Seven Questions: The International Breast Milk Project

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Delivering the goods: Sending breast milk halfway around the world may sound like a crazy idea. But for South African children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, it can be a lifesaver.

FOREIGN POLICY: What was your life like a year ago?

Jill Youse: Prior to starting the International Breast Milk Project, I was in pharmaceuticals and medical device sales. I was just a typical American consumer of daytime television and People magazine, embarrassingly ordinary. Id studied communications and played soccer in college. I had never been to Africa. In fact, Ive only been out of the country once in my life, to Argentina for two weeks when I was in high school.

FP: How did you first get the idea to donate your breast milk to those in need?

JY: I had been hearing about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. Bono was an influence [in bringing it to my attention], as were Angelina Jolies efforts and, of course, good, old, classic Oprah. But I always wondered what I could possibly do in Missouri, where I was living at the time, to make a difference. I had given birth a few months earlier, and I had a freezer full of breast milk, and I didnt know what to do with it. Theres no telling who might be a heifer and whos going to barely be able to squeeze out an ounce. It can be very sad for the women who can pump for 30 minutes and produce only 2 ounces. There are other women who can pump for 10 minutes and produce 2 gallons. Its the luck of the draw. Its kind of frightening, actually, because you look at all this breast milk, and you say, Jesus! Did I just produce that? [laughs] Breast milk has this fascinating aspect to it. Its not something you look at in your freezer and say, Mmmm, boy, Im hungry. Its kind of gross, but its also kind of cool, and theres this element of pride to it. Its got this ick factor and this awe factor. So I had my baby and I had my breast milk, and I thought that donating seemed like an easy thing that I could do.

FP: How did you send your first shipment?

JY: I did a Google search to find out how I could donate. Theres a whole network of nonprofit milk banks called HMBANA (Human Milk Banking Association of North America) that provides breast milk for sick babies in neonatal and intensive care units in the United States. I also stumbled upon an orphan clinic with a milk bank in Durban, South Africa. Its called iThemba Lethu, which means I have a destiny. For some reason, I just felt I had to donate my milk to them. I figured a lot of women had already done it. So I just e-mailed them and asked them how to donate milk. And they e-mailed back saying, Uh.were in South Africa. Do you realize that?

Shipping breast milk to Africa seemed like nothing compared to waddling around for nine months, labor and delivery. I called DHL or FedEx for an estimate over the phone and found that if you wanted to ship a frozen packet to Africa, it would cost about $2,000 for a small cooler. That was expensive, but I was hell bent on getting my milk to Africa. So I thought Id fly it there myself. That would be cheaper, and then Id get to visit Africa, too. What ended up happening is that someone from iThemba Lethu was visiting the United States and was flying back to South Africa. I was living close to St. Louis at the time, and my husband and I drove about six and a half hours to Chicago and met him at the airport. We had the milk on dry ice; we checked it in through security and followed all the flying-breast-milk-on-an-airplane protocols at the time. The guy checked it in with his luggage, and it arrived safely the next day with him. So the first shipment was free.

FP: How did other mothers start taking an interest in your project?

JY: The local media picked up on the trip to Chicago, and before I realized it, I was the person to contact for people who wanted to donate their milk to African babies. Two weeks after the first shipment, which was in April, I called DHL and asked them if they would donate the second shipment. They said yes, and within 48 hours, the plane was ready to go with the milk on board. It happened really fast. FedEx donated the third shipment, which was on Thanksgiving. That was milk from about 10 moms nationwide. And now we have 500 applications for the next shipment. I guess there was an interest among women in the United States who wanted to do anything they could to help children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

FP: Why should mothers in the West donate their breast milk to African babies?

JY: With a new baby, a lot of women may not have a whole lot of money to donate, but they may have a lot of breast milk. And for an orphan in Africa, breast milk can go a whole lot further than $50. Here in the United States, we get diarrhea and we take some medicine, and were good to go. But if a baby gets diarrhea in Africa, he or she could die. The ones who are breast fed have a six times greater chance of survival within the first two months of life. Thats why getting breast milk for them is so important.

FP: How can people help?

JY: Women with breast milk can go to http://breastmilkproject.org and fill out an online screening form. We send them a donor kit, and they get their blood test, and then we send them a cooler to ship. The average donor is probably pumping 800 to 1,000 ounces for a shipment, but it really varies. It could be 100 ounces; it could be 2,000. If people without breast milk want to help, they should participate in Run for Africa, a 2.6-mile mini-marathon on February 10. Weve got teams in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Japan, and Brazil. Thats definitely the way to help. If youre the CEO of a company, make sure that the women who are working there have a lactation room thats comfortable.

FP: You now have hundreds of women who want to donate their milk. Your next shipment of milk is going out in April. How are you managing the growth of your organization and what are your plans for the next year?

JY: Im a stay-at-home mom in Minnesota now, and I cant store breast milk up to my roof, so its way more streamlined now. I had read about this company called Prolacta Bioscience in California. Theyre the first company to specialize in pasteurizing breast milk. I e-mailed the founder, Elena Medo, and heard back from her immediately. She flew out here to Rochester to meet me. She has a huge heart and passion for Africa, and she said, Hey, you know, were a start-up company and weve got this $15 million facility that sits empty on some days. Lets put it to work and make sure we use it every day. So now, Prolacta pays for absolutely everything. Theyve donated all of the testing, pasteurizing, and everything to make it happen. Theyve agreed to send 10,000 ouncesthats several kegs worth of breast milkto South Africa in 2007.

I want the project to get as big as the demand. My ultimate goal is that donating breast milk would be a worldwide norm, so that if you have extra breast milk, theres never a time when you have to dump it down the drain. There are so many people who could benefit from it. Over the next year we are looking to donate milk to other orphan clinics. Weve looked at Rwanda, but there are some cultural issues with donating milk there. Theres also Tanzania and Uganda. We cant just pick any orphan clinic and send it there because we have to make sure it has clean water and electricity to store it. If anybody out there has an orphan clinic in mind that they would like us to send our milk to, please e-mail me at jill@breastmilkproject.org. We want the perfect match.

Jill Youse is the founder and executive director of the International Breast Milk Project.