September 10, 2006

Tanzania’s Mama Liz Nurtures Help and Hope

By Sherry Harbert

Somewhere between trips to volunteer in Honduras, Ghana and Tanzania, a Portland nurse discovered the dire needs of children living with AIDS and an extraordinary will to respond. Liz Clibourne works as a registered nurse for Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Oregon. It is a job she loves, but it no longer represents the aspiration in her life. All those aspirations now reside in the small town of Idweli, located in Southwest Tanzania. “I truly believe this is what I’m going to be doing the rest of my life,” Clibourne said. She lived and worked in the village for nine months before she was forced to return to the U.S. last December. And that was only because she had exhausted almost every means to extend her visa.

Clibourne said there were “other” options, but sleeping with an official or paying bribes was not part of her strategy. After all, Clibourne has standards. And her standards have inspired the children and women of Idweli in many ways. One of the most obvious was her tenacity to launch a medical and educational organization with her own money. Every Child, Every Village is Clibourne’s vision for the future of the children in Idweli, Tanzania.

“If you’re going to combat AIDS, it’s all about education,” said Clibourne. “If the children know they have a shot at life, that’s all it takes.” Clibourne said there’s a problem in education when 52 out of 54 children fail the seventh-level exam. Failure means no more education and no hope for a better future. She first noticed the failures of Tanzania’s educational system when she volunteered in Idweli with Africa Bridge, a humanitarian organization based in West Linn, Oregon. Clibourne met Barry Childs, founder and director of Africa Bridge several years ago. She was immediately taken by Child’s dedication to serving the children in Tanzania. It is most fitting for a man with such a namesake. “He’s such a wonderful man,” said Clibourne. “He started this whole thing. He sent me over there.”

Clibourne’s time in Tanzania would help set the foundation for Godfrey’s Children Center in Idweli, which opened in January. The center is a collaboration of partnerships with Africa Bridge, the Tanzanian-based Godfrey’s Children, the Lundy Foundation of Colorado and many contributors. But it would be the daily experiences that changed Clibourne’s life. “I’ve been there so much that I look passed the squalor and see the people,” said Clibourne.

Clibourne sees the irony of pushing education when she is a nurse. But irony is what triggers the best in Clibourne. Her straight-forward approach to serving the community in Idweli comes with a Sedaris-like humor. Her journals for Africa Bridge, although much too few, reveal an incredible talent for describing life in Tanzania. Even basic medical checkups take on an entirely new attitude with Clibourne. Though the center’s current volunteer, Nicki Nelson, states much of Clibourne’s wit was lost on the villagers, it would be criminal to lose it for those in the Western world. Each entry is worth reading.

Mama Liz Arrives

When Clibourne arrived in Idweli, she was confronted with a culture that treats women with little respect. “There are options for women, here in the U.S.,” said Clibourne. “There are no options there.” She was horrified to see women curtsey to men upon greetings, let alone finding out that in some villages the men didn’t have to work, but the women did. “Why should she have to do that?” asked Clibourne. “I don’t want to be seen as a white woman going in to change everything, but some customs need it.”

Clibourne said one of the customs that need changing is men having multiple wives. “Polygamy means AIDS in Africa,” she said. “You cannot be all over the place with sex and not transfer AIDS.” In a country where faithfulness is strongly encouraged, the reality is that most men are no faithful and bring AIDS home. And when the mother gets AIDS, her children’s futures are in jeopardy. It is why there are so many orphans throughout Africa. The use of condoms and other birth control is a big issue. A wife must get permission from her husband just to take birth control. Clibourne said that when women have no voice, there is no change. “If countries would use women more as resources instead of pack animals, there would be change,” she said.

Change will be difficult. Clibourne said villagers believe a local doctor is bewitched because he helps his wife with laundry. But change is coming. Clibourne finds many women wanting to control their lives and birth control is one way. When she was approached by one woman for birth control who didn’t even have money for bus fare, she realized the depth of the problem. “The lady had 10 kids,” said Clibourne who gave her the bus fare. “When she came back with her husband, he gave me a bag of potatoes.”

Norplant is the most feasible means of birth control for poor women, according to Clibourne. It is relatively cheap and lasts for five years, so women aren’t faced with purchasing it over and over again. She said that even when the women got permission from their husbands, they were faced without the money to travel to get it. Clibourne said bus fare is a cheap solution.

