The Friday Brief by Girl Friday
The Friday Brief is a news podcast by Girl Friday, a boutique global affairs firm in Washington, D.C. We believe awareness impels action for a world of good.
The Friday Brief by Girl Friday
Will George Bush speak up for PEPFAR?
With funding from the U.S. for foreign assistance on pause, critical programs like PEPFAR are frozen. HIV/AIDS clinics in Africa rely on PEPFAR to offer testing and treatment. Will former President George Bush speak up on behalf of one of his administration's best initiatives? In this episode, we also discuss Holocaust Remembrance Day, conflict in the Congo, the importance of continuing U.S.-funded mine clearance in Asia, and Donald Trump's proposal for Gaza.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram @DearGirlFriday and sign up for The Friday Brief newsletter on deargirlfriday.com.
Welcome to The Friday Brief, a news podcast by Girl Friday. I’m Phoenix Ricks, the CEO of Girl Friday and your host. This is your brief for January 28, 2025.
In news from the Middle East, The New York Times reported that more than 300,000 Palestinians are making the journey back to their demolished homes in Northern Gaza. The images of this journey are heartbreaking. Videos show seemingly endless lines of people walking slowly, carrying belongings. Generations after us will ask where we were and what we did. As for the U.S. government, there aren’t yet any tangible plans for Palestinians under this administration. Referring to the devastation in Gaza, Donald Trump said, “We just clean out that whole thing.”
So, where would Palestinians live, and what would happen to Gaza? CNN reported that Donald Trump wants allies like Jordan to take on the responsibility of housing Palestinians. United Nations data shows that Jordan is already housing more than 2.3 million Palestinian refugees. Still, there doesn’t appear to be a known plan for moving Palestinians back into Gaza after it is rebuilt. This is concerning for our allies being asked to shoulder this responsibility, and it is likely troubling for Palestinians and their diaspora community. The AP says Jordan’s foreign minister told journalists that Jordan’s rejection of this U.S. proposal is “firm and unwavering.”
Last week, I talked about the PEPFAR debacle in Mozambique. If you need a quick primer on PEPFAR, please go back to the episode called Gin and Proust and start at the fourth chapter. NPR reported this week that the Trump administration has paused all foreign assistance funding for at least 90 days, including funding for PEPFAR. Across Africa, PEPFAR is a key source of funding for HIV AIDS clinics that conduct testing, provide treatments, and lead public education campaigns. I wonder when or if former President George Bush will speak up for PEPFAR as this is an essential part of his presidential legacy and his family’s contribution to ending the HIV AIDS epidemic.
The Trump administration has made only two exceptions in this bizarre foreign assistance pause: emergency humanitarian assistance and military financing are still available for Israel and Egypt. When asked about the stop-work order’s purpose and impact, the U.S. Department of State told NPR that our country "is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people.” As a former State Department employee, I have to say I am deeply disappointed with that approach. I have always believed that every single person on this earth is connected. We should never provide assistance or resources with the expectation of a return. However, I can tell you that the returns are probably more significant than most Americans would imagine.
In the future, I hope more stories from the State Department and USAID will be shared widely by our news media. You should hear how people worldwide feel about receiving U.S. government-funded programs, such as exchange programs to study in the U.S. or humanitarian assistance packages to recover after a disaster. I had the enormous privilege of collecting and documenting some of those stories during my time at State. Building goodwill through selfless giving without expecting a return on investment is a critical component of our public diplomacy and a key part of America’s image on the world stage. However, aside from the optics of diplomacy or the feel-good stories that can be shared, funding global health programs directly benefits Americans daily.
As we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic, illnesses can spread quickly around the world. Stopping an epidemic on the other side of the planet doesn’t just help people in that region. It ensures everyone’s health and safety in the U.S. as well. And some of these U.S. humanitarian programs are also designed to right our wrongs. It is unthinkable that we are pausing mine-clearance funding, which helps nations like Vietnam clear unexploded ammunition that we left in their nation. People, including innocent children playing in fields, are still severely maimed and even killed by our decades-old landmines.
To us, the Vietnam War ended ages ago, but that’s not the case for them. Bill Morse, the co-founder of Cambodian Self Help Demining and the Landmine Relief Fund, told the New York Times, “There is a good chance people are going to die. Somebody is going to walk into a minefield that should have been cleared this week, boom.” When I think about the people these funding freezes will negatively impact, I also think of the Congo. After three decades of conflict, due largely to the genocide in neighboring Rwanda, the people of Congo are enduring yet another escalation of violence.
Reuters reported today that rebel forces backed by Rwanda took control of an airport near Goma, which may cut off aid for hundreds of thousands of displaced people who have already suffered unthinkable losses. In Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, protesters attacked a United Nations compound. UN peacekeepers are currently sheltering on their bases. A UN Spokesperson said, "There are real risks of breakdown of law and order in the city, given the proliferation of weapons." Protestors also demonstrated in front of several embassies, including the U.S., Rwanda, and France. The World Bank says that Congo is one of the five poorest nations, yet they have enviable natural resources like cobalt and copper. And so, the reckless fight to control Congo’s natural abundance continues.
One of my favorite books is “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West.” There’s a quote I love by a legendary leader named Crazy Horse, “One does not sell the earth upon which the people walk.” But that seems to be what is happening in the Congo. Without U.S. funding for global health programs and humanitarian assistance, I worry about what will happen to the most vulnerable people - women and children - trying to survive this violent conflict. The scenes from Congo are not dissimilar from what we see in Sudan, too - masses of people moving from place to place, trying to flee violence and find shelter, food, and safety.
These images remind me of the last scene in the movie Hotel Rwanda. While the creators took some fictional liberties, I think the film does a great job of introducing the Rwandan genocide to new audiences and sharing lessons we should have learned sooner. In that final scene, hundreds or thousands of people are trying to get across the border safely.
We’ve seen this march play out throughout history, yet we are often slow to act when it's happening in real time. Yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Survivors gathered to remember and to issue necessary warnings about the rise in antisemitism around the world. One woman told CNN, “As time passes, things are being forgotten. The world hasn’t learned its lessons from what happened, from what was done.” CNN says that about 1.1 million people were murdered at this concentration camp from 1940 to 1945.
At my Catholic high school, we had half days every Wednesday to volunteer. In my senior year, our social action coordinator, who handled those assignments, paired me with one of my best friends. We were asked to grocery shop for an elderly woman at a local Jewish retirement home. We loved learning about her recipes to get those grocery orders just right. I’ll never forget the day our social action coordinator asked us to take on an extra grocery run. A classmate was out sick, so we were asked to take on her grocery list. We were anxious to leave school and start our usual teen gossip session in the car on the way to the retirement home, so I leaned over the social action coordinator’s computer to quickly jot down the apartment number. I still remember how I felt seeing the short list of notes under her name. She was a Holocaust survivor. Now, of course, we knew survivors could live in this retirement home, but we were teenagers, and there was a big difference between possibility and reality. Seeing that note under her name - it's a moment I’ll never forget. She was kind and gentle, and though our interaction was incredibly brief, I think of her often. It is hard to describe what it feels like to meet someone who survived one of the most horrific, violent events in world history. I’m still so grateful we had the opportunity to grocery shop for her that day.
And that concludes your brief for today. Make sure you don’t miss an episode! Follow Dear Girl Friday on Instagram, where we post episode summaries and sources. You can sign up for The Friday Brief newsletter on deargirlfriday.com. Until next time, I’m Phoenix Ricks signing off from Washington, D.C. Let’s work together for a world of good.
.png)
