to helping people, and we are now leaving patients high and dry—without services, health providers, and lifesaving medical treatment. Medical Evacuation in Limbo I hail from California, and I have been with USAID since 2009. I arrived in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2025, on a medevac from U.S. Embassy Bujumbura, where I have served for more than three years. I was diagnosed with a life-threatening blood disease that will require several weeks of both inpatient and outpatient care before I can return to post. The executive orders and recalls that began after my hospitalization have caused distress and anxiety, as I fear my medevac status will be revoked, and I will be stranded without coverage for the outpatient care required by State’s Bureau of Medical Services. I am fighting for my life—this added uncertainty is not helping my recovery. Mission Accomplished I am from Georgia, and I’ve been with USAID for 20 years. I am feeling a deep sense of betrayal. I’ve served in war zones. Been shot at. Had friends die. All in the service of USAID and the United States. We help open markets to U.S. goods and services. We work to improve U.S. national security. My spouse, my young child, and I were evacuated from a previous post due to a political uprising. People were being shot on the street in front of our house. We were uprooted in 48 hours, our lives in complete upheaval—my spouse lost her embassy job, our son was pulled from school. It took years of counseling and work to recover from that experience. We specifically chose a more stable post for this assignment because of the trauma of the previous post. Now we are living it again, but this time without any job security. My spouse and I both work at the embassy. If we are pulled to D.C., we will lose both incomes, and we have nowhere to live. How do we apply for jobs with no address? How can we enroll our child in school? This administration said they want to traumatize their own workforce. Congratulations: Mission accomplished. And for what? For our 20 years of sacrifice in trying to make the world a better place. With Only a Go Bag I am from Virginia. We were evacuated from post under cover of darkness onto boats with only a go bag. The evacuation, precipitated by insecurity in the Congo, has completely uprooted our lives. If that weren’t already hard enough, we are living in limbo as the agency I have so proudly served is villainized, purged, and dismantled. I do not know when I will be unfairly fired, whether my evacuation expenses will be reimbursed, or whether I should (or can even afford to) enroll my children in daycare. My two children are traumatized—they are having trouble sleeping and eating and keep asking when we will be able to go back “home” to Kinshasa. They miss our dog, their friends, toys, and daily routines. This devastating experience will be replicated 1,400 times over if all USAID Foreign Service officers are forcibly removed from their overseas posts and recalled back to Washington, D.C., under dehumanizing conditions with little dignity or respect. The DRC is a hardship post. I’ve been working there for two years, four months of those alone with my kids as my husband pursued his dream of becoming a Foreign Service officer himself back in Washington, D.C. I managed a program in the DRC to disrupt criminal networks engaged in human trafficking, protect U.S. economic interests, and safeguard our national security. This program, like so many others, is now on hold and will likely die, putting Americans more at risk. Simply put, the vacuum we are leaving cedes control to China and Russia. I have sacrificed so much to serve my country, but nothing has been as demoralizing and excruciating as the degrading manner in which my service is being vilified by those who don’t understand the vital role that USAID plays in protecting our national security, building stable trading partners, and staving off fatal epidemics. Improving Life for Millions of Kids I grew up in Indiana and have been a Foreign Ser- vice officer with USAID for nearly four years. I changed careers from teaching elementary school to managing education development programs with USAID because I saw an opportunity to improve the lives of millions of children around the world. “Uncertainty and insecurity frame every thought and decision I try to make.” 54 APRIL-MAY 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL
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