Real Talk: Ethiopian Dude Turns Mom's Near-Death Into a Mission to Get More Midwives Outchea
Dawit Tamru saw his mama almost fade after childbirth, now he's on a hustle to make sure more sistas get the help they need. No cap.
DIRE DAWA, Ethiopia — Aight, check it. This cat named Dawit Tamru, he runs the midwifery school at some hospital in Ethiopia. Why? 'Cause when he was a youngin', his mama had a ROUGH time after she birthed his lil sis. We talkin' almost checked out, for real.
See, this traditional birth attendant, she ain't know what she was doin'. Mama couldn't deliver the placenta, and the lady was like, 'Nah, she probly got twins in there.' Meanwhile, Dawit's mama is bleedin' out, lookin' like she 'bout to meet her maker.
Lucky for her, somebody got some sense and took her to the hospital. Midwives stepped in, handled biz, and saved her life. That's when Dawit knew he had to be about that life too.
Now, he's tellin' everybody 'bout this global midwife shortage. The World Health Organization sayin' we need 'bout a MILLION more midwives worldwide. That's messed up.
Daniela Drandić from the International Confederation of Midwives (try sayin' that after a couple shots of Henny) say Africa got almost half the shortage. But she tryin' to gas us up sayin' they doin' a good job closin' the gap. I ain't buyin' it.
Some study in the Lancet Global Health say if every woman had a midwife, we could save millions of lives. We talkin' mama's, babies, the whole nine. That's deep.
Geeta Lal from the UN Population Fund (yeah, them) pointin' to Ethiopia as a success story. They went from a little over 1,000 midwives to over 20,000. That's progress, I guess.
But Dawit ain't just sittin' 'round talkin'. He puttin' up posters, hittin' up schools, spreadin' the word. He tryin' to let folks know why mama and baby health matters. He ain't wrong.
See, in our communities, we ain't always got the best healthcare. Hospitals be overcrowded, doctors be rushin', and sometimes they ain't really hearin' us. Midwives, they take the time to listen, to understand what's goin' on. They real healers.
We need more Black midwives, more midwives from the hood, who understand our struggles, our culture, our bodies. They can build trust and provide the care we need to thrive.
This ain't just 'bout savin' lives, it's 'bout empowerin' women, givin' them the knowledge and support they need to make the best choices for themselves and their families. It's 'bout buildin' stronger communities.
