I've been seeing a lot of stories recently about how cuts in U.S. aid (and cuts from USAID) have ruined the lives of people, especially women and children. As I reported the other day in a VIP post, the Associated Press did a piece on hundreds of underage Rohingya girls who were married off because of U.S. foreign aid cuts. Apparently, taxpayer money from Americans was the only thing keeping schools open in Bangladesh, and schools were the only place these young girls could find refuge.
As I said, it seemed more of a cultural problem than a monetary one. If the United States doesn't send aid, underage girls are married off. I'm guessing that happened when U.S. taxpayers were funding them.
Then there was another story from The Washington Post about Congolese rape survivors who now search in vain for HIV medicine and morning-after pills after USAID cuts. As The Post reported, "Sexual violence is endemic in this part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it has become a weapon of war in a region that has rarely known peace over the past 30 years. Women and girls are raped in the forest, by the roadside, in their homes, anywhere they are vulnerable, by men and boys using guns, knives or sticks, secure in their impunity." Again, it sounds like a cultural problem. What is the Democratic Republic of Congo doing to prevent these rapes in the first place?
The latest sob story I've come across is from ProPublica, which reports on an expectant mother in Kenya who was forced to eat clay and charcoal because of foreign aid cuts.
Expectant mothers were left so hungry after the U.S. cut foreign food aid that one woman ate clay and charcoal.
— ProPublica (@propublica) December 24, 2025
Her baby struggled to gain weight after being born prematurely.https://t.co/QZb6lX87nQ
But during this pregnancy, she said, food was all she thought about. She was so anemic and hungry that she resorted to eating clay, digging out the top layer of earth to get to the cleaner soil below, and charcoal. Her chart showed she gained fewer than 10 pounds during her entire pregnancy. Her baby, Nuru, was born at 33 weeks, weighing about 3.5 pounds.
https://t.co/NBh8eqWPWO pic.twitter.com/M1ZJsNnhhY
— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) December 24, 2025
What is wrong with Kenya that people can't manage to eat without U.S. aid pouring in? And why isn't the European Union stepping in to make up the difference? Why does everything fall to America?
It's not the role of the United States taxpayer to be the wet nurse of the world.
— American Warrior for Christ (@johnrackham82) December 24, 2025
Perhaps if corrupt politicians weren't in on stealing hundreds of billions of $ every year, USAID would still be a thing.
So why are you not giving her your salary?
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) December 24, 2025
They're doing their part by "raising awareness."
Sad, but not our problem. Looks like the Kenyan government needs to step it up.
— Uranium235 (@BespokeNukes) December 24, 2025
Kenya has a government. What is Kenya's government doing to keep the people of Kenya fed?
— Ginger Taylor, MS (@CombatingAutism) December 25, 2025
Exactly why are American taxpayers on the hook to feed the entire world? What about her own country?
— Ref sch (@Refsch) December 24, 2025
How much did ProPublica donate?
— 🔫 Entropy’s Beard ⚓️ (@TheBeardFiles) December 24, 2025
They donated their empathy.
All of these stories are meant to make me feel angry that the slush fund called USAID was gutted. How much money allocated to Kenya actually made it to buy food, and how much was kept by the NGOs over there?
I know I should feel more sympathy, but I'm more shocked at how much of the world can't seem to function without U.S. taxpayer dollars.
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