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Mother, madre, nanay, mama, majka, mere, M'ba I come from my mother, birth, dance. Why not
when you deliver squat down deep, move your hips side to side to beat of the djembe drum,
breathe down low, gravity, the sacred dance called [indiscernible] [0:01:18]. No woman
should ever die trying to give life. [Foreign language] [0:01:40] to [0:01:54]. I once lived
as a volunteer in a 30 hut village at the edge of an unpaved highway, my supervisor
repeatedly warned me, I know you might be tempted because you're a nurse, but our role
here is purely educational, not clinical, purely educational not clinical, but what
would you have done if one night you were trying to fall asleep and you hear a noise
on the other side of the wall saying [foreign language] [0:02:38]to [0:02:42] a child is
about to be born, I said [foreign language] [0:02:45] where is the midwife?
The midwife was 15 miles away through a dirt path and nobody had called her, I was summoned
to the [indiscernible] [0:02:59] where I saw Hawa, 16 year old pregnant and panting on
the dirt floor [foreign language] [0:03:05] lit up the hut as a old woman stood behind
Hawa encouraging her, spitting on their hands and rubbing it for good luck on Hawa'a abdomen
and say [foreign language] [0:03:14] push, push, my best friend Anna was squatting in
front of Hawa, pulling on the baby's head that was stuck between her thighs.
I ran out of the hut again and I said [foreign language] [0:03:28] where is the midwife.
But a shriek brought me back in where now Anna was pulling more dangerously on the baby's
head, but all I could think about was the cut on my finger, I had no gloves, but this
time she looked at me even more desperate and she was pulling harder on the baby's head
that was becoming bluer and paler, so I wrap my hands up in the plastic grocery bags that
I had and together we delivered the baby's blue limp body into the dirt rags that were
waiting for him, I cut the umbilical cord with my mini Swiss army knife, as the old
woman behind us were spiting blessings on our lives.
Blessings, memories, dancing body celebrating life, hips moving, circle of dance, circle
of life, birth, dance, Anna's life turned when I told her in America we pay to learn
how to dance yes, a whole month's wages [foreign language] [0:04:45] but I won't speak that
way anymore, three years of living in America is starting to erase the language of our friendship,
but at least I can still remember some things, like the greetings and how to say good morning,
images of co colored farmers greeting me during my morning jogs through the village, toothless
grins, machete's in hand and blue colored flip-flops covered with dirt and even from
far away I could hear them saying [foreign language] [0:05:21] good morning, and I would
say [foreign language] [0:05:26] and they would say M'ba and all the men said M'ba I
come from my mother and I said [foreign language] [0:05:37] and all the women said [foreign
language] [0:05:40] I am ready to conceive.
But that was then and this is now, I'm back in San Francisco, sanctuary city, first world
charm and health care for all right, here I can double glove, triple glove, throw away
boxes of gloves if I want to, but I'm still worried, sick, worried sick about my patients,
16 year girls from Honduras who tell me of a time she was caught trying to cross the
border, her pregnant body shoved into a metal cell with no water to drink for hours at a
time, [foreign language] [0:06:32] I found Elena living in a one room garage, 5 new Americans
taking turns sleeping on the only bed they had, [foreign language] [0:06:46] her future,
the stench of diapers, burnt chili and [indiscernible] [0:06:54] sweat, my hope a mother's continued
resilience, the power of baby powder and sweet new born feet to help her keep going. Her
new son Brian, angel child, cleft chin, dark curls, a prince in Salvation Army hand me
downs. Elena, girl child mother, new American beauty, pale as a ghost after delivery, she
has lost so much blood already, I have seen her too many times but action is more powerful
that heartbreak.
My inspiration, the hopeful faces of the women I still love, despite the holes inside of
them through the embarrassment of urine and feces leaking down their thighs we danced.
Where will you go, what can you promise, I promise for my birth dance I'm going to squat
down deep to beat of the djembe drum, my love will be around me, behind me, calling our
child into this miracle called life, I promise to hold your hand and say [foreign language]
[0:08:32] yes we trust, [foreign language] [0:08:35] pass on the blessings, [foreign
language] [0:08:38] blessings for the mothers to give us life, [foreign language] [0:08:43]
blessings for all of our lives.
Go now there isn't much time. More than 10 new mothers have died since you began watching
this film.