Meet Zoleka, Breastfeeding Counselor

I was recently able to spend some time with Zoleka Malamba, a breastfeeding counselor and advocate. I was struck by her personal story and how her history has led her to where she is today, making a difference in the lives of other women in similar situations.

Zoleka teaching on the importance of breastfeeding
at a support group

Today, Zoleka is 34 years old and has three kids.  She is married and lives with her husband, George, whom she met 1998.

Zoleka met Frances Fuchs, the manager of Bosom Buddies, while she was working for another NGO (non-governmental organisation), Mothers To Mothers, that counsels women who are HIV+.  She is happy today that she spoke with Frances when her contract with Mothers to Mothers was coming to an end.  She accepted the offer to work for Bosom Buddies in April 2012.

This is just a bit of Zoleka’s story.


Please tell me about yourself.
I grew up living with my mother, grandmother and uncle as social outcasts.  My mother had me when I was 15 years old and then my father left her and went on with his life.  My mother was forced to drop out of school to raise me and became a domestic worker [cleaning houses].  My grandmother also was a domestic worker.  My uncle used to sell newspapers 
at robots [traffic lights].

When I was thirteen or fourteen and in Standard 5 [grade 5], I had to drop school to look after my mother after she’d had a stroke.  She passed away that year and I tried to get back into school in Standard 6.  The next year, my grandmother had a heart attack and passed away, too.  We’d been living in a one-room shack.

I dropped out of school at Grade 10 because I had no support system and then got a job at a supermarket where was paid a total of R98 [around $10] for working a day and a half.  After a while, I got more hours and was able to work for three days for R198 [around $20].  I worked there for five years and it was while I was working at this supermarket that I met my husband, George.

In 2010, I heard that Mothers To Mothers was hiring.  They required a Grade 10 education as well as fluency in English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa.  Since I could speak all languages, I applied and went for an interview.  After two days, I was told I qualified for the job, over other applicants who had finished Grade 12 and beyond!  I still don’t know why they picked me, but thank God for it.

Expectant mother reading our pamphlet

How did you get to know Frances at Bosom Buddies?
When I first met Frances Fuchs, I was helping a woman from the Eastern Cape who had been raped by a policeman and as a result became pregnant, as well as HIV+.  I was heartbroken by her story and asked Frances to help her.  Frances agreed and our friendship began then, while I was still at Mothers To Mothers.

Many mothers that give birth in government hospitals do not have clothes for the babies and when they leave the hospital, must carry the baby home inside their own clothes.  Frances would bring bags of supplies for these mothers in Macassar where I worked with Mothers To Mothers.  We also started a breastfeeding support group together at that hospital a short while later and in 2012, Frances offered me a job at Bosom Buddies.


Was there something like Bosom Buddies for you when you had your first baby?
There was nothing!  I tell the ladies I work with now, “You are so fortunate!  In my time, there was no one to tell us about breast-feeding, how to have a healthy pregnancy, safe sex, and all those things.”  There was only a sister [nurse] to tell us whether or not we were pregnant.  We didn’t even feel like we could ask how our baby was doing because no one had told us that we could ask those questions.  When I was pregnant with my first daughter in 2001, the woman who gave the ultrasound didn’t even ask me if I wanted to know if it was a boy or a girl.  The doctors and nurses acted as if it was not our business to ask questions, and I did not have the courage to ask.

At Bosom Buddies, I can tell the women that it is their right and responsibility to ask questions and to learn.  During labor, it is okay to ask the nurse how many centimeters you are dilated so you can prepare better for the birth.  Sometimes the nurses can be intimidating, but you can still ask.  We want to empower them to press for the information they need.

Would you have made any changes to how you raised your children if you’d known then what you know now?
Yes, I would breastfeed!  With my firstborn, I didn’t want to eat and was very stressed because I didn’t have the support of my mother and father.  I didn’t know how to care for my child.  I didn’t breastfeed because I didn’t know how to do it and formula-fed her instead.  I started to mix feed and feed her porridge at two weeks old.  Because of malnutrition, she didn’t gain weight and at six months old she was still wearing newborn clothes.



If money weren’t an issue, what would you do with your life?
I would educate people more and more and more.  I want to teach them about the importance of breastfeeding.  I want to teach them about the dangers of HIV and how to avoid it and care for it.  It’s a very big problem here and even though people don’t want to talk about it, it is very real.

August News

This month we have interview Frances, the Project Manger of Bosom Buddies to find out what makes her tick:

What/How do you prefer to be called?
Frances Fuchs

Tell me about growing up – what were some of the influences in your life?
I was raised in a typical South African Afrikaans society. We were sheltered, spoilt with live-in ‘help’, conservative, church-going and happy. I was born in the 70’s in Pretoria and remember a happy care-free childhood.

