Mark Wentling likes to tell people he was born and raised in Kansas, but made in Africa.
Originally from El Dorado and Udall, Wentling spent more than 50 years in Africa, working first for the Peace Corps and then later for the U.S. Agency for International Development, better known as USAID.
He was inducted this month into Wichita State University’s Fairmount College Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony brought him back to the place, where his long journey began in the late 1960s.
“The campus was in uproar because of the Vietnam War,” Wentling said.
“There were Peace Corps recruiters sitting right in the Campus Activity Center at a table … And I dropped out of college, to the surprise of many, one semester before I was going to graduate.
“Actually, one course.”
Wentling returned to WSU to finish his degree in anthropology, political science and economics before rejoining the Peace Corps. In 1970, he went to Togo, beginning a 50-year relationship with the continent.
Wentling has worked in or visited all 54 African countries.
Despite devoting himself to the continent and its 1.2 billion people, Wentling said he’s worried about the direction Africa is headed.
“Well, I don't like to be negative on the continent I spent my life in, but all the countries I worked in and worked to advance, they seem to be going backwards,” said Wentling, who speaks seven languages, some of them specific to certain regions of Africa. “You take countries like Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali … Guinea, they all have military regimes.
“Now, the time I was in the village in the early ’70s, it was like, ‘Oh, we're going to be developed. Development is just around the corner. You know, give us five, 10 years, and we won't need you. You're working yourself out of a job.’ But they went backwards.
“I thought I was moving and shaking and … helping change for the better, but I'm not so sure now.”
Adding to his concern is President Donald Trump’s desire to dismantle the organization. He has called USAID corrupt and his adviser, Elon Musk, said his Department of Government Efficiency wants to put the group “into the wood chipper.”
Many of the organization’s 10,000 employees have been laid off by the administration and funding for many programs is frozen. Both moves are being challenged in court.
USAID funds projects in more than 100 countries. Many of the projects are for basic human needs, Wentling said, like health care, education and clean water.
“I'm not saying there wasn't room for reform,” he said. “There's always room for reform, and you can always do better, and you can scrape off the fat of any agency.
“But to totally demolish it and dismantle it, close it? That's beyond comprehension.”
Wentling said USAID has lived through previous changes when a new president takes over.
“That's why we say USAID is fickle because with every administration, its emphasis changes,” Wentling said. “I started in the Carter administration. The countries I worked in were the least developed … His emphasis (was) on the basic human needs in water, health, education, stuff like that.
“And then we changed in 1980 with President Reagan, and he threw all that out. And he wanted emphasis to be on private sector development: trade, not aid. A lot of … colleagues quit because they couldn’t make the switch.
“We were told to do private sector development, and we did it within the limits that we could. … We survived, and they didn't dismantle the agency.”
The U.S. is the world’s largest provider of humanitarian aid. And USAID distributes most of it, with a budget of about $40 billion dollars last year.
Wentling likes to point out that’s about 1% of the national budget. He said the funding promotes U.S. foreign policy.
“Foreign assistance, foreign aid and foreign policy is all intertwined,” he said.
“The foreign assistance supports our foreign policy. If we're taking out the foreign aid, what kind of foreign policy do we have? You know, I see other countries that we're competing with, like China, Russia, filling the gaps.
“When I first went to Africa in 1970, there weren't any Chinese. Now they're everywhere.”
Wentling said the U.S. has a long history of providing aid to other countries and of sending volunteers to places in crisis. Both the Peace Corps and USAID were established in 1961 during the Kennedy administration.
“We have a history of volunteering that you don't find in other countries because other countries are filled with desperate people who are just trying to make ends meet,” he said.
“I think we have a moral obligation. We want to be a leader in the world. I assume we want to be a leader, but we’ve got to lead. And you don't lead by taking a hammer and destroying everything.”
Wentling officially retired from USAID in 2023 after serving for six months in Nepal. He and his wife, Almaz, who’s from Somalia, live in Lubbock, Texas, where he spends his time continuing to write about his life in Africa.
“Well, I had the option of marrying the girl next door and going to Washburn law school, but I took the road less traveled by,” Wentling said.
“I don't have any regrets. I regret for Africa.”
