Fatehiyya Mohamed Adam is a Sudanese refugee who first fled war in 2023 and then lost everything after an accidental fire ripped through this refugee camp along the Chad-Sudan border. HIAS, a refugee advocacy N.G.O. that was poised to help her with emergency services, couldn’t after the U.S. government suspended its work in massive foreign aid cuts announced in January. We traveled to the remote Aboutengue Camp in Chad, where many of the resources for tens of thousands of refugees, mostly women and children, have come to a sudden halt. HIAS had been providing refugees with critical support. And while its work suspension was lifted in early March, it remains unclear which of its programs will continue to be funded and for how long. One woman who asked us to hide her identity for fear of retribution, told us how HIAS helped intervene after a domestic violence incident with her husband. She still lives here with her husband and toddler, and had been receiving family counseling from the N.G.O., which has had to freeze workers’ salaries and sessions for her and for other victims of gender-based violence. Almost everywhere in the Aboutengue Camp, we came across stories of people who rely heavily on U.S. foreign aid on a daily basis. Schools like this one, run by Jesuit Refugee Services, were a lifeline for more than 32,000 students like Kawsar Mahamat Yakub, before it abruptly had to close its doors in January. A month later, some of its teachers returned to volunteer or work for minimum pay, but more than half of the students were now gone, and it’s unclear how much longer the school will be able to keep its doors open. As of March, the Trump administration has eliminated 83 percent of U.S.A.I.D. programs and 40 percent of State Department grants, citing widespread waste and claiming they do not serve U.S. interests. The cuts total tens of billions in overall U.S. assistance worldwide.
