Midwives, Givers of Life in Rural Mexican Communities, in Danger of Disappearing Adazahira Chavez - CIP Americas Program
go to original March 7, 2014

A Visit With a Traditional Midwife in Oaxaca, Mexico (hrhcare)

Their work is not just to receive the new-born baby or give herbal baths to the new mothers.  Nahua community midwives in the Huasteca region of the state of Hidalgo play a fundamental role in the communities’ world view, since they guide a child’s beginnings and communal values, explains researcher and birth companion Teresa Oñate.  The practices of the official health institutions charged with reduce infant and maternal mortality are putting them at risk.

“The problem is not that they demand certification,” explains Oñate, “but all of the pretexts involved and the struggle for power, between medical knowledge and the knowledge of the communities.”

Nahua interpreter and homemaker Irma Martínez complains that doctors, assistants, and administrative personnel in clinics, health centers, and hospitals threaten and disrespect midwives and their patients because of their status as indigenous people. Their attitude amounts to discrediting an ancestral practice.

Martínez explains that in her community, Piltepeco, midwives are recognized by physicians in the region, a recent development.  In November 2013, a preliminary hearing of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal took place in the community of Acatepec, Hidalgo, where midwives explained the importance of their work and the difficulties they face, such as limited support and scarcity of materials needed to provide their service.  The meeting with the judges and the community provided the opportunity to explain that in no way are they against hospital personnel, and that all they ask for is support, respect, recognition and the preservation of the traditions and customs that define them as a people.

“More women have died in the hospital than with the midwives”

Nahua midwifery in the more than 20 communities that make up the municipalities of Yahualica, Xochitiapan and Huautla, in the state of Hidalgo, is an ancestral practice and community health service passed down from generation to generation.  Having a midwife in the community has always been  invaluable due to her extensive knowledge and the mysticism of the ritual, which involves being present not only during the pregnancy, but also during birth and the postpartum period.

Currently there are few midwives in the communities, in part because the health system intimidates them and seeks to eradicate the ancestral custom. Health officials frequently denounce the Nahua midwives, and many women choose not to enter the profession of their grandmothers and mothers.  This is why their legacy, the passing down of knowledge and preservation of their culture and customs, are in danger, Martínez points out. She has been a companion and interpreter for about 25 Hidalgo midwives, in addition to dedicating herself to her home.

The practice of the midwives is not a job or an option. Martínez explains that it has a divine origin in dreams. That is where the midwives are told how to attend to the birth, the importance of hand- washing the clothes of the mother and the baby; they are shown how to cut the umbilical cord and which herbs they must give to pregnant women.  It is a recurring dream and is a sign that they must adopt the profession, and if the women don’t follow it, they become ill to the point that they may find themselves on the brink of death.

Accepting the gift implies a very strong commitment and sexual abstinence, even if they are married, in which case they become “sisters” to their husbands, the researcher Oñate explains.  

Read the rest at CIP Americas Program

Translation: Lindsey Hoeman

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