Speeches Shim
Every day, all over the world, USAID brings peace to those who endure violence, health to those who struggle with sickness, and prosperity to those who live in poverty. It is these individuals — these uncounted thousands of lives — that are the true measure of USAID’s successes and the true face of USAID's programs.
Despite the poverty and conflict around them, students grasp on to some sense of normalcy at the Baye Ag Mahaha school located in Mali’s Kidal region. In the northern regions of the country, many schools have been destroyed, closed or occupied by fighting factions. Kidal town recorded 264 students who had dropped out during the crisis. Their return to school motivates the entire community.
Nicola Onyango started her artisanal handmade jewelry company, Urban Artefacts, in 2015. She stocks four shops in Nairobi with her designs. Her employees expertly buff every piece to ensure quality and longevity. She’s building a brand of well-made, contemporary jewelry with materials indigenous to East Africa and has now entered the U.S. market.
On the eastern side of Zimbabwe, near the border with Mozambique, a school and the surrounding community are dramatically changing attitudes and social norms through the DREAMS initiative, which is funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through USAID. There, DREAMS is reaching thousands of parents, caregivers and students and making their dreams come true.
After graduating with a degree in computer science, Ekezie, 34, stayed in the United States to work in the oil and gas sector with the hope of eventually returning to Nigeria. By the time he returned to Lagos, the downturn of Nigeria’s petroleum sector led Ekezie to look at other careers.
Najib* and Abdullahi come from BeletHawa, a village in the Gedo state of Somalia, where sub-clans have existed uneasily alongside each other for many years. Relations between clans in this small village are so strained that even basic social interactions are limited. Stuck in a cycle of violence over scarce resources, Najib and Abdullahi never interacted—until recently.
Youssef Salhi remembers a time when his neighborhood of Beni Makada was a safe place to live. As a young boy, he saw increasing numbers of migrants start to overcrowd his community. As the years went by, crime rates escalated as everyone fought for space, and he watched as his friends and neighbors fell victim to a slew of dangerous activities.
The Republic of Kiribati is a tiny Pacific Island nation located along the equator. Most of the country’s 33 islands stand just a few meters above the sea, leaving its population of 105,000 people vulnerable to rising sea levels and severe weather.
In 2010, Nicolas Vako, 55, returned to his hometown of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, after working 20 years for the International Committee of the Red Cross and traveling all over Africa and Eastern Europe. He decided to set up a crab restaurant, a specialty from his wife’s village.
Samat Nasa has been farming cassava on the outskirts of Zamboanga City in the Philippines’ Mindanao region for over 30 years. Many farmers in the area grow this root crop because it is easy to maintain and can survive extreme weather. But because the Philippines is a predominantly rice-consuming nation, Nasa has only sold his harvests to a handful of local producers of panggi, a customary staple food made of grated cassava.
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