My biggest influences were definitely my two grandfathers. I was very close to them both. My maternal grandfather, prof.  F.R. Tomlinson, was a well-known agricultural economist and loved me dearly. He died before I became fully aware of politics, but he LISTENED to me, even as a young girl, something I felt lacking in my other relationships with adults.

My paternal grandfather, Douglas Fuchs, was an actor and an artist. He fuelled my love for literature and debate. We used to spend many hours discussing books and Afrikaans literature.

I understand now that both these men might be seen as ‘bad’ in the apartheid sense, but for me they have taught me so much of what I know and understand about humanity, equality, but especially love. My father, Anton Fuchs, has spent his life involved in politics and also encouraged my curiosities and I believe that my interests in sociology and social injustices were hugely influenced by him.

How would you describe yourself?
I am a woman with all that it entails. I am wife, mother, daughter, sister and bf. I am above all a feminist, a doula and a Christian. I celebrate being a woman, I love pretty things, have a handbag collection and yet I am fiercely independent, strong and a fighter.

Can you describe your job to me?
I manage an NGO called Bosom Buddies. Bosom Buddies is my passion, since it gives me the liberty to spend time with women, mothers in particular. My days are spent visiting our local hospital’s maternity ward and antenatal clinics, teaching and encouraging new or pregnant mothers. I manage around 20 volunteers who visit the hospital daily, I employ 3 wonderful women who help me to teach and support the mothers of the Helderberg.
A huge part of my job is fundraising (very stressful), so I communicate a lot, organize functions and such. Bosom Buddies is a project of the Thembalitsha Foundation, an organization I am enormously proud to be a part of. My colleagues inspire me greatly.

What motivated you to pursue this field?
As a student at UCT in the early 90’s, I studied literature, history and sociology. My latent feminism and political interest was sparked and after that there was no stopping me! After my studies I worked at Nicro Women’s Support Centre in Cape Town, where I was trained as counselor and spent time counseling women in abusive situations. I realized then that this is where my strength lies. I love women, I love talking to them, and listening to them. I love to teach and I have no fear.
After I had my children, I was overcome by the incredible thing we do which is pregnancy and childbirth and I trained to be a doula (childbirth assistant) and was first a volunteer for Bosom Buddies before I took over as manager. It has been a natural progression from young political, outspoken, aggressive schoolgirl to now.

What were some challenges along the way?
The challenges are mostly emotional. Obviously as counselor for abused women and now working with mothers in poverty, we see and hear some horrific things. It is hard for me to not want to change the world, to shout out and get aggressive. I also of course sometimes struggle with issues of faith.  At times it is hard to know the love and blessings of our God whilst witnessing mothers and children suffering all around me.

What have some of the highlights been?
I love speaking to my privileged friends and telling them about what I do, or taking them with me to the public hospital. I am amazed how people can drive past townships yet not notice how the people live. I see a huge part of my job as educating the privileged and some of my highlights definitely include watching people change.
Every birth I have attended, whether at a private hospital with all the luxuries, or at the public hospital, has been a highlight.

Was there a moment when you thought I’ve made it’ and, can you describe it?
No. I think I challenge myself constantly. Come over one hurdle onto the next.
(I love when my father is proud of me and tells me so. This to me is an “I’ve made it” moment).

If you had any doubts, how did you overcome them?
The only doubts I have is whether I will have enough money at the end of each month to pay the salaries! Faith plays a big part here as well. Somehow we always have what we need for our mothers.

What have some of the highlights been?
It is definitely a highlight to be recognized by the medical community and regarded as valuable. Often in the past, we were seen as outsiders at the hospital and clinics, but through relationship building, we have now been accepted and are recognized as vital in the important task of teaching our moms about mother- and babycare.

Why is your current work important?
So many the pregnancy and birth-related illnesses are preventable. Proper teaching of our mothers can save the lives of many babies. We constantly struggle against misinformation and it is terribly frustrating. We know that exclusive breastfeeding will save lives, but mothers rather ask the advice of their mothers and culturally, it is a huge effort to convince them otherwise.

In Cape Town over 500 babies are abandoned each year. Why does this happen? We need to understand the level of desperation a mother reaches to get to this point. I really believe that if she had the proper help and support, perhaps from a group such as ours, she would have had someone to turn to, to help. Yes, we talk about adoption and yes, we encourage sterilisation, but this is not always appropriate. We offer friendship, knowledge and hope.

What’s something no one knows about you, that you don’t mind sharing?
I can do 50 real, man push-ups in a minute!