Traditional Midwifery Worldwide

This sections represents members of the council and many countries working hard to regain their rights to traditional birth and Indigenous Practices. We will add more and more stories and put them at the beginning. 

Beverly Beech 

Beverley is an author, freelance writer, researcher, campaigner, mother of two sons, and has three grandchildren.  She has campaigned to improve maternity care since the birth of her second son in 1976. 

She was Honorary Chair of the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services from 1977 to 2017.  For six years she was lay adviser to the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at Oxford; for seven years a member of the Professional Conduct Committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC); and for 5 years a member of the Midwifery Committee of the NMC.  She was also a lay member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Maternity Forum; a founder member of CERES (Consumers for Ethics in Research); a London Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine; and a founder member of ENCA (European Network of Childbirth Associations).  She is currently a member of the Birth Practice and Politics Forum www.birthpracticeandpolitics.org

HOME | BPPF Draft 1 www.birthpracticeandpolitics.org

She lectures, both nationally and internationally, on women’s rights in maternity care and the medicalisation of birth.  In her free time she sails, and is President of the London Corinthian Sailing Club.

Am I Allowed is a great little book....as Traditional Birth Attendant Anita Mbabazi says," i have three copies of that book and they are always out on loan. everyone should get. So...with that advice, I (mama clare) got four of them. you can see videos of Beverly speaking in INDEX. She is a fabulous addition to MammaPrimitiva

In 2017, at the Women’s Voices Conference at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Beverley was presented with an award for her ‘Commitment to Improving Maternity Services and Complete Dedication to Women.’

Cameroon, Afrika - Suh Celestine Nchang reflects our values and goals of MammaPrimitiva Pathway.

My names are Suh Celestine Nchang. I come from  the North West Region of Cameroon to be precise from Mambu Bafut I'm a nurse by profession with 8years of work experience and seven years as nurse supervisor. In my  early days, I dream of becoming a reverend sister to help people.  I had the passion of serving life but because of my family background (my father, Uncle all in the medical field) I ended up in a nursing profession. But still driven by my calling for  midwifery. After my training I decided to go back to my community and serve in St Theresia catholic medicalized health center Mambu Bafut for eight years.

Back in my Village I was deeply concerned with the way deliveries were carried out in the hospitals, there was the conflict between modern medicine and traditional medicines.but i was  motivated  to start researching into traditional herbs when I noticed that  some of the mothers used to hide some drugs in their bags to use to ease and  smooth delivery. speaking with my mother and some traditional practitioners in my community. I was dismayed to learn how traditional midwives were treated and called witches. Couple to colonization and religious Eva evangelisation which led to the total eradication of the profession of traditional midwives in Cameroon.

I was angry about it but continue to encourage privately the mothers who still carry the knowledge to help themselves and other communities members. My chance  to dive more into traditional knowledge  came when I joined a non governmental organization called  Better World Cameroon as a health consultant in 2018 after the military storm the Hospital in what is known as the Ambazonian Liberation struggle. since I started reflecting about how indigenous knowledge could be used to alleviate  the Suffering of IDPs living in the bushes and refugees.

This is when the flight of young girls and mothers in the bushes became a call for concern to me. I noticed that we can reconnect with the indigenous wisdom of traditional Midwifery in the communities, but the Challenge became  gearing. The question that came to mind was,

•  How do we deal with the  fear and  stigmatisation  that grips everyone thinking of taking up the profession?

•  How do we do this against government policies which promotes only  quotation “white man's medicine”

 For these, I see the need for a non formal education which can offset the mindset and influence policy via videos for education, Hands-On education,through theory and practice. I also see the need for certification and networking with Western Professional Organization dealing with Midwifery.  I believe online networking like the one you have  started can help in the Sharing and learning of best practices.

The solution on the ground in Africa greatly improved through  distance education. I left Cameroon in 2019 and  found myself here in Europe.   Presently, I'm working on online platforms and building Partnerships with other stakeholders working on herbal and alternative medicines. My vision is to research and collaborate more with other Western midwives,  So that I can design a regenerative education concept which enables the profession to be revitalized and restructured for the benefit of the poor and vulnerable.

