A Wraparound

This topic may seem a little risqué, but being here in Togo—particularly when working with mothers—you can’t help noticing and I might as well voice what we’ve all seen, breasts. 

Unlike in the US, breast feeding in Togo is considered completely normal and acceptable in public.  There is no covering up with a blanket or retreating to a private location, no matter who is around or where they are a breast is whipped out to feed a fussy babe.  While sitting and having a conversation with a man a woman will have no qualms about pulling down her shirt. 

While my American sensibilities ask why they don’t show some restraint in when and where, the acceptance of breast feeding here is something one would hope to see in the States.  Breastfeeding is by far one of the best choices you can make for an infant’s health and it’s really a shame that baby formulas have replaced breast milk as the popular choice. 

It is not, however, advocacy for breast feeding that I want to write about.  It’s really the breasts themselves I wish to mention.  Looking at National Geographics of old you make note some of the stereotyped African tribal women with long sagging breasts.  Those old issues showing these women have been the butt of many jokes in TV shows, but my oh my are they real. 

Some of the volunteers have nicknamed them “wraparound boob” thanks to the way they are used.  There have been reported sightings of women feeding their children while they are still on their back.  They just wrap their breast around their side and voila a meal on the go.

I don’t doubt these rumors.  I have seen women snake their breasts out from under their clothes in the most unimaginable ways.  And I have seen a breast released from a bra drop down to a woman’s waist.

These are not the afflictions of old women but those of all ages.  I’ve seen young mothers of twenty with the breasts you only expect to see on a woman of seventy.  The widespread nature of this is surprising but when you think about it you can see how it could happen.

For one, fewer women wear bras here, but that doesn't really explain it seeing as how some of the saggiest I have seen wear a bra.  Second, women have more children and breast feed for longer than in the States.  And thirdly, the factor I think is most important is the fact that the way women carry children is a sling supported almost entirely by their chest (See picture).  While very efficient, wrapping a piece of cloth around your chest to support a child on your back will surely tend to drag things down.  And girls start carrying children this way at a very young age. 

Maybe this explains it, maybe not.  Just observation…