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Dear Fellow Lactation Consultants and Breastfeeding Advocates,
I am a part of the Trinity (The Father, Hilarion M. Henares Jr who is an 83-year old nationalist economist, Elvira, The Daughter, a dermatologist by profession who was inspired to take up the IBLCE exam to help me fulfill my goals in reviving the breastfeeding culture when I was able to empower her breastfeed her third child, and me as the Holy Skeleton) that helped propelled the breastfeeding movement in the Philippines.
Elvira and I are two of the only five International Board Certified Lactation Consultants in our country. We have institutionalized the celebration of World Breastfeeding Week in the Philippines by convincing our President to issue a presidential proclamation last 2005.
In partnership with SM Supermalls, the largest chain of malls in the Philippines, we have established the First Breastfeeding-Friendly Mall in the country and are now completing the launching of breastfeeding stations in all its 32 malls, serving thousands of mothers nationwide.
We established the first breastfeeding clinic in a private hospital in the Philippines in 2002 and the Philippine Academy of Lactation Consultants in 2005 that institutionalized the Continuing Medical Education on Breastfeeding in the Philippine Medical Association.
We are the current Guinness World Record Holders on Simultaneous Breastfeeding in a Single Site when we mobilized 3,541 mothers with the City of Manila in 2006. We recently held simultaneous breastfeeding in multiple sites that mobilized more than 22,000 mothers in 590 sites nationwide and organized the synchronized breastfeeding worldwide last August 2007 with the participation of 25 countries. To train lactation consultants and breastfeeding counselors, we have set up the Philippine Lactation Resource and Training Center in October 2006 that serves as the national and international headquarters of these events.
We have initiated Senate and Congressional Hearings that helped propelled the breastfeeding advocacy and has actively participated in public hearings as a part of the National Technical Working Committee that drafted the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the laws that protect breastfeeding.
When the Trinity started the campaign, US companies offered us 200 million Philippine pesos “to help our advocacy” which we promptly turned down. Yes, not all Filipinos can be bribed nor corrupted.
Recently, we exposed the sale of four million contaminated cans of Wyeth formula milk that they also tried to secretly recall but the contaminated milk were already sold to the public thereby exposing our children to tremendous risks.
All our efforts did not provide me a sustainable source of income but nevertheless I persevered because as a vegetarian, my husband (who has a rheumatic heart disease) and I have always led a very simple life. Recently however, I realized that I have to apply for a well-paying job because I have to send my only child to college. At 19 years old, my daughter should have been in her 3rd year of college but she stopped formal schooling because of our financial problems. By God’s grace, she passed the college entrance exam of the top state university - University of the Philippines and is also a member of the University of the Philippines Singing Ambassadors (UPSA) since she was out of school.
I tried to apply for a regular job here but I guess my country is not yet ready for a profession like this. It may also be because I lack the medical academic background (my course is Broadcast Communication) and I find it very difficult to get a job. I only intend to work abroad for 3 to 4 years because I really love my country and despite the many opportunities given to me to work abroad legally and illegally I preferred to go back and continue this advocacy. (I was able to travel to the following countries: United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Bangladesh.
I already got a US Visa that expired last September 12 when I went to the La Leche League Conference as a speaker in one of the Global Sessions last July but I do not want to stay with an illegal status.
And so I am asking for your assistance to help me find a job in the WIC program or any private homes that needs help to care for their children. Attached herewith is my biodata.
By the way, I would prefer to work for families who are vegetarians or who want to become vegetarians but if it is hard for you to find one, I am also willing to work with them and even cook meat and fish dishes for them as long as I will be allowed to cook my vegetarian meals. (I am a vegan for 16 years now.)
I am also a teacher of natural family planning, natural childbirth, indigenous vegetarianism, natural healing that uses massage and food as medicine. I have rehabilitated severely malnourished children, helped breastfeeding mothers and many others heal from their illnesses through the use of indigenous foods and massage.
My websites are breastfeedingphilippines.com and vegetarianphilippines.com (under construction).
I hope to hear from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Nona D. Andaya-Castillo, IBCLC
Nurturers of the Earth:
A support group for earth-friendly parenting, vegetarians and vegetarians-in-progress
Heal our bodies! Heal our earth!
The Breastfeeding Clinic:
Your Partner from Pregnancy to Parenting
(Managed by two International Board Certified Lactation Consultants)
Nona D. Andaya-Castillo, IBCLC
Elvira L. Henares-Esguerra, MD, FPDS, RPh, IBCLC
Tel: 632-889-1105
Mobile: 63-919-839-5555
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