3 Social Activists: Midwife Marinah Valenzuela-Farrell (immigration rights), Buffy Sainte-Marie (indigenous rights), Geradine Simkins (women's rights)

I met one of my activist heros at the 2^nd International Indigenous Women’s Health Conference held in Albuquerque last month. Buffy Sainte-Marie made history with her song—Universal Soldier—during the Vietnam War era. The song was actually about the individual responsibility we all share for war, for making, financing or sustaining wars. Her song won her fame in the anti-war movement, but as a Canadian Cree singer and songwriter, it also got her banned from many U.S. concert and educational venues.  That song is what she is most known for—but Buffy remained an activist on many fronts for the next four decades using her music and poetry to educate and affect social change, and to work for the rights of indigenous people and their lands.

Buffy was a keynote speaker at the Indigenous Women’s Health Conference. I was there to represent Healthy Native Babies, a SIDS risk-reduction program sponsored by the National Institute of Health. I have been a co-designer and consultant for this project since its inception over eight years ago.

I had the great good fortune to hear Buffy speak and sing, and then to offer her a signed copy of my book as a gift for her years of activism on the planet. I figured she would love to read about the courageous midwives who have been relentlessly working and advocating for women’s rights during the same time period in which Buffy has been working for human rights. It was real honor and very exciting to stand next to Buffy Sainte-Marie and to send her home with my book!

Co-Authors, Geradine Simkins & Abby J. Kinne

first book—Into These Hands, Wisdom From Midwives—was finally published in Spring 2011.  As it turned out, the first people to see it in print were the Board of Directors of the Midwives Alliance. Our spring board meeting was held in Ohio at the gorgeous handmade dream home of Abby J. Kinne, one of the co-authors in my book, and a former MANA board member.

Abby and I had served on the MANA board for many years together in a variety of capacities, most recently when she was 1^st Vice President, Diane Holzer was President, and I was 2^nd Vice President. We were a dynamic trio with very different personalities and skill sets that blended to make a rather lively and effective leadership team for MANA.  Among the many things we did together was to create the framework for the Division of Research, authoring the first draft of the document that described the structure and function of the MANA DOR so that the Division could get up and running.

At the 2011 spring board meeting we had a “Coming Out Party” for my book. One of our board members, Adrian Feldhusen, made chocolate covered strawberries, somebody had chilled bottles of Champagne, and board members clambered to get signatures of the four co-authors who were present —Abby Kinne, Jennie Joseph,

Co-Authors, Jennie, Gera, Abby & Linda

Linda McHale and me (Geradine Simkins.)  It was one of the most exciting, emotional, proud, humbling, and amazing moments of my life. Abby was a gracious host, sharing her home, land, pond, and sanctuary with the MANA board.

Abby willingly accepted my invitation to be one of the co-authors for my book. But somewhere between her acceptance and her commitment to write her memoir, her beloved firstborn son, Rick, was killed in a motorcycle accident. As you would expect—Abby did not feel that she could go on. She was in a deep depression and could not function well much less write a memoir. I encouraged, cajoled, and begged her to write. I said that her living children deserved to hear her story, to have her legacy, in her own words. Reluctantly, Abby agreed.  And what happened is that Abby wrote, and wrote, and wrote. It was cathartic. She told her story; the story of her loved ones, and included photos of her family throughout. In the end Abby thanked me for pushing her because writing her story was one of the most therapeutic things she could have done. Each time she included a piece about Rick in her memoir she released a piece of her grief and replaced it with celebration of Rick’s life. Here is a sketch that illustrates this point.

On one occasion, our oldest son, Rick demonstrated to us just how deeply affected he had been by having a midwife for a mother. He was sixteen at the time, and we had been living in a barn with an open floor plan. I taught childbirth education classes there each week. There were no walls in the barn, and the children had to retreat to their rooms in the loft to quietly read or play so I could teach class. On this occasion I had been at a birth that day, but the baby had been born, so I called home to ask Rick to tell my students that I would be late. I suggested that he show them a birth video while waiting for me to arrive. When I arrived home, I discovered Rick teaching my class, using my outline! He told me he had heard me teach it so many times from his bed in the loft that he knew it all by heart. He even asked one of the women if he could palpate her baby. Now, how many teenage boys would have done that?

Today my friend Abby died in her sleep. She had been at her midwifery office last night

Abby J.Kinne, Midwife, Mother, Wife, Grandmother, Friend

working with her colleagues.  She appeared healthy and no one suspected anything odd. In the morning, today, her husband Fred discovered that she was gone—passed on to the Other Side.

I share this story to honor my esteemed colleague and beloved friend, and to celebrate a small piece of her extraordinary and rich life. Abby, dear one, travel well and safely into the Next World. Ashe.

Erykah Badu has my book!

Badu. Since I grew up in Detroit during the Motown Era, Sean thought I would appreciate the eccentric neo-soul, hip-hop jazz sound of the Queen of Neo. He was right—I loved her music. And Erykah’s unique sense of fashion also intrigued me.

