Ensure a Safe Birth for Mothers in the West Bank

MADRE partners with Midwives for Peace, a grassroots group of Palestinian and Israeli midwives who share a commitment to safe childbirth practices and to peace. We’ve shared updates with you before about the obstacles that these women must overcome in their determination to work together.

But once again, they have succeeded in coming together to exchange ideas and share stories. We received a report from Midwives for Peace about their most recent meeting, and we’d like to share some of their thoughts with you:

    “Our September meeting took place in Beit Jala, with a total of 18 participants. After a few meetings dedicated to discuss professional issues such as technical midwifery skills, we took time to spend among ourselves. We chatted, laughed and took time to do a dance movement workshop.

    “One of the exercises was how to  communicate without using our hands, which we midwives are so used to using, making this exercise very challenging. All of these exercises were really interesting, challenging and really emphasized the importance of communication. This exercise, in particular made the time we were able to spend with one another, very enjoyable.

    “At this meeting, we also spoke about what we have done and what is on-going that each of us have for the future. The meeting gave us the opportunity to discuss the role of the Midwives for Peace group and what path we envision our partnership to be. The open and comfortable atmosphere is a safe space for such issues to be discussed. It’s this friendly atmosphere that made saying goodbye difficult at the end of the meeting. We hope and wish to meet again soon, and hope that the changes happening in our region will get us all closer to each other and to peace.”