Hi Nicole
I am a midwife and an IBCLC and I recently traveled to Sierra Leone with a
group called MOMS midwives on missions of service, you can find more info at
www.globalmidwives.org.  while they don't specifically seek out IBCLC's to
go with them, it was very helpful for me to have the skills that I did as
the whole focus of the organization is to train the TBAs (traditional birth
attendants) in the villages who are supporting the women giving birth, to
help reduce the maternal/infant mortality rates (their's are the highest in
the world).  Surprisingly the breastfeeding rates are horrifyingly low, I
heard numbers as low as 11% exclusive breastfeeding at 6 weeks pp, 40% of
children do not reach the age of 5, the majority of those perishing between
6 weeks and 1 year, I have to assume there is a connection although the
stats are poor.  I had some truly satisfying moments educating these women
around the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, and even got to see the 3
month old of one of our TBA students, begin to thrive after she returned to
exclusive breastfeeding (discontinuing the water that she was supplementing
with per her mother's advice) per my instruction and guidance.  it is an
amazing organization and I would encourage you to look into it.
be well
Ami Burnham LM, IBCLC, BSN

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