It All Revolves around the Children

Once Clibourne could dig deeper into the lives of her fellow villagers, she discovered that both the men and women want something better for their sons and daughters. Besides education, just the basics are difficult. Without proper clothes, children are sent home from school. Yet many are too poor to purchase decent school attire. And when most require uniforms, it makes the situation even worse. Clibourne said the children are desperate to attend school. One boy showed up with just the tops of his shoes. The heels had long worn off. Clibourne is most happy when she can provide them with basics. “It’s amazing how they walk out with new clothes,” she said.

Once the children are clothed, true learning can begin. All of Clibourne’s solutions are cheap and easy fixes. She purchased blackboard paint and painted the walls of the classroom with it for instant blackboards. When basic supplies like paper and pencils are so difficult to attain, the blackboard walls prove vital. But there were also lessons for Clibourne to learn as she began her quest to teach the children. “The first time I pointed to the board with a stick, all the children got scared,” she said, discovering that the sticks were used to hit the children for any kind of punishment. “If I need to punish a child, there is no caning; only cleaning.”

Clibourne said some women became extremely frustrated when their children were afraid to attend a village school because of constant beatings. “Confronting authority is huge,” said Clibourne. “But the women went up to that teacher and demanded he stop beating their children. I was so proud of them. For them to do that was a most amazing step.”

Clibourne found she had to begin with the most basic elements at the school. Even the alphabet had to be revamped, as the letters were out of order. But she has achieved astounding results. “Now our preschool kids are smarter than the other village children,” she said. Clibourne’s “kids” are the AIDS orphans who reside at the center. She is hoping to include them also as the center grows.

Along with clothing the children, medical care is also essential. Clibourne had to treat every infection and disease, besides AIDS at the clinic. Even teaching the children proper hygiene is important. She said everyone laughed when she demonstrated washing her hands with soap and water the first time. The lack of such basic fundamentals has nothing to do with a lack of concern. It is what is forced upon people in dire poverty. “Every child that walks into my clinic gets wormed,” said Clibourne, pointing to the consequences of poverty and a lack of hygiene in such regions of the world. And it is something that Clibourne hopes to lessen with more work and training.

But treating AIDS is far different. “Village life could be wonderful,” said Clibourne. “But AIDS tore everything up.” Just getting diagnosed is one hurdle. Then it becomes worse when medication is not available. “Even bus fare is a luxury,” said Clibourne. “If they don’t have money, they don’t go to a doctor. And people die for a lack of a few dollars for an anti-biotic.” Clibourne said it is vital that medicine be available in the villages where there is access to them. She was proud to say that all her treatments at the clinic were free.

The more Clibourne got involved with the community, the more she found it difficult to leave. But restrictions on visas gave her no choice but to leave. Yet even being away from her village has not stopped Clibourne’s work to continue.

Every Child, Every Village

There is such need even in the tiny village of Idweli that Clibourne wanted to do more. That is why she launched her own organization. She said it will be run on a “trickle up” structure “so all the money goes to the kids.” She learned to utilize cheap and easy fixes to get the job done. She said things don’t have to cost a lost to be effective. But they do cost. Everything from clothing, medicine, food, shelter and school supplies can be daunting.

“I don’t know anyone who’s rich,” said Clibourne. “But if people give me $30 or $50, I can buy 60 school shirts. I can buy shoes.” Even purchasing a house to hold a clinic and school won’t cost much in the village. Clibourne hopes to someday furnish a library and teach classes so the children can pass their exams to make it to the next level.

“I want to start in one village,” said Clibourne. “We’ll teach by doing. Then we’ll to into the next village with the same program. And then into every village.” Clibourne’s dream means lots of work. Though she is working as much as she can to raise her own funds, she needs outside help. She will rely on volunteers to come help teach, but funds for basic supplies are another thing. She hopes to soon have a website to help generate the funds needed to realize her dream.

“My money goes to kids,” said Clibourne. “It starts with kids and ends with kids. They are what’s going to bring Africa out of this.”

© 2006, Foreign Interest

For more information:

Liz Clibourne: hiloliz@gmail.com

Africa Bridge: www.africabridge.org

Clibourne’s Journal: www.africabridge.org/mamaliz.html

Contact the author: sharbert@foreigninterest.com