USAID freeze strikes Africa University; employees unpaid as US$1.2m funding stopped

By umnews.org

United Methodist aid efforts in Africa are suffering, and thousands of employees aren’t getting their paychecks, after the Trump administration froze funding to the federal agency that provides aid and development help around the world.

A 90-day freeze on foreign aid was imposed on the inauguration day of President Trump. The freeze shuttered worldwide programs at the United States Agency for International Development. Now thousands of agency employees are on administrative leave, its Washington headquarters closed and its website shut down.

At Africa University, a pan-African United Methodist university in Zimbabwe, programs researching malaria and tuberculosis were halted and staff members on those efforts were no longer getting their paychecks. In Zimbabwe alone, 25,000 people were affected by the freeze, said James H. Salley, president and chief executive officer of Africa University.

“The United States is the largest contributor of humanitarian aid in the country of Zimbabwe,” Salley said. “Some people are not eating; they have no idea where their next dollar will come from.”

The freeze had an immediate $1.2 million impact on Africa University, Salley said. On malaria research alone, 30 people aren’t getting their salaries.

“Our shared United Methodist values compel us to help and not hurt the most vulnerable in our midst, which includes our global neighbors,” said Bishop Julius C. Trimble, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society.

“For the U.S. to abruptly renege on its congressional commitments to fund extremely vital programs for the most vulnerable in the world by withholding life-saving food and medicine from children, the sick and elderly is astounding, shameful and deeply un-Christian.”

Trimble added: “Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’”

Efforts to counter the USAID cuts were limited at Africa University to education in its spheres of influence “to help make them aware of how dire things are when USAID is not up and running in the country of Zimbabwe,” Salley said.

Africa University’s employees are primarily locals, so they are not affected by the call to return to the U.S., Salley said.

Salley is planning to fundraise to help alleviate the damage, but he said he doesn’t think he can raise $1.6 million to completely compensate for the loss of USAID funds.

“The immediate thing that comes to my mind is when COVID hit, we had individuals who provided gifts specifically to keep people working,” Salley said. “So that’s what makes me optimistic. I believe in people and folk coming to our assistance.”

Trimble suggested people concerned about the situation help by contacting Congress’s switchboard at 202-224-3121 and telling U.S. representatives to restore “the funding for the United States Agency for International Development and save lives.”

Salley declared himself optimistic that a solution would be forthcoming.

“We have come this far by faith,” he said. “With man, it’s impossible, but with God, all things are possible. … When other folk counted us out, when other people, when other governments and when other regimes said ‘no,’ God said ‘yes,’ and I believe that now.

“We stand on what God has done once, God will do again. So that’s why I’m optimistic.”