64 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL VIEWS from the Field AFSA launched the Service Disrupted public awareness campaign in May with a collection of testimonials from members to help illustrate the critical work of diplomacy and development and what is lost when the Foreign Service is taken off the field. We’ve published Service Disrupted stories in every edition of the FSJ since April. Here we share the latest installment, which has been lightly edited for clarity. Most stories are printed anonymously, but the authors are known to us. AFSA continues to collect your firsthand accounts of the dismantling of USAID and USAGM and of the reductions in force being implemented at State, as well as the impact of the government shutdown. How have the disruptions affected you and your work on behalf of the United States? We are especially seeking specific, concrete anecdotes that shed light on what’s happening in the field. Send your story (up to 500 words) to Humans-of-FS@afsa.org. Let us know if you wish to remain anonymous. —The Editors FEATURE USAID Brought Stability to Somalia and the U.S. I was flying from Mogadishu to Nairobi last year in a tiny airplane chartered by the State Department when a military drone that was surveilling al-Shabaab territory hit the plane. In the aftermath I remember thinking: “Is the work worth risking my life?” Of course it is. In Somalia, USAID rehabilitated irrigation canals to provide water to its vulnerable population; taught children to read and write (at a cost of about $150 per child) so they would have options other than being forced to join al-Shabaab; and built cell towers and restored water points in communities liberated from the terrorist organization. In Marka, a town liberated from al-Shabaab in 2018, the trauma was still raw. Bullet-ridden walls, shuttered shops, and empty homes told their own stories when USAID contractors showed up to help rebuild at the government’s request. Our third-party monitoring implementer shared pictures of children peeking out from doorways, their eyes wide with fear. Hope was a whisper, barely audible. That was three years ago. After USAID rebuilt the road through town, it was bustling with handcarts and motorcycles. The market was alive again. Photos show children playing near one of the eight schools USAID helped construct—schools that have given thousands of students a reason to dream again and offered parents hope for a better future, one without al-Shabaab. A young girl named Fatuma told our implementer that she wanted to become a doctor, not because it was a prestigious job, but because “no one should die just because they are forgotten.”
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