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.
Inside Kokmuang Health Center, a modest wooden structure in Donmai village in Luang Namtha, Laos, USAID-funded nutrition commodities are being distributed to patiently waiting mothers and their children by local health staff with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). This activity is part of the regular health outreach efforts performed in the northwest of the country.
Mafuatu Taulelei is the chief of Vaipu’a, a village on the southwest coast of Samoa's Savai’i island. Like many villages in Samoa, the people of Vaipu’a have relied on town markets to feed their families; but rising sea levels, cyclones and extreme rainfalls are harming agriculture and fishing, and resulting in food shortages.
It all started in the 1980s, when he was 18. A classmate proposed that he travel from Lima, Peru, to Tocache, a province in the Peruvian Amazon known for its fruits. He intended to find work and save enough money to finish his studies at the university.
Samnang*, a 33-year-old from Banteay Meanchey province in Cambodia, learned the hard way that working abroad without the right documents is not worth the enormous risk. Thai authorities deported him after they discovered him working illegally in the construction sector in Prachinburi province.
Situated on the Philippines’ eastern coast, the Bicol region experiences typhoons, flash floods, strong winds, thunderstorms and droughts. Now occurring more frequently and with greater intensity, these hazards are seriously disrupting lives.
Three years later, Gombi and communities like it in northern Adamawa state remain devastated. All that’s left of Aisha’s house is a charred heap of collapsed concrete and corrugated tin. Any food is long gone. Farm fields are strewn with debris, and farmers have been left without supplies and equipment.
Access to safe drinking water is critical to a community’s health and livelihood. But in rural Ethiopia, many communities lack such access. Even reaching a source of water can take several hours on foot. And these distant water sources often have to be shared with livestock, resulting in unsafe water.
Najlae Lachkar grew up in Morocco surrounded by the smell of motor oil from her neighbor’s car repair shop. From an early age, she was fascinated by cars and dreamed of some day becoming an auto mechanic.
Residents of cities and rural areas across Liberia are grappling with the lack of a formal waste collection system after enduring years of civil war and the recent Ebola epidemic. Despite some success in removing and processing waste in the city of Monrovia, waste management remains a problem throughout the country today.
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