Ethically Speaking

Baby on Board

Why breastfeeding is a social justice issue.

BY CADET JENELLE DURDLE

Iwould like to start a conversation about an issue near to my heart as a mother, and related to my previous work as a nurse: breastfeeding. You may wonder how this is relevant to our mission as The Salvation Army. The conversation is important because breastfeeding impacts our lives together. There are many childbearing women in our community, and the impact of breastfeeding in women’s lives is immeasurable—it affects us emotionally, socially, physically, financially and spiritually. It influences our early parenting experiences, both positively and negatively. Further, breastfeeding is a social justice issue.

The United Nations and the World Health Organization recognize infant nutrition as a global health issue, stating “breastfeeding needs to be the norm, not the exception.” The following are just a few widely accepted facts about breastfeeding: • Breastmilk is a sustainable food source for infants. • Exclusive breastfeeding increases food security for the whole family. • Breastfeeding impacts the health of mothers, leading to a decreased risk of breast cancer,

cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes and osteoporosis throughout the lifespan. • Breastfeeding protects the infant against respiratory and gastrointestinal illness, sudden infant death syndrome and childhood obesity. Breastfeeding is positive for the community and for the health of both mother and child. Statistics show that 90 percent of Canadian mothers intend to breastfeed, and yet only 25 percent of women who start breastfeeding continue for the recommended six months and beyond—and they tend to be women in their thirties or older, with postsecondary education. One of the mostcited reasons for stopping breastfeeding is returning to school or work. This factor disproportionately affects disadvantaged mothers and families. One recent study from Newfoundland and Labrador found that the rate of breastfeeding cessation after one month was three-and-a-half times higher in the socioeconomically marginalized population than in the privileged population.

For babies from marginalized families, the developmental and health results of breastfeeding are described as “the great equalizer” in relation to early childhood development, social skills and childhood hospitalizations. Yet very few women from this demographic continue to breastfeed beyond a few weeks. Considering this evidence and the great work The Salvation Army does in vulnerable communities, we need to cultivate an understanding of the social issues that impact breastfeeding. Discussing breastfeeding can be uncomfortable, but it is imperative that we start the conversation. A good place to begin is to identify our values and ideas about breastfeeding. Ask yourself, How would I feel if a woman wanted to stay in the sanctuary to breastfeed her baby, instead of going to the nursery? How would I feel if a client needed to feed her baby during a program or food bank appointment? What if an employee asked for an extra break to pump her breastmilk? Did you know that breastfeeding, wherever and whenever, including pumping breaks, is a human right?

Other questions to ask are: Do I know how to connect clients with local breastfeeding supports? When pregnant women use our resources, do we ensure that they have access to local health education related to pregnancy, childbirth and parenting? And within the Army, what specific challenges related to breastfeeding do officers in full-time ministry face?

The ministry of The Salvation Army is varied and diverse—breastfeeding will not be a focus for all of us. But it should be discussed when we provide services to childbearing women. As officers, employees and volunteers, we may not be equipped to have direct discussions with clients about breastfeeding, but we can create an environment that accepts, supports and promotes breastfeeding in our facilities, and we can network with local resources that provide prenatal education and breastfeeding support. The following websites are a wonderful resource to find local information about breastfeeding for your community: lllc.ca and breastfeedingcanada.ca.

No mother should be made to feel guilty about her feeding choices, but as a public health concern and social justice issue, we have a responsibility to address the factors that can be changed to support women to breastfeed.

In the Valley

Learning to suffer with each other.

BY AIMEE PATTERSON

Those of us who hope for the fulfilment of God’s kingdom experience both joy and suffering in the waiting. I have known profound suffering associated with brain cancer, treatment and its side effects. And I’m not the only one. We are all subject to suffering. So I challenge Christian communities to face the kind of suffering that just doesn’t make sense.

Christians are good at supporting suffering people. The Salvation Army’s mission, as coined by General John Gowans, is to “save souls, grow saints and serve suffering humanity.” Sometimes, though, we forget that we are included in suffering humanity. And sometimes we forget that there is more to serving than practical support.

We are called to be compassionate. “Compassion” comes from the Latin compassio, literally “to suffer with.” Paul puts this well in describing the fellowship of Christ’s body to the church at Corinth: “God has so arranged the body … [that] the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Corinthians 12:24- 26 NRSV). He repeats this to the Roman church: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15 NRSV). Why this calling? Suffering isolates. Suffering people like me need a community willing and prepared to break down that barrier and suffer with us.

What does compassion look like in action? Compassion is not taking on the suffering of another the way Jesus took on the suffering of the world. It does mean wanting to do so, like a mother yearns to change places with her suffering child. Compassion is not providing answers to questions that are as profound as suffering. “Why, God, do I have ALS?” “Why, God, was I abused?” “Why, God, is my child addicted to meth?”

We may want to answer, but the old standbys can be received as cold comfort. When we skip forward to the happy ending, we fail to read the pages and pages of a person’s suffering.

Compassion means being present with the person and grieving with them as they grieve. One way of doing this is through lament, something we don’t often practise together anymore. Lament is prayer to God uttered out of the sorrow, confusion, even anger felt in suffering. It takes courage to admit to a suffering person that we cannot explain their suffering. It takes even more courage to call on God for answers.

But this is what people in the Bible do. The voices in Lamentations grieve together as a people rejected by God. Jeremiah asks God why his pain is unceasing and his wound incurable (see Jeremiah 15:18). Job demands to know why God is hiding (see Job 13:24). And psalmists beg God for redemption:

Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not cast us off forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? For we sink down to the dust; our bodies cling to the ground. Rise up, come to our help. Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love (Psalm 44:23-26 NRSV). Even Jesus cries, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46 NRSV). The language of lament is strong! Perhaps that is why we fear it. But if those who lament in Scripture have anything to teach us, it is that God would rather receive the angry accusations of a faithful follower than the empty applause of a lukewarm worshipper. Suffering people need strong language to give voice to the indescribable evils we suffer. It’s cathartic, part of holistic healing.

Lament (almost) always ends in a word of hope—the kind of hope that can be claimed even by a person in profound suffering: “I believe; help my unbelief!” Sometimes this help comes directly from God in personal prayer. But I doubt I would believe in God today if my community had not shored up my belief with the hope that can endure despite suffering.

How can we rehabilitate lament as a community? We might start by using the mercy seat as a place of lament in suffering. Or by reading Psalms of lament together to express our grief and suffering. The important thing is that we lament with people who suffer. Compassionate communities are wise enough to admit they don’t know why suffering is taking place. They are courageous enough to join suffering people in asking God questions we can never answer on our own.