All over the world, LLL Leaders and retired Leaders are fulfilling the mission of La Leche League. While their paths are widely diverse, the results ultimately culminate in the mother-to-mother support of breastfeeding. Few other organizations can match this vast peer support network or intensive volunteer commitment.

In Paraguay, Leader Pushpa Panadam regularly visits her local hospital to provide support to mothers who are breastfeeding. She started in August 2001, right after the Chicago Conference and now is into her third year. While the families she visits learn and share the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, various positions, etc., it is an enriching experience for Pushpa too. She continues to discover new and interesting facts about breastfeeding in the traditional communities, where children were commonly breastfed for five to six years.

In Connecticut, USA, Area Alumnae Representative Harriet Smiley is reconnecting retired Leaders to LLL. She sends a personal response to all those who sign the Retired Leader Guest Book on the LLLI Web site. She also passes their information to the Area Coordinator of Leaders (ACL) and Area Alumnae Representative (AAR) and sends them a complimentary copy of Continuum.

In Kansas, USA, reports BOD member Jane Tuttle, the Area mailed a brand new Womanly Art of Breastfeeding to all 386 public libraries in the state. With the WAB went a letter explaining the new revision, a press release for the librarian to send to her local paper, and an Area brochure that lists all Kansas Groups. Inside every book was a placard that credited Kansas LLL for the donation and gave their Web site address and 800 number. The project cost about $5,500 with books, envelopes, labels, and postage.

In Belgium, Leader Christine Vandenbroecke has worked several years in isolation. She designed and made available several LLL phamplets and a website for this Flemish-speaking area. In 2003, she finally accredited a new Leader and is currently working with two more Leader Applicants.

In Kroonstad, South Africa, Leader Ruth Pantland recently ran a Peer Counsellor training course at one of the Primary Health Care clinics for the nursing sisters. The sisters have many years experience in dealing with the public and giving advice on a variety of health related issues. However, they were amazed at how little they really knew about day-to-day breastfeeding management. They also really appreciated that Ruth had access to up-to-date information before it filtered down to them from the Health Ministry. The area where they probably learned the most was communicating with mothers, especially helping mothers make informed decisions, rather than prescribing to them what they ought to do.

In Durban, South Africa, Jane Maasdorp has built up an amazing network and takes by far the greatest number of helping calls in the country. She also gives breastfeeding lectures to medical students at the local university.

In Washington, USA, Kay Batt, IBCLC, former BOD member and long-time Leader, has been working with a local Breastfeeding Coalition that recognizes “breastfeeding-friendly” retail businesses, public agencies and employers in their county who welcome breastfeeding mothers and babies in their establishments or who provide lactation support programs for employees returning to work. The coalition has developed a resource for breastfeeding mothers, Breast-Friends. They are in the process of putting together their second printed version.

In Illinois, USA, Loretta McCallister, an active Leader and the ACLA for Europe, is using her second language skills to help an applicant whose first language is Polish and who feels more at ease completing the application process in her native language. As a listed Leader on file with the specialty department for any contacts in her area seeking counsel in Polish, she recently received a call from a woman wanting help for a friend in Poland. Though the woman was willing to pay for long distance calls, Loretta was able to connect her to Leaders in Poland who could help without the additional expense.

In Washington, USA, Retired Leader Nancy Miller has recently reconnected through the LLLI Web site, joined the Alumnae Association, and is interested in leading meetings again. “My husband is so happy because he sees the joy I felt as a Leader coming back with just the thought of working with moms and babies again.”

In the Netherlands, Leader and ACL Lydia de Raad has been working together with other national breastfeeding organizations to get the topic of breastfeeding on the agenda for the government. This work has resulted in a five year campaign to promote breastfeeding through the National Nutrition Centre. In this second year of the campaign, 85 percent of the pregnant Dutch women have been reached.

In Zambia, a meeting organized by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) was held in February 2004 to plan a network response to the HIV and infant feeding issue. Jacquie Nutt, ACL for LLL South Africa, represented LLLI at the meeting.

