My roots are from Sri Lanka and it's a long way from navigating away from prejudice against LGBTQ+ folks, though the country has come a long way over the past few years. Not in policy, but in sentiment. And the news that USAID funded this journalist education program which teach them reporting without bias (among other things) got millions in funding was the highlight when USAID was shut down. While this was reported few years back by Fox on bad faith, Musk dragged it back up to justify his actions. And so it reached my local chat groups as well. Had to keep my mouth shut cause my words can't teach them to forgo the prejudice, let alone understand proper way to approach the topic through journalism. Funny how a aid organization which saves millions of lives got reduced down to a culture war instrument in the view of the Sri Lankans.
What a heartful story of Lydia that would otherwise got drown out by the shockwaves of headlines and astronomical numbers that don't mean much to those of us who don't know that much about USAID. This post is a wonder to read. But your reporting in the podcast Reflector is even more engrossing. Hope everyone will take the time to listen to it. Thank you!
Lydia’s words are the key message…give time to adjust. What this administration has done here and abroad is to break promises the US government made. Since those promises were financial…a paycheck here for civil servants or a bank loan abroad for USAID recipients, some notice of change is the humane and respectful thing to do.
I grew up in Jamaica and saw firsthand a lot of good projects USAID funded. I knew that often strings were attached, just as they were with almost every other project funded by foreign governments. After I got older and moved to the US I began to hear about the waste and fraud also involved with USAID. What really bothers me about the shutdown is that no effort was made to separate the useful projects from the useless or to say, cut back funding 25%. It was shut down completely just to create shock and fear, and I guess cheers from the supporters. Same for the other cuts we're seeing. No notion of thought or reason.
What part of the fact that the USA is bankrupt don’t you understand. We need to be solvent before we spend another dime on anything that is not a necessity to American citizens. When social security and Medicare no longer is available in a few years it will too late to save our economy.
My roots are from Sri Lanka and it's a long way from navigating away from prejudice against LGBTQ+ folks, though the country has come a long way over the past few years. Not in policy, but in sentiment. And the news that USAID funded this journalist education program which teach them reporting without bias (among other things) got millions in funding was the highlight when USAID was shut down. While this was reported few years back by Fox on bad faith, Musk dragged it back up to justify his actions. And so it reached my local chat groups as well. Had to keep my mouth shut cause my words can't teach them to forgo the prejudice, let alone understand proper way to approach the topic through journalism. Funny how a aid organization which saves millions of lives got reduced down to a culture war instrument in the view of the Sri Lankans.
So much has come down to the culture war in the United States too, in terms of political messaging in the election, etc.
What a heartful story of Lydia that would otherwise got drown out by the shockwaves of headlines and astronomical numbers that don't mean much to those of us who don't know that much about USAID. This post is a wonder to read. But your reporting in the podcast Reflector is even more engrossing. Hope everyone will take the time to listen to it. Thank you!
Lydia’s words are the key message…give time to adjust. What this administration has done here and abroad is to break promises the US government made. Since those promises were financial…a paycheck here for civil servants or a bank loan abroad for USAID recipients, some notice of change is the humane and respectful thing to do.
Is there something like a Gofundme where we can help Lydia out?
I grew up in Jamaica and saw firsthand a lot of good projects USAID funded. I knew that often strings were attached, just as they were with almost every other project funded by foreign governments. After I got older and moved to the US I began to hear about the waste and fraud also involved with USAID. What really bothers me about the shutdown is that no effort was made to separate the useful projects from the useless or to say, cut back funding 25%. It was shut down completely just to create shock and fear, and I guess cheers from the supporters. Same for the other cuts we're seeing. No notion of thought or reason.
Thanks for your work on this.
Thanks for this brilliant post. While I have no leads for you, I am eager to hear those stories too.
What part of the fact that the USA is bankrupt don’t you understand. We need to be solvent before we spend another dime on anything that is not a necessity to American citizens. When social security and Medicare no longer is available in a few years it will too late to save our economy.