MamaLeezaCares, Inc.

My name is Lisa B. Lee, but pretty much everyone in Madagascar refers to me as “Mama Leeza,” a monicker I picked up in 2017 when I spent two years here with the Peace Corps teaching English to some truly amazing Malagasy kids and young adults.

I joined the Peace Corps at the age of 60, a dream I’d carried all my life ever since I saw my first Peace Corps commercial way back in 1964. I’d always envisioned myself living out in the bush somewhere, digging ditches or planting trees, but when I joined Peace Corps, I didn’t even apply for the Agriculture program because I had no real experience other than my personal gardens. Instead, they put me in their Education program where I taught English in two cities (Mahajanga, West coast, and Mahambo, East coast), to children as young as kindergarten, and as old as 10th grade. It was an amazing, life changing experience that allowed me to finally begin to live the simpler life of which I’d often dreamt. Once I sold my home in the Oakland, CA hills, and gave away or sold all of my worldly possessions, I left the States in June 2017 with two huge suitcases full of “stuff,” most of which I didn’t need and never used.

My first assignment was at the Ridvan School in Mahajanga, a privately-owned elementary school (K-5), and I lived on the school site in a small metal building, with a metal roof. Mahajanga is the hottest city in all of Madagascar, and I would like on my bed in the afternoons, baking, hearing my apartment make the same noises my oven makes when preheating. To say it was hot doesn’t begin to express what it was like. Thankfully we had electricity, so I was able to run a floor fan, but blowing hot air around my tiny studio apartment provided little relief.

It was at Ridvan School that I first started caring for animals, cats and dogs. My neighbor’s cat adopted me, deciding she preferred my home, and despite my efforts to disuade her, she moved in, and within a few months, gave birth to three delightful kittens. There were also several owned and stray dogs who hung around, and being the animal lover I am, I started sneak-feeding four of them every evening. I had to sneak-feed them because in much of Madagascar, dogs are reviled, believed to be demonic, and if the wrong person saw me being kind to a dog, it’s very possible the animal would be poisoned, stabbed, or strangled. I’ve seen ALL of these things in the past few years I’ve lived here. I try my best to educate people about dogs, to respect them, not fear them, but the cultural norms are far stronger than anything I can tell them. Even my Peace Corps host family, who owned two of the dogs I was feeding daily, I had to hide it from them, too, because they felt that the food I was providing the dogs was too good for dogs. In the end, they found out I was feeding the dogs, but I continued to feed them surriptitiously, even though I knew THEY knew, just out of respect for them.

• Help Me Continue to Help Others

We have cared for hundreds of needy dogs and cats in and around Mahajanga and the need only seems to increase.

This first image is of Bisquit, an owned dog whom I discovered several years ago while walking through the Ambovalanana part of Mahajanga. She had just given birth to puppies, was extremely thin and LOADED with fleas and ticks. Had I not intervened, I am sure she wouldn’t have survived.

Bisquit (beez-KWEE), two years later. You see how much better and happy she looks? One of the first things we did was to prevent her from getting pregnant (semi-annual Depo Provera shots), followed by monthly flea treatments. Her owners are delighted that she’s no longer a baby-making machine, and that she’s so much healthier.

SERVICES WE PROVIDE:

My facilitator, Nazirah, and I keep a monthly calendar keeping track of which dogs need vaccines, birth control, de-worming, and vitamins. We pay for all services, medications, and also provide needy owners with dog food if they aren’t able to afford to adequately feed their dogs.

Urgent pet needs are addressed as well. Owners know how to contact us and if they have a sick animal, or can no longer care for their animals, we will dispatch a veterinarian to their home or go pick up the animal. I have brought sick animals into my home, for weeks, while I nursed them back to health, finally returning them to their delighted owners. We also educate owners about proper ways to feed, house, and treat their animals.

There are so many needy children here, but I am currently focusing my support on the following kids:

Orphanage Kids – In Madagascar, unlike other countries, many, if not most children residing in orphanages actually have parents and families. These children end up living in orphanages for a variety of reasons, and it’s common for overstressed parents to bring a child to an orphanage simply because the parents cannot care for the child and hope the facility can better provide for their children. Orphanages are run by the governement or by private entities. In Mahajanga, we are currently working with two facilities:

The orphanage in Mangarivotra (MAHN-ga-REEV-cha), which has no official name and is run by the government, and

2) Centre Fanovozantsoa (FAH-noo-voo-zant-SOO-ah), a privately run orphanage located in the Tsaralaza fokotany (township) of Mahajanga. What sets this orphanage apart from all the rest is the hard work of the Director, Madame Adelaide (pronounced ah-day-la-EED), who targets street kids, getting them off the streets and into her orphanage where she provides them with a roof over their heads, three square meals, lots of love, education, and even jobs for the older kids once they finish school. In many cases, the parents of these children are still living on the streets, begging, often with an infant in tow. Giving these children this facility changes their life’s trajectory, allows them to dream better dreams, and gives them the chance to escape what is often generational poverty. I cannot express how much I respect what she does and how much an honor it is to work with her and help provide some of the needs for the children in her care.

Special Needs Kids

The challenges special needs kids face is multiplied by the abject poverty many of these families suffer. Even if they knew there was a school dedicated to catering to their needs (few parents are even aware this school exists), they lack the funds to pay tuition, food, transportation, school supplies, etc. When I identify a child with special needs, whether it be physical (e.g. microcephaly, children born with incredibly small heads), or a result of a prolonged labor and delivery (depriving the child of oxygen, stunting brain development and congnitive abilities), these parents believe they have only two choices:

1) Keep the child home, never sending them to school, often not even allowing the child to leave the home to play outside, utterly shunned, or

2) Sending the child to normal school, where they will undoubtedly fail. In one child’s case, they repeated first grade four times, never able to advance due to their cognitive limitation.

When we get involved, our first step is to educate the parents about the additional option of sending their child to Finoana School, getting their buy-in, giving them a tour, introducing them to the director, and most importantly, letting them see that they are not alone, that their child’s challenges are shared by dozens of other children in the region.

Our next step is to get the child seen by a neurologist, and we’re grateful to have at our disposal a “retired” neurologist, Dr. Tzangandrazana (ZAHN-gan-JA-zah-na), who is no longer doing hospital hours, but works from a small clinic in his home. He diagnoses the children, and if meds are prescribed, we purchase them for the family and take care of all refills. I make it a point, when walking through the neighorbood each month with the next refill, to hang the distinctive pharmacy plastic bag so everyone who sees me knows I’m on the way to deliver needed medicines. This spreads word of mouth, to other families who may have special needs kids they have hidden away, and each time one of these families reaches out to me, my heart sings. 

Giving these cognitively challenged children an education can go a long way to providing them the foundation to eventually live a somewhat independent life, not fully dependent on their families (if at all), contributing to society, and living normal, fulfilling lives, as much as possible. Each time I attend a doctor’s appointment with one of my kids, I am stunned by the incredible need — how many other dozens of parents are there with their own special needs kids — which tells me that we really need to far more outreach to make an even greater impact in the lives of these families.

2427 Monticello Ave., Apt. A
Oakland, CA 94601
(510) 463-4853

Lisa@MamaLeezaCares.org

EIN 87-4440222

Lisa B. Lee
2427 Monticello Ave., Apt. A
Oakland, CA 94601
(510) 408-8064
Lisa@MamaLeezaCares.org

Mama Leeza Cares, Inc. is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. EIN 87-4440222