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‘Our hands are tied’: Local aid workers exposed in pandemic

A trainee reads a handbook on coronavirus prevention, at a training session for community health workers conducted by the national NGO "Health Link" in Gumbo, on the outskirts of Juba, South Sudan, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. The coronavirus is exposing an uncomfortable inequality in the billion-dollar system that delivers life-saving aid to countries in crisis: Most money goes to international aid groups instead of local ones and now many local aid workers have been left exposed on the pandemic's front lines. (AP Photo/Charles Atiki Lomodong)
A trainee reads a handbook on coronavirus prevention, at a training session for community health workers conducted by the national NGO "Health Link" in Gumbo, on the outskirts of Juba, South Sudan, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. The coronavirus is exposing an uncomfortable inequality in the billion-dollar system that delivers life-saving aid to countries in crisis: Most money goes to international aid groups instead of local ones and now many local aid workers have been left exposed on the pandemic's front lines. (AP Photo/Charles Atiki Lomodong) A trainee reads a handbook on coronavirus prevention, at a training session for community health workers conducted by the national NGO "Health Link" in Gumbo, on the outskirts of Juba, South Sudan, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. The coronavirus is exposing an uncomfortable inequality in the billion-dollar system that delivers life-saving aid to countries in crisis: Most money goes to international aid groups instead of local ones and now many local aid workers have been left exposed on the pandemic's front lines. (AP Photo/Charles Atiki Lomodong)

By CARA ANNA / Associated Press 6 min read

JOHANNESBURG (AP) – The coronavirus is exposing an uncomfortable inequality in the billion-dollar system that delivers life-saving aid for countries in crisis: Most money that flows from the U.S. and other donors goes to international aid groups instead of local ones. Now local aid workers are exposed on the pandemic’s front lines with painfully few means to help the vulnerable communities they know so well.

Often lacking protective equipment, the groups are carrying a bigger burden than ever as COVID-19 adds to the already vast challenges of conflict, drought and hunger in places like Somalia and Afghanistan.

At times, they tell communities they have nothing to give.

“Our hands are tied,” a South Sudanese aid leader, Gloriah Soma, told an online event last month. She described foreign aid workers being evacuated early in the pandemic or working from home as many feared infection.

“Is this a humanitarian response?” she asked, saying she hopes the crisis will spark more help “at this critical moment.” Her country can hardly bear another disaster: A five-year civil war killed nearly 400,000 people, and hunger stalks half the population.