290 million he spent to elect Donald Trump and Republicans. Musk bragged on X this past weekend of sending USAID through the “wood chipper.” (The remains of the agency are being folded into the State Department, which is retaining only 290 out of nearly 10,000 USAID personnel.)

As the news of the agency’s abrupt end was rippling through its far-flung outposts, Rolling Stone began communicating with a USAID staffer in Nairobi, Kenya, whose work supports victims of war and children suffering from malnutrition in Sudan. The staffer asked to remain anonymous to speak freely in an atmosphere charged with fear and confusion.

The chat transcript that follows has been edited for length and clarity.

What is your role with USAID?

I work on the Disaster Assistance Response Team for the Sudan Complex Emergency, [funding] partners like WFP, UNICEF, and other international NGOs. I work with impressive, dedicated, honest people who want the same thing: to help alleviate suffering from the most vulnerable. We just found out we have all been terminated; for me, in less than 30 days.

What does that mean for your work?

Though we were treated poorly during this, we aren’t the real casualties of this political war. The programs we delivered saved lives by providing food and nutrition to SAM (severe acute malnutrition) children, and clean water and health needs for women in Sudan who were raped or impregnated by soldiers and gangs. All down the drain. We have abandoned all of it, as of now. Our NGO partners have laid people off and aid is no longer getting to those most vulnerable. It’s a horrible feeling to let all that go. I feel empty and angry, sad, unvalued, confused. It hurts. 

Editor’s picks

You referred to the “political war” behind your termination — what does that mean to you”

This makes sense to a lot of Americans, I get it. I live in [a red state in middle America] and understand there are domestic issues that need attention. And to many, USAID is a waste, colonialism, even elitism. However, the soft hand helps feed mouths, and our partners have been able to reach so many vulnerable peoples with money the taxpayer provides.

This is an administration that took power on a surge of conservative Christian voters. How do you square the immediate move to shut down aid to the world’s vulnerable?

As for the Christian virtues, it’s impossible to describe the contradiction. I struggle to know that we’ve cut out services to women who’ve been raped — or forced to have babies from those rapists — who will not be provided services to get them through such traumatic experiences. The fact that people will go hungry now, people in conflict zones who are caught in the crossfire, with genocide happening on some of the smaller minorities — it makes me sick to my stomach.

What’s happening to locals you work with?

Related Content

The local foreign-services nationals who are part of the team are stuck. They can’t go back to Sudan. They are living in Kampala, Nairobi, and Cairo and all are employed here as third-country nationals. They are leftovers here. 

We received guidance about eight days ago that said we are not allowed to talk to our partners, and that some of them were issued stop orders. We had no idea who received what. The only way we knew who received stop orders was when partners emailed acknowledging the stop order. We were instructed not to respond to partners at all. Not even to say thank you. 

One of our partners let us know via email today that one of their employees and her entire family were killed in a drone attack bombing. And we can’t even send condolences — or take any action other than receive the email.

I’m sorry, you’re prohibited from communicating with partners who received U.S. taxpayer dollars?

That’s correct, even though we’ve given money to these partners and signed awards, we are not allowed to communicate with them directly now. When the stop orders came in, it halted all of their operations. Only when they acknowledged that all DEIA [diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility] activities and language was removed from their operations could they continue working. 

Where are these orders coming from? 

The guy making all of these decisions is in State — Peter Marocco.

This shutdown is abrupt. What has that been like personally?

We are in heartbreaking meetings in the embassy. No guidance, no direction. People are shaken — local and U.S. staff. There is absolutely zero guidance coming out of our Washington offices, and we quite frankly feel very isolated alone. It’s [raw] saying goodbye to each other.

What are your logistics looking like to get back to the U.S.? It’s Thursday evening your time now.

There’s something like 1,600 people across all the bureaus who are expected to be on planes tomorrow night latest. I still don’t have my flight confirmed. I’m working on it. It’s a scramble right now to get home and comply with the order. 

Are you there with a family?

I am here by myself. I have a supportive wife and two feisty boys at home.  

Tell me more about the “scramble,” as you described it.

We don’t even know if we are going to get paid, as there’s no time sheets, we can’t log in to anything. We are incurring a lot of expenses, trying to get out using our existing travel authorizations. There is absolutely no guidance.

There’s the short-timers like me who need to be in the air tomorrow, then the people that are posted in Kenya are supposed to leave in 30 days. They had a town hall meeting today and every answer — about processing people, pets, shipments, flights — from any embassy official was: “I don’t know.” And I truly believe that’s because they have not received any guidance. 

Let me express, as an American, that I’m aghast your public service is being repaid this shoddily.

USAID is a huge contributor to disaster responses worldwide. I was so proud to be part of the teams we have in this country. They are made up of extremely dedicated individuals — just impressive people. It is sad to see it end like this — so abrupt and thrown out like garbage to the street. We feel hurt deeply, and know in our hearts we were doing good. That is the hardest part to swallow.