11/23/2024
.
Forever a student.
It would be an absolute dream if I had the ability to sit at the feet of all traditional midwives and healers to just listen to their stories, so being able to sit with Midwife Dora, and local healers Ernesto and Aurora Saqui really did something for me 🥰
Slide 1:
Listening to Mama Dora (affectionately referred to as Auntie Maudie) tell her story of being one of seven women who trained to be a midwife in 1977, certified under Belize’s midwifery mandate in 1980, only for her to be the only woman to complete her training and practice within her community, was so surreal. She’s caught over 800 babies without experiencing a demise, shared some of her techniques and experiences for labor and postpartum care. She’s an absolutely a blessing.
Slide 2-5:
Listening to Ernesto and Aurora share their knowledge of the land and the medicine that it provides for them was very reaffirming. Respecting the land, sharing with your people and not being greedy, is a sure way for The Most High to continue to bring blessings into your life. These are things that are taught in many spiritual traditions: protect the land and the land will protect you.
Overall, these individuals are a gem to their community and compound, respectively, but this visit continues to make it clear that traditional birth and healing practices are being disrupted in every single crevice of this earth.
