'A catastrophe': Newmarket charity concerned about impact of U.S. aid cuts

Newmarket resident Rex Taylor has helped many young Kenyans find education and health through the charity he co-founded, The Small Project.

Alongside his wife, Mary-Ellen Taylor, the two have worked since 2009 to raise funds to help children attend elementary and secondary school and support mobile health clinics. 

One of those children is Joseph, who Taylor said needed additional help as someone born HIV positive and totally deaf. Joseph relies on antiviral drugs provided for free by the Kenyan government, but Taylor said that could come under threat due to international aid cuts by the U.S. government.

“This is a catastrophe not just for the people who are HIV positive, but for the rest of Kenya,” Taylor said, later adding that the U.S. government is “playing with people’s lives.”

Taylor is raising concern as the American government makes massive cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development. On March 10, the government cancelled 83 per cent of the agency’s foreign aid contracts, representing billions in foreign aid funding. 

Among the contracts, the Kenyan government relied on U.S. government-donated HIV medicine, Taylor said. Now, that medicine could be out of reach for people like Joseph without other assistance.

“It means millions of people are going to die,” he said, adding it also hurts America on the world stage. “It’s not logical. It doesn’t make good sense.” 

United States Secretary of State Marcio Rubio said that the cancelled contractors “spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States.”

Helping others abroad

Taylor has long done this work, in memory of cousin George Small, who loved his country and helped build schools in Kenya.

Taylor said he, too, came to love the country after visiting it. He said he believes that helping even a little bit somewhere can make an impact.

“You do what you can. We can’t do everything, but we choose to do something,” he said. “You have to try to do something. And I’m not alone, we’re not alone. People do it all over Newmarket. I’m continually in awe of the volunteers who step up to the plate. It’s a remarkable community.” 

The charity does not have much of an overhead. He said they have some assistance in Kenya to help administer, but about 95 per cent of donated dollars go directly to supporting the education and health of Kenyans. That helps keep the donations to the charity stable, Taylor said. 

He said it is very rewarding to see students grow up with an education thanks to their funding, and the students are appreciative of it.

“The kids are very grateful for what they have received. They get it. They understand,” Taylor said. 

Many of those who have come up along with the charity now seek to do post-secondary education, which Taylor says costs two or three times as much. Still, he said they are trying to fund students going on to post-secondary that they have funded over the years.

That includes Joseph, who is looking to get into a catering program that could lead to a kitchen job, Taylor said. 

If needed, Taylor said they will step in and fund antiviral HIV drugs for Joseph at market rate. But he added they hope the Kenyan government can find a way to keep the supply available for their people. 

Though Kenya is a long way from Newmarket, Taylor said it is worthwhile trying to help people abroad.

“People have said to me, ‘It’s Africa. There’s enough problems in our own world and our own country.' And I just don’t believe it’s an either-or situation,” Taylor said. “We can address international issues, as well as things within our own borders … We can do both.”