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By: Lily Kak

In 2001, Lily Kak took an oath of office when she joined USAID as a member of the U.S. federal service. During her 24-year career at USAID, Lily served in a variety of leadership roles, most recently as Team Lead for Newborn Health in the Office of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition within the Bureau for Global Health. Her work focused on improving the survival and well-being of mothers and newborns around the world. Five months before her planned retirement, Lily’s career at USAID came to an unexpected end when USAID was dismantled. She has since devoted her time to her lifelong passion for art and has discovered a new purpose in using art to document, celebrate, and preserve the legacy of USAID and the values of service, partnership, and shared humanity that defined its mission.

January 28, 2025, is a day I will never forget. It was the day I received a brief, impersonal email informing me that my 23-year career at USAID had come to an abrupt end. Like thousands of my colleagues, I struggled to comprehend what had happened. For months, I felt paralyzed by grief and loss. The institution to which we had devoted our careers seemed to disappear almost overnight. Even the USAID website vanished from public view. It felt as though decades of service, partnership, innovation, and achievement had been erased.

Yet from that grief emerged a question: How could we ensure that USAID’s legacy would not be forgotten?

Like a seed buried beneath the soil, an idea began to take root.

What if we told the story of USAID through art?

That idea blossomed into Global Rhythms: Remembering USAID through the Arts, a multimedia exhibition featuring more than 100 works of art created by nearly 50 former USAID staff, implementing partners, family members, and friends. Together, we shared a common conviction: that USAID’s legacy—its humanity, its global reach, and its impact on millions of lives—must not fade into silence.

Through paintings, photographs, sculpture, poetry, and mixed media, the exhibition celebrated the work of Americans and their partners around the world who promoted peace, responded to disasters, saved lives, expanded opportunity, strengthened communities, and advanced human dignity.

Creating the exhibition was an act of remembrance. Creating a permanent record of that legacy became equally important. To preserve these stories and artistic expressions for future generations, we published Global Rhythms: Remembering USAID through the Arts, a coffee-table book featuring more than 100 images and reflections from the exhibition.

On September 14, 2026, approximately 70 former USAID staff, implementing partners, family members, and friends gathered at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston to dedicate the book to the Library. The setting was deeply meaningful. President Kennedy’s landmark 1961 Special Message to Congress on Foreign Aid articulated a bold vision of international development and helped lay the foundation for the creation of USAID. Standing together in a place so closely associated with that vision reminded us that while institutions may change, the values that inspired them—service, partnership, human dignity, and hope—endure.

For many of us, this was far more than a book dedication. It was a moment of remembrance, gratitude, healing, and renewal. It was an opportunity to honor the countless individuals who devoted their lives to helping others and to reaffirm our belief in the power of global partnership.

May this book serve as a lasting tribute to USAID’s legacy and to the generations of Americans and partners around the world who worked to build a more peaceful, healthy, and prosperous future for all.

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