Traditional midwifery skills in danger of being lost

TRADITIONAL midwives are still practising and their work needs to be promoted and protected.

This was the sentiment expressed by law professor and University of Pretoria Vice-Principal: Academic, Loretta Feris, based on her project Vroedvrou, a documentary which was recently launched in Springbok in the Northern Cape.

Directed by Professor Siona O’Connell, a professor in African studies and a member of UP’s School of the Arts, alongside Feris, who hails from the Northern Cape, the film aims to highlight the traditional knowledge and wisdom of traditional midwives, who are still practising, in an effort to protect and preserve it.

A vroedvrou, or traditional midwife plays a supportive and active role in the management of pregnancy from start to finish, including the antenatal and postnatal care of the mother and baby.

Their practices include understanding the physiology of the baby in the womb, to intervene if there are complications such a moving a baby in the breech position to the correct position through massage.

They also deliver the baby, and can offer help with colicky babies using massage techniques and understand properties of herbal medicines to help heal a mother’s body postpartum.

While an ancient practice, traditional midwives are still prevalent in rural communities where hospitals and clinics are not easily accessible.

Feris, who was brought into the world by a traditional midwife, said the inspiration for the documentary came from the Nama community in Namaqualand, who expressed concern over the fading knowledge of their ageing midwives.

Eighty-year-old Katriena Majiedt was 19 when her grandmother took her by the hand to teach and guide her through the process of midwifery.

“I can’t count how many babies I’ve caught. I really can’t because there are too many.

“My grandmother said, these hands will be worth money. Your money and your food. I was 19 years old. I covered my eyes, but she said ‘open them because she’s a woman and so are you’. Then you cut the umbilical cord. My granny told me to feel for the third segment. I was squeamish but I had to feel for it. Those days we didn’t have gloves, it was bare hands.

“If the person is pregnant and they come to me then I have to know what to do. You must first massage the person so you can feel what the problem is. Some of them get lame hips, the child is just on one side, then I help them.

“Your hands will tell you, there’s a problem, the baby isn’t lying right. Then you have to feel that the head and feet are in the wrong place and turn him.”

Veronika Roberts, 63, said: “I learnt from my aunt, she often told me to come and sit with her. So I learnt to do the same work as her. The work is a talent from God.”

The women expressed concern that there was reluctance from younger generations to learn the skill, which Feris said came from the fact that “it is not protected in law”.

“The Health Act makes it clear if you want to be a midwife, not only do you need to be a nurse, but you also need an additional qualification, which means their practice is volunteering work in a way because they are not allowed to charge.

“As a result they’re not legally protected,” explained Feris.

She said while the Protection, Promotion, Development and Management of Indigenous Knowledge Act 6 of 2019 set up a national system to record indigenous knowledge and protect it from exploitation, it currently does not look at a practice such as traditional midwives.

“The act sets up a whole system where you can practise as an indigenous knowledge practitioner as well as a system of assessors.

“That will assess your competencies and that’s the part that has not yet come into effect.

“I think that’s really the way these women can get recognition once the legislation comes into effect, if they’re able to register as traditional knowledge practitioners.

“Countries with large indigenous communities such as Canada, New Zealand, they have actively started to recognise these women. I think that’s what we need to do and I hope this act will help,” said Feris.