In the Czech Republic, Christine Athey is the only LLL Leader. She is also the Coordinator of LAD for Future Areas in Europe. Christiine runs an international group in Prague--half the mothers are Czech, the other half a real mixture of nationalities. Not long ago, the largest maternity hospital in Czech provided a room in its baby outpatients department for LLL monthly meetings. It is the first time that a Czech institution has cooperated in this way with LLL. Christine has calls every day through the LLLI Web site and from recommendations. Memberships are increasing slowly and the Group is setting aside money from every membership toward a fund for registering LLL in the Czech Republic. The Group has its first Applicant too. She lives in Bohemia, near the Polish/Slovak border and speaks Czech so there will soon be a Czech speaking Leader who lives there. (Two Czech leaders live in other countries.)

In Illinois, USA, Hedy Nuriel, Rebecca Magalhães, Stephanie Weishaar, and Dr. Gennady Burenkov met with the Executive Director of Project Kesher. This is an organization based in Evanston that has a network or more than 160 women’s groups in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova. These groups are organized at the grassroots and the women find common issues to discuss and advocate for in their communities. Project Kesher has offered to conduct a survey on breastfeeding through their groups as well as share LLL training with women who would like to become Peer Counselors. With Dr. Burenkov’s passion for and education in breastfeeding, it is hoped that LLL will be brought to Russia in the coming year.

In Ethiopia, retired Leader Cathy Baldizon’s LLL-learned expertise is in high demand for training in lactation management and optimal infant and young child feeding practices. In the past few years, non-governmental organizations and international agencies have become interested in breastfeeding promotion and training to combat the country’s high malnutrition rates. This is in part related to the arrival of Linkages, a US-Aid for International breastfeeding project. While breastfeeding is the “norm” in developing countries, optimal practices are not.

In Houston, Texas USA, Dubraska Wawi founded and leads a thriving bilingual LLL Group. Dubraska is from South America and was accredited in Houston. She is assisted by another bilingual Leader, Maria Jose Posada, who is originally from Colombia. In mid-March, a crew from the local Spanish television station came to Dubraska's home to do a report on the advantages of breastfeeding and where the Hispanic women can go for help and support.

In the Netherlands, the largest ever European Mastery Symposium was held recently, thanks to the orgizational planning efforts of long-term Leader Ans Schönfeld and others. Over 80 Leaders and Administrators attended from 15 different countries. This expansion reflects the growth of LLL in Europe—and with it, the reaching of even more mothers and babies.

Near CapeTown, LLL of South Africa has initiated the Western Cape Human Milk Bank. Inspired by Professor Anna Coutsoudis' work in Durban, they set up a pasteuriser at a small orphanage. The first milk was processed in October 2003. Some of the children are AIDS-infected, but most are not. All babies are benefiting from being fed human milk and the donor mothers consider it a great privilege to become involved. In March 2004, LLLSA installed pasteurisers in two Cape Town hospitals. They are thrilled that the doctors concerned are keen to use human milk for their sick babies. With every pasteuriser goes the need for a freezer, and they have also had to buy freezers for depots around the Cape Town peninsula, which is an immense area. Startup funding was provided by UNICEF and the national rugby team, as well as smaller sums from wellwishers, but there is a continuing need for funding.

In South Africa, Peer Counsellor trainers Rosemary Gauld, Sophia Blows, Elaine Dawson, Nan Jolly, Ruth Pantland, Jane Maasdorp, Elizabeth Robinson and Florence von Antwerpen are making a difference. In their country, Peer Counsellor training is viewed as the most important and effective way of encouraging exclusive breastfeeding for all mothers (especially important for HIV infected mothers, as mixed feeding seems to cause the greatest amount of HIV transmission). While most African mothers breastfeed and continue for years, few of them breastfeed exclusively. Currently the Western Cape Health Department is piloting a project to see how to incorporate LLL-trained PCs into the sormal structures and to pay them a stipend. For information about how you can support these South African initiatives, email Jacquie Nutt at tnal@telkomsa.net.

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