Midwifery Initiative
education
Curriculum
Co-created by traditional indigenous midwives and holistic midwives from contemporary practices, this program will support midwives in their roles within their communities by sharing knowledge and practices that compliment their practices and wisdom traditions while seeking to improve outcomes for healthy pregnancies, births and postpartum.
The curriculum program offers midwives the opportunity to learn from one another, and share knowledge and practices that enhance the well-being and care of the mothers and babies whom they serve. This program respects traditional values and does not seek to interfere with or replace traditional midwifery practice. Contemporary midwives will not deliver babies, but rather will observe and participate in care when invited to do so.
policy
Reproductive Rights
This initiative will work with traditional midwives to help to women in their communities with education and resources that help to empower them to know about and advocate for their own birthing rights. Birthing rights are an important part of health for indigenous women, giving them access to culturally sensitive care that respects their language, culture and customs when in contacts with outside authorities and medical systems.
Our goal is to reduce the risks of institutional violence and poor health outcomes for mothers and babies resulting from interactions with outside medical services and long arduous travel outside of the community in in order to give birth or receive medical attention related to pregnancy. This initiate will contribute to greater awareness at the government and policy making levels through advocacy, awareness campaigns, and working with local organizations to affect change in hospitals and clinics.
Advocacy
Acknowledgement of Traditional Midwifery
Through creating opportunities for cross-cultural sharing, and through engaging with audiences worldwide we aim to bring attention and awareness to the essential role traditional midwifes play in safeguarding the spiritual and physical health of mothers, babies and the community as a whole. This initiative’s goal is to ensure that midwifes can continue to practice and pass down their knowledge to future generations with acknowledgement and support at local and national levels.
CULTURAL Initiative
MAPPING PROJECT
This initiative will focus on revitalization and preservation of traditional knowledge in relation to land use. Our aim is to collaborate with villagers to collect and record data using GPS mapping. This will involve cataloging coordinates for sacred sites related to ceremonies, plant medicine gathering and preparation, food gathering, and other forms of land use that are essential to community life. A database will be created for the GPS coordinates that tie cultural knowledge and practices to specific locations for each village we work with. The database and the technology will be accessible to the community and made available to other affiliated researchers and organizations to help ensure and advocate for the continued rights of these indigenous groups to live according to their traditions on their sacred lands.
Through collaborating with the village inhabitants to document and map their historical and present inhabitance on the land our goal is to contribute to the revitalization and preservation of traditional knowledge and wisdom for future generations to come while helping to protect the land and people from outside threats such as development, resource extraction, industry, etc.
Storytelling
Film
2020 Passage Film follows four midwives who embark on a life changing journey into the jungle of Papua New Guinea to learn first hand the ways of the Kosua traditional midwives. Adventure meets with one of the oldest practices in human history in this story about personal transformation and human connection.