From staff writer Emily Belz: My job is to be a reporter and convey facts and stories to readers to help them understand what’s going on in the world. As foreign aid has been cut off since January 24, one thing I have felt the limitations of recently is conveying the weight of the consequences on the ground.  

In reporting other stories, I’ve been present when an HIV patient died. I’ve seen children in comas from cerebral malaria. I’ve also seen patients come to an HIV clinic in Malawi, supported through USAID, and get life-saving care. I remember a nurse marveling to me how in the bad old days of HIV, the ward was full of very sick patients, but when I visited, no one was dying. Patients just refilled their drugs.  

How do I help you meet the people I met? It feels difficult sometimes. But we don’t have to experience hunger firsthand to feel compassion for those who are starving, and I have to trust that even clumsy reporting somehow conveys some of the experiences of people I’ve interviewed who are affected by this sudden halt in aid. Anthony Trollope, a favorite novelist of mine, says, “The author and the reader should move along together in full confidence with each other.”