THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2025 65 But now, I fear we are forgetting them again. In January 2025, the project’s funding was cut. The peace committee we helped build will surely dissolve with no budget to support their mediation work. With no USAID workers left in the country, we don’t know what happened to the schools, but we know the teachers couldn’t work for months without pay and the government was not yet able to pick up the bill. And al-Shabaab knows this too. They are not just fighters—they are opportunists. They will return to Marka and other towns slowly, not with guns at first but with offers: Food. Money. Protection. In a land abandoned by its allies, even the promises of warlords begin to look like salvation. While Marka remains free from al-Shabaab, Aadan Yabaal, another coastal town in Somalia that was liberated in 2022, tells another story. In April 2025, al-Shabaab seized control of the town. The school built by USAID closed, the solar streetlights were likely destroyed, and the clan reconciliation committee ceased to exist. We turned the tide once. USAID, United Nations partners, Department of Defense military advisers, Somali leaders, and community elders worked together to build something real. We saw warlords become ministers. We watched farmers sell tomatoes in markets that had been empty for years. We saw displaced families return home. But now, we’re watching it all slip away. Not because we were defeated, but because we gave up. When USAID was shut down in Somalia, we lost more than the roads we built, the streetlights, and schools. We lost the trust of people who believed us when we said we were partners. We surrendered the hope that once flickered in a place where darkness reigned. Somalia is more than a battlefield. It is a front line in the fight for dignity, stability, and peace. We have not just lost ground. We’ve lost time and momentum—and if we don’t act quickly, we may lose an entire generation who once believed they had a future. And that loss? It echoes far beyond Somalia’s borders. —Monika Gorzelanska, former USAID program office director Three Years from Retirement After 17 years of dedicated service as a public diplomacy FSO, I was notified that I am being separated due to the Department of State’s recent reduction in force. This decision is deeply painful—not only on a personal level but because it represents a significant loss to the department’s global mission and capabilities. Throughout my career, I have served on the front lines of U.S. diplomacy, voluntarily accepting challenging assignments in the developing world, including in Nepal during the 7.9 magnitude earthquake and, most recently, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I have spent the bulk of my career in sub-Saharan Africa, am a fluent French speaker, and have consistently chosen posts that advance U.S. values under difficult conditions in countries where many officers do not want to serve. In Nepal, I did not go on authorized departure after the quake, choosing instead to stay behind and spearhead our social media accounts and media relations so that Americans in Nepal knew how to access our assistance, Americans abroad knew how to check on the welfare and whereabouts of their relatives, and both the Nepali and U.S. citizens understood how the U.S. government was assisting the victims of the earthquake. My professional focus has been building trust and lasting relationships with journalists, civil society leaders, youth, and government counterparts—helping explain U.S. policies and values, managing educational and cultural exchanges, and promoting mutual understanding. Most recently, I served in the J Bureau [civilian security, democracy, and human rights], leading a team working to protect and promote religious freedom in Africa and the Middle East. That mission was critical. We helped secure the release of several prisoners of conscience and get them to safety so that they could practice their faith in peace—upholding a core American value. Unfortunately, the elimination of the J Bureau precipitated my inclusion in the RIF. My performance has never been in question. I have received awards in every position I’ve held, and I was competitively paneled into a prestigious long-term training detail at the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School, set to begin in August. My commitment to professional growth, to the department, and to public service has been unwavering. I have just learned that despite urgent advocacy efforts by NDU leadership, the department is backfilling my training detail with someone who did not go through the normal competitive process. How does such a system reward merit and accomplishment? I became a U.S. diplomat to serve the country I love. It has been an honor and a dream come true. All I want is to continue contributing to our nation’s diplomacy and global leadership. The department’s decision to separate seasoned officers like me—at a time when our experience, language skills, and regional expertise are most needed—will have longterm consequences for the institution’s capacity, particularly
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