The Passing of Richard Nelson Bail
The Vision of Communities Without Borders Continues
Dr. Richard Bail returned from Zambia, Africa in 1999 having finished a three-month project for the United Nations AIDS program. He decided to take action on what he learned. More than 700,000 children in Zambia lost their parents to the AIDS pandemic. Most of these children were living in very poor communities and could not go to school because even though tuition was free, they had no money for required books, shoes, school uniforms and food.
Dr. Bail had met with some of these children’s caretakers, grandmothers, aunts, older siblings and neighbors. He began working to connect his medical clinics and other groups in Massachusetts to groups of caretakers in the slums of Zambia’s capital city, Lusaka.
After 20 years, Dr. Bail realized that the nonprofit organization he formed called Communities Without Borders (CWB) had helped more than 6,000 children go to school to date. For these children education is their only hope for having a better life. Many of the children had gone on to secondary school and some to university-level education.
During the 20 years of getting to this success, Dr. Bail inspired many people to join him and CWB so as to fulfill his vision of helping children achieve a better life. At first it seemed simple to just supply books, uniforms, shoes and meals. But as we got to know the communities better we realized that we had to support the caretakers because they depended on the children and often would keep them home to help bring in the small income they needed. There also was the problem of young girls being married early. The dowry was a big incentive for caretakers to take girls as young as 12 years old out of school, which often meant they never had a chance to get out of poverty.
CWB added programs for income generation early in our Zambia efforts. We introduced health screening for students in communities we served. We funded college training for teachers who had only had secondary education.
Initially we provided resources for students to go to government schools. But in 2014 we began a program of working with the schools that were owned by the surrounding community. These community schools followed the curriculum of the Zambia Ministry of Education, but their students were exclusively from the poorest neighborhoods. Many were orphans.
Dr. Bail’s vision was to work with the community leaders of these schools to make them models of excellence. We found that the community leaders also want the best for their students and are enthusiastic about finding the ways to make their schools better.
One of the schools we are working with, Sekelela, has a program of early childhood education. Dr. Bail and other CWB board members spent many days in 2018 meeting with early childhood experts. They agree that from birth to age 5, a child’s brain develops more than at any other time in life. Early childhood education can make a huge difference in a child’s life.
One Sekelela teacher, who graduated this year from three years of teachers’ college majored in early childhood education. She is teaching young children in her community. She knows this work can make a meaningful difference in how successful the children will be not only in school but in all aspects of life. The Sekelela school leaders want to add vocational education, science and the arts. When implemented, all of these programs will build toward a school of excellence.
Dr. Bail died May 29. He loved meeting new people all over the world and each one was immediately his friend. He had an extraordinary career as a physician, expanding to international public health. He was also a social and environmental activist and will be missed by many people. He leaves us all an inspired CWB team and individuals who will carry on his work in Zambia and wherever people met him. His legacy is that his work will continue to benefit young people in Africa, North America, and beyond.
https://www.communitieswithoutborders.org/
Boston Social Justice 