[post_thumbnail size="550"]
A Jungle Mamas team led by founder and director, Margaret Love, just returned from the most successful training ever of Achuar birth attendants, held in the Pumpuentsa community deep in the Ecuador rainforest. During the training, participants announced the official name of the program in Achuar: “Ikiama Nukuri”, or “Women of the Forest”.
The purpose of Jungle Mamas is to empower the indigenous women and communities of the Ecuadorian rainforest to ensure safe birthing, and the health and wellbeing of the Achuar. The Jungle Mamas never imagined that by working with the Achuar to improve the safety of their births, they would so readily see the benefits of having trained birth attendants at every birth. The majority of births are now attended by program participants, and this has already resulted in stronger, happier mothers and babies, with positive outcomes for complicated births as well.
The April 2010 training brought a new focus on prevention versus waiting to act in an emergency, while at the same time upgrading participants’ ability to deal with emergencies. Through the use of participatory techniques such as role playing, demonstration, and song, the team taught practical skills for handling some of the most common and preventable, life-threatening health problems of babies and young children, especially diarrhea and dehydration.
Participants commented that they could not have been happier than being taught by Yeshi Neumann, a midwife and grandmother from California with 40 years of experience. With the practical, hands-on training methods and relevant content, the 11 participants now feel empowered to make fundamental, life-sustaining change and are eager to learn more.