Never did I imagine that a decade later Erykah Badu would become the Spokeswoman for the International Center for Traditional Childbearing (Black Midwives and Healers) and a midwife aspirant herself.  I also could not have imagined that I would have written a book about midwives and would be gifting Erykah with a copy of my book.

Erykah and I met at the ICTC conference in Biloxi Mississippi last month. When I gave her an autographed copy she hugged me and said that she was going to take it to bed with her because she loves to read stories about midwives.   She also said she’d call me if she had any questions. I said, “For you, I’d pick up the phone any time of the day or night.” Wouldn’t that be fun—to get a call from the Queen of Neo?

In the triennium between 2008-2011, the ICM developed a group of essential documents through hard work by the Board, guidance from consultants who directed expert task forces, and support and participation by ICM member associations. These documents describe the “Three Pillars” of midwifery, which are education, regulation and association—E.R.A. The Three Pillars are interdependent. The Three Pillars embody ICM’s vision to strengthen midwifery worldwide in order to provide high-quality, evidence-based care for women, newborns, and childbearing families and decrease maternal and infant mortality. The documents together comprise the global standard for midwifery. The global standards were endorsed by the ICM Council members.

Geradine & ICM President Bridget Lynch

ICM President Bridget Lynch said, “I am proud to say that we are now the first health profession in the world to have achieved global standards for the competency, education, and regulation of our workforce. These, alongside the information provided by the UNFPA’s State of the World Midwifery Report, will be essential to the achievement of each country’s maternal mortality target.”

You can imagine how thrilled I was to be selected to present my book material at such an auspicious meeting as this historic meeting in Durban, with midwives from around the world.

Margaret & Geradine Simkins

It was an honor and very exciting. The presentation was well received.

In addition, my mother had also traveled to South Africa—in part to hear me give my presentation on the international stage—and so I was doubly thrilled to have her in the audience when I gave my talk.  It was a very exciting and memorable day—and in addition, it was my birthday!

Midwives share stories and strategies at the ICM Congress

And the buzz was loud and clear: Midwives provide the best community-based reproductive care to women and newborns. And midwives save women’s lives around the world, every day.  Currently, it is an exciting window of opportunity for midwives and the clients we serve. Numerous international healthcare organizations, governments, ministries of health, and funding agencies across the globe are in agreement that the world needs midwives now more than ever—in fact 350,000 of them—and they are willing to direct their money, organizational energy, and polices towards this goal. It is a time of unprecedented support for midwifery globally.

Africa was amazing, in all ways. The thing about Africa is the immensity of it—its size, its history, its place in human evolution, its rich cultures, its cultural wars, its social and political problems, its beauty, and its diversity. It is huge; Africa, in all her aspects is huge. And South Africa is an amazing country, more beautiful, diverse, and complex than I had ever imagined. There was so much to learn, so much to understand, so much to assimilate amidst the ever-present tenor of the challenging transition from the system of apartheid to majority rule. The1994 democratic election in South Africa resulted in a change of government, a change of guard, and an era of inspiration and hope. Yet almost twenty years later many challenges remain.

2011 ICM Council Members, Durban, South Africa

It was the perfect place for the ICM Council and Congress meetings to be held because just as South Africa finds herself at a crossroads, so too is the global midwifery movement at a potent intersection. We were fortunate to attend the historic ICM meetings because the ICM had never before been held on the African continent, and the ICM has never been as powerful as it is now and so well connected to international partners.  And the pleasure of spending a week in the “midwife village,” hosted by the gracious and generous South African midwives, amidst the thousands of others who made the pilgrimage to the Motherland was a thrill. The colors, songs, stories, perspectives, languages, lessons, and landscapes still swirl in my mind and heart.

ACNM C Annual Meeting 2011

Since its publication, we have been taking the book on the road with speaking tours, books signings and educational workshops. Everywhere we go, people seem to use some of the same language to describe Into These Hands. Words like “eye-opening, entertaining, inspiring, and provocative” keep coming up. We had a full-house at a workshop entitled, “What Really Matters: Wisdom From Midwives – 13 Essentials,” which was an educational session at the American College of Nurse-Midwives annual meeting held in San Antonio, Texas last week. I especially liked the younger midwives and students who came to the session and told me, “I was going to go to a technical workshop, but decided I wanted some inspiration. This is just what I needed.”

It is also a pleasure when some of the contributing authors for the book attend a workshop. They are able to share the process they went through to get their own memoir essay written, which for most of the  contributors was a challenging ordeal.

Contributing author Marsha Jackson, editor Geradine Simkins & contributing author Alice Bailes.

For me as the editor, it was like herding cats. I became a midwife for the midwives, encouraging, cajoling and supporting them. The contributing authors, all of whom are very busy professionals, had to set aside large chunks of time for writing their memoirs.  And the reflection and introspection it took to put the disparate pieces of a long life into a cohesive whole required some serious dedication. But eventually the pieces of the puzzle came together for each of them.

In the end, the authors felt like the time they invested was worth it. Several of them admitted, “It was a gift.” Sister Angela Murdaugh, for example, said, “I can tell a good story, but no one has ever asked me to write my story, and although I did not think I could write, I found once I got started I could not stop.”

