• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Debra Pascali-Bonaro

Awaken Your Inner Wisdom

  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT DEBRA
    • START HERE
    • OUR TEAM
    • PRAISE
    • GIVE BACK
  • SCHEDULE
    • ALL EVENTS
    • DONA DOULA WORKSHOPS
      • BIRTH DOULA WORKSHOPS
      • POSTPARTUM DOULA WORKSHOPS
    • RETREATS
      • EAT PRAY DOULA
      • PRENATAL EDUCATION
    • ADVANCED SKILLS WORKSHOPS
    • CONFERENCES
    • INVITE DEBRA TO SPEAK
    • DOULA SCHOLARSHIPS
  • ONLINE DOULA TRAINING
  • CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION
  • PRODUCTS
    • FILMS
      • EDUCATIONAL LICENSE
    • BOOKS
    • COACHING
    • PRODUCTS WE LOVE
  • BLOG
    • ORGASMIC BIRTH
    • BIRTH STORIES
      • Share your Story
    • PLEASURE
    • DOULAS
    • PARENTING
    • INNER WISDOM
  • CONTACT

A Healer’s Hands

by Jordan Christopher

Originally posted Maternal Beginnings

“What happened to your hands?” This was the question that was asked to us many times as we strolled through Ubud market on a warm sunny afternoon in Bali.
We were greeted with many smiles in the shops we entered, that quickly turned quizzical as they looked down at our yellow stained hands. “Tumeric” was our constant reply, and with that came some realization, but still lots of questions in their eyes.
Why would tourists hands be stained with tumeric? “You do cooking class?” Was usually the follow up question, as their curiosity peaked.
“No” we would reply, “we made medicine”. “Oh, jamu!” smiled one man, as it all began to make sense. “Why you make jamu?” We then began to tell him of our day spent in Ibu Robin’s kitchen gratering lots of ginger and tumeric as we made traditional medicine. When we mentioned Bumi Sehat birth center, it was met with instant recognition, and was always quickly followed with “you are  Bidan -midwife-?”
 
 Having long given up on explaining that we were doulas early into our stay in Bali, we replied “yes, Bidan”. Our yellow hands were no longer met with caution after the people we came across knew we were “bidans”. You see here in Indonesia a midwife wasn’t just a midwife. After attending the birth of a family’s child, it wasn’t unusual to be then invited to every special or sacred life event of that family. From attending a marriage, to welcoming a new life, and even the passing of one. The midwife played many roles; and when one was sick, a midwife could even be found at the foot of that bed to offer healing.
My yellow hands stained everything I touched. My phone is now turquoise and yellow, my white wallet permanently marked and even some clothes that may never be the same, but I regret not a single moment. A hot afternoon of birthkeepers gathered in a kitchen making jamu and talking about birth, gave me the hands of a Bidan. The hands of a healer. 

image1 (1)

Jordan Christopher is a birth & postpartum doula, childbirth educator and founder of Maternal Beginnings Doula Services in New York City.Her belief is that every woman deserves a safe and empowering birth experience, and therefore uses her various talents, combined with a wealth of compassion, to support women and their families before, during, and after their birth.

$1000 by 1000Campaign for Bumi SehatJoin us for Eat Pray Doula in 2016! Learn more ways to bring gentle birth to your clients and join a circle of loving, passionate women for this incredible retreat.

Please help us raise $1,000,000 for Bumi Sehat! Visit our Crowdrise Campaign to learn more.
Tweet
Pin
Tweet
Share5
5 Shares

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Solve : *
3 ⁄ 1 =


Footer

Site by The Design Valley

Categories

  • Awaken Your Inner Wisdom
  • Birth Stories
  • Country of the Month
  • Do Something
  • Doulas
  • In Your Voice
  • Orgasmic Birthing
  • Pleasurable Life
  • Uncategorized

RSS Debra Pascali-Bonaro Blog RSS

  • Doula’s Role in creating Birth Equity
  • Graziella’s Kitchen
  • DONA Doula Certification
  • The Doula Quiz: Find out whether you have what it takes
  • How Does Virtual Doula Training work?

Sunken Treasure Publishing LLC © 2021 · Key birth photography by Sweet Births © 2014 · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Site Cookies