Arizona, USA - LOUISE BENALLY FROM BIG MOUNTAIN: THE PROBLEMS ARE ALWAYS HERE, DON'T FORGET US!

They won battle against PeaBody Coal, now they repair the damage.

On September 10, 2015, I was invited to Big Mountain by Louise Benally, who has always resisted pressure from those who want to drive out the last Navajo, on the pretext that the area where they have always lived has been attributed to the Hopi Reserve. in 1974. Louise asks that we not forget Big Mountain and the tragic situation of its inhabitants, that we talk about it, that we support them.

In 1974, the United States Congress passed Law PL 93-531, which determined the partition of an area hitherto common to the Navajo and Hopi, and the deportation and forced 'relocation' of thousands of Navajo families from Big Mountain. The law was passed in the midst of the Watergate scandal, as a result, most Senators and Representatives were absent from the discussions of Law PL 93-531, only came when they heard the bell announcing the time to vote, asked their assistants what was the position of the star Senators in deciding their vote. The most famous and influential of the time was Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, a former presidential candidate, then known in Europe as a far-right populist demagogue.

Just before the Big Mountain issue was drowned out by the Watergate scandal, the legal advisor - Mormon - of the Hopi tribe, who later turned out to have also been the legal advisor to the firm Peabody Coal - founded by Mormons - (which is still the largest coal company in the world), and having worked for the Public Relations firm - Mormone - which handled media manipulation, had succeeded in presenting the affair as a devastating tribal war between the Hopi and the Navajo. That was of course a ridiculous lie. In reality, there had been neighborhood problems, conflicts between families, but in all these centuries that the Hopi and Navajo have been neighbors, there has never been a generalized war between the two tribes. There have also always been mixed marriages, and many families belong to both tribes. In fact, it was mostly the Hopi rulers of the day, westernized - and, for some, converted to the Mormon religion - interested in the profits brought in by the coal mining, who had chosen Peabody, against their Navajo neighbors. and their own 'traditional' citizens, who also dislike the charcoal pollution of the air they breathe, and the depletion of already scarce water resources. The Diné (Navajo) who have stayed home to and against everything, there are resistance fighters, people who will never give up. Louise Benally is one of them and arguably the most active.

Reports emerged last year when elderly residents of Big Mountain were brutally assaulted by Hopi police who came to seize their sheep. But when nothing special happens, they are forgotten. However, the situation at Big Mountain has not improved. People do not have running water, the spring water is exhausted and they have to resort to ingenious processes (see video) to collect the rainwater, they have no electricity - while the coal mined by Peabody supplies heavily polluting power plants, which power large towns in the region, but not the Navajo who live nearby - they don't have paved roads - the tracks turn into torrents of mud as soon as 'it is raining. According to PL 93-351, they are "illegal" on their own land and therefore have no rights. For years they weren't allowed to make any repairs to their homes because of a law known in the United States as 'Bennett Freeze', so many homes are in poor condition, and many people cannot afford to fix them. Most of the resistance fighters are elderly, the young tend to leave to seek work elsewhere, which makes the situation all the more difficult for those who remain. In addition to the harsh living conditions, they face almost constant harassment from the police and the 'Hopi Rangers', their cattle are seized, which aggravates the lack of food. Much of their livestock, which provides meat to eat and wool for sale, had already been seized last year, in October, just before winter, a period when they are particularly in need of food, given the traffic difficulties on muddy tracks and in snow. There were new seizures of cattle last spring, the animals were auctioned off, and people had to go into debt to buy their own animals.

Of course, the purpose of the harassment is to get people to leave, since Peabody wants to spread out. Some Hopi people at Tribal Council support Peabody as they need the money it gives them. Navajo leaders also have interests in resource development - the main mine is in Navajo territory - and recently agreed to extend Peabody's license for 25 years.

People are sick and tired of being poisoned by coal, and of running out of water because of the tremendous amounts Peabody uses to mine coal.