It is my hope that more midwives will write the story of walking in the shoes of a midwife so that more people will understand the unique contributions they have made to the culture of childbirth in America and the impact they have had on the U.S. maternity care system.

Leah & Sean unexpectedly discover their mother's book in Chicago bookstore!

So two of my kids, Sean and Leah, went to a literary event for their friend Jacob Wheeler in a local bookstore in Chicago where he was sharing his newly published book, Between Light and Shadow, on adoption in Guatemala.  Don’t you think Sean and Leah were surprised when they discovered a display that included their mother’s book staring them in the face? I think the looks on their faces say it all.

It is a thrill to have my own newly published book out in the world. People from various parts of the country are emailing me to say, “I was surprised and pleased to see Into These Hands in my local bookstore.” For those of you who want to spread the word about midwifery and the excellent care provided by midwives, perhaps you’d consider donating a copy to your favorite bookstore or library in your hometown. If you are a midwife include your own business card or some of your literature in the book. It is a form of advertising. You never know what could happen! Try it and see.

Road to Durban

Midwife, Kate Mazarra, organizer for "Walk the Road to Durban," Lansing, Michigan

Last year, the President of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), Bridget Lynch, invited midwives of the world to “Walk the Road to Durban” in preparation for the triennial meeting in June 2011. This is the first time in history that the ICM Congress is being held in sub-Saharan Africa.  The Congress will be taking place in an area of the world with the highest rates of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality. With only five years left to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and improve maternal and newborn health globally, now is the time to highlight the central role of midwives in achieving these goals!

Contributing author, Jennie Joseph, speaks at a rally in Florida at a "Road to Durban" rally.

The Road to Durban starts at each midwife’s front door.  The ICM called on midwives and ICM’s 99 Member Associations, in 90 countries, representing more than 250,000 midwives, to organize 5 kilometer walks in cities and towns across all of our countries on the International Day of the Midwife, 5 May 2011.  All across the globe people walked the “Road to Durban.” Midwives, students, and supporters in Michigan participated in a rally and 5 kilometer walk/run in Lansing, our state capital. Later, we had a benefit concert with Rachel and Dominic Davis. I was the midwife for Rachel’s little brother, Ezra.

MMA T-shirt I will be wearing in Durban, S. Africa, at the walk on June 18

Six weeks later, on June 18, 2011, when the midwives of the world gather in Durban, South Africa for the ICM Congress, we will complete our walk with a 5 kilometer march into the city in celebration of our commitment to improving maternal and newborn health globally.  The walk will take place the day before the opening of the ICM Congress.  Most importantly, as we walk with our families and supporters into Durban, the midwives of the world will be walking in solidarity with the midwives of Africa and highlighting the need to strengthen midwifery across the African continent. I will be there—and I will be wearing my MMA T-shirt!

 Two More Authors

On Friday night, May 6, 2011 the Michigan Midwives Association (MMA) hosted a presentation on my book and a gala book-signing event. Two more contributing authors—Kip Kozlowski and Patrice Bobier—got to share their perspectives on the process of reflecting on their lives as midwives and writing their life stories for Into These Hands.

Geradine Simkins, editor, and contributing authors Patrice Bobier and Kip Kozlowski

We also got to celebrate with our colleagues and friends from the MMA. It was loads of fun with laughter, tears, Champagne and lots of book sales.

I want to thank my friends of MMA for their love and support. I also want to let you know that two more Michigan midwives are also contributing authors for Into These Hands—Rondi Anderson and Casey Makela. Unfortunately, they were not able to attend the book-signing event, but we did read excerpts from their inspiring memoir essays.

Contributing Author, Shafia Monroe & Editor, Geradine Simkins

Due to the generosity of Peter Makin at Brilliant Books, we will be having a book launching party in my home territory—Leelanau County—that will feature a meet and greet session, some conversation about the book, wine, light hors d’oeuvres and books for sale! My publisher at Spirituality & Health Books, Victoria Sutherland, and I will be hosting the book launch party at Peter’s store in Suttons Bay, Michigan, from 7-9 p.m.  We look forward to celebrating with the local gang of friends and supporters.

Into These Hands, Wisdom From Midwives has been in print for only a month, but so far we have received rave reviews from across the country, such as these.

Book signing party in Ohio, April 2011

“I began reading your book Saturday night.   I am still in the introduction and am blown away by your beautiful writing style: from the heart and from the soul.  No wonder Victoria Sutherland wanted this published.  I started reading and just started crying….” -Local physician

 “I LOVE THE COVER!!!!!  Precious!  LOVE the website.  Love, love, love it all.  Congrats!  It looks like a hit!” –Mother of Four

 “I loved the chapters—they are such amazing and beautiful narratives, such important histories to record for posterity—you’ve done a magnificent job as have your contributing authors.” -Anthropologist

And there are more. So, needless to say I am thrilled. Please come join us for a celebratory party, and please buy some books for yourself or as gifts to friends, families, libraries, schools, health care agencies and professionals, or others. I look forward to seeing you.