Title.
My Midwife Training as a Youth,
Whenever I found sick animals I always would tell my mom “No, we have to keep it, it’s dying, I have to help it”, I wanted to help, not even knowing that it was leading me toward midwifery. I remember being in the first grade and there was a little girl named Angie and people were mean to her. I remember saying, “Leave her alone, quit being mean” and walking her home and trying to be her friend and trying to be that healer, that compassionate person. All my life, when I look back, I was always that kind of person. My favorite story is, if you remember the Beverly Hillbillies with the charter EllieMay Clampet, who loved all the animals, they used to call my Ellie when I was ten because I always had four for five stray dogs, pigeons, you name it. People would come to me and say, “Oh, Shafia, here’s a puppy. I heard that you would take care of it.” Maybe it was sick or maybe someone didn’t know how or it was weaned too soon. Many of the animals didn’t survive, but I tried to midwife them, staying up all night with them, praying over them, and feeding them warm milk through an eye dropper. Because I read a lot about taking care of animals as a young girl, I knew to wrap a hot water bottle in soft cloth and place it near them, as well to put a clock for a heart sound next to the puppies. Still many didn’t make it; they were just too small. I would cry and bury them, learning early about life and death. When asked how did I become a midwife, I share these experience; though unrecognized at that time I was being naturally groomed to be a midwife by helping, using my intuition, sensitivity, sleepless nights, sacrifice and research; and witnessing the cycle of life and death.