Fortunately I don't think  the project I mentioned was a UK sponsored one.
The one that did actually look at  what was appropriate  is  mentioned on
the website [http://www.bees.org.uk/]  and contains this wonderful
quote

Where there are women there will also be a variety of attached babies and
young children.
I am still trying to devise a mother-and-baby bee suit!

I get the impression that when the men go off into the forest they do it in
groups and it is probably a bit of an all boys together jolly [ British term
for a work related activity which   has  a minimal work element but a
maximum fun element] .  So they  were probably not as interested in having
beehives nearby which were easier for the women to tend, probably as a
communal activity along with the other small livestock and the vegetable
plot.  It just needed     a change in focus and listening to those involved
[and a woman  working with them].

I  did a day once at our local fair trade shop on  beekeeping -  had a glass
faced sealed hive and all the equipment to show people.   The Kenyan man
from the next door shop came and was  really interested as his father and
grandfather had kept log hives - isn't it a small world.  His grandfather
had used the honey mainly for brewing beer,  but his father had become a
Christian and sold the honey instead,  as the alcohol caused  such  social
problems - something  else I learnt.
  There can be surprises as we learn more.  A beekeeper  who had   come to 
England from
Zimbabwe asked  what an item of equipment was in our garden.  It was a 
simple  solar
powered wax melter,  used all over the British isles  and surprisingly 
effective even in our cool damp climate -  he'd never thought of using solar 
power to   melt wax.  Think of all that  lovely sunshine in
Africa - I'd never have imagined that it wouldn't be used. I  think it was a 
reasonable assumption that they would  use the power of the sun,  but  I was 
wrong.  Shows we can't assume anything and we have to do a lot of listening 
and relevant talking.

And I guess this is where we  get back to breastfeeding.  Listening to the
mothers.  Helping them  breastfeed in their own particular situation,  in
their particular culture, we can't assume just because someone is English
or  [insert your own nationality] their world is the same as ours.  We have
to ask them.
Nikki,  that book sounds really interesting, I will  see if I  can track it 
down, thanks for sharing that

Helen Butler

LLL Leader England

> And one might ask how those women perceived 'us' when told it was normal
> for the mothers to be _expected_ to leave their children.  And how
> abnormal it was for 'us' to consider it strange to not want to leave
> your children!  The classic pseudo-feminist trap - empower women by
> separating them from their children.

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