The MAIA Foundation: Two Passions Combined

by Pamela Weinsaft (New York City)

The average person looking for a life change might change her hobby or her job. But Laureen and Barbara DeBuono are not your average women.

Laureen, a Duke University- and NYU-trained attorney, has had a love affair with Africa since she was a teenager; Barbara, an MD with a Masters in Public Health who once served as the Rhode Island State Epidemiologist and the New York Commissioner of Health, has been fascinated with public health since she took a CDC-sponsored elective on the topic while in medical school. They combined their talents and interests in Africa and global health to create better lives for women in Sub-Saharan Africa through their public charity, the MAIA Foundation.

“We just were thinking about our lives and our legacies. We were both turning 50. Our children were going off to college. We were ready for a new chapter in lives,” said Barbara; “We said to ourselves, ‘Let’s give back. Let’s try to do something that can really make a difference.'”

Named for the Roman goddess of fertility and motherhood, the MAIA Foundation seeks to improve health and health literacy of women in sub-Saharan Africa by offering annual grants of $5-$25K to existing non-governmental organizations working to reduce maternal mortality, improve health and life skills education, and increase access to family planning services and high quality obstetrical care. In the future, MAIA hopes to offer research grants to universities in Sub-Saharan Africa to track the effectiveness of the funded programs.

“[Laureen and I] are both very big believers that you can create something out of nothing with drive, energy, and vision. We are also firm believers in the expression ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ We asked ourselves, what is the worst that can happen?”

Barbara said that while many family members and friends were supportive, there were quite a few naysayers who warned the sisters not to be disappointed if they didn’t raise any money. “We thanked [the naysayers] for their advice but didn’t listen to it.”

Instead, the sisters reached out to individual investors and their personal networks. Their tenacity and optimism have paid off: this year, MAIA has issued grants totaling $101,800 USD to organizations that support women’s reproductive health and education in Uganda and Rwanda. Their first fundraiser, held earlier this year, raised a whopping $18,000. “And every dollar raised [or donated] goes to the programs,” added Barbara.

At present, there are seven African organizations benefitting from the sisters’ efforts. The sisters plan to head to Africa again in March of 2009 to check in on the current recipient organizations, as well as to visit a couple of new organizations. “We hope to bring in 3 to 4 new programs and…, after 3 years, to have funded 12-15 organizations.”

Barbara recently left her position as the Executive Director for public health and government at Pfizer, Inc. to devote herself fulltime to teaching, grant writing and the work of the foundation. Laureen is currently CEO of Coapt Systems, Inc., an aesthetics device company, and devotes her personal time to all MAIA activities.

Among the organizations currently benefiting from MAIA Foundation grants are the Straight Talk Foundation, which educates and treats victims of sexual and gender-based violence, the Reproductive Health Uganda, which provides an holistic approach to rehabilitation of commercial sex workers, and The Railways Children Primary School (pictured above), for a program for boys and girls aged 12 or older focused on HIV prevention, effective communication in relationships, and personal hygiene training.