Community in South Africa stands united amid U.S. Aid freeze

Community members in Evaton, South of Johannesburg, gathered at the Emthojeni Awareness Centre to collect food parcels donated by the U.S. Department of Social Development on Wednesday.

Emthonjeni Awareness Centre is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that specialises in orphans and vulnerable children as a result of the HIV pandemic and also has other programmes to help women and youth in the community.

The NGO is one of many that have been affected by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and USAID freeze by U.S. President Donald Trump, which has left many of their staff and beneficiaries worried about the future. Shortly after returning to the White House Trump signed an executive order freezing almost all U.S. foreign aid.

Many Africans had known that Trump’s “America First” outlook meant their continent was likely to be last among his priorities. But they hadn’t expected the abrupt halt to foreign aid from the world’s largest donor that stops money flowing for wide-ranging projects like disease response, girls’ education and free school lunches.

Angelina Msimanga a beneficiary of the funding said she had previously defaulted on her medication and is worried that she will suffer without the help of the NGO. “I wish that the NGO could continue helping people living with HIV/AIDS for them to continue with their treatment and live a healthy life like other people and not default on their medication,” Msimanga said.

The NGO has over 200 patients living with HIV/AIDS along with 15 staff members who are mobilised to conduct patient visits. Harriet Mutle, a social worker at Emthonjeni, told the Associated Press that the funding played a significant role in helping people living with HIV/AIDS and she wishes Trump would reconsider freezing the aid. “I would be happy if the American President, Donald Trump, stopped the whole crisis and takes things back to normal," she said. "I don’t think he is aware that the funding was helping us and the beneficiaries of the funding."

The U.S. provides more foreign aid globally than any other country, budgeting about $60 billion in 2023, or about 1% of the U.S. budget.