A traditional birth attendant agreed to speak to us in some of her practices. Many of them seemed solid, with a healthy relationship with the health centers in hr area. But some things she said were obviously seeped deep in traditional practices.
There is a very high child mortality rate in Malawi, natural this causes women to go to clinics, healers, birth attendants and the like, in desperate attempts to make sure their babies will be born safe and healthy.
To make a birth easier, to ensure the safe birth of a healthy child, a woman approached the traditional birth attendant. For a request like this, it is more of a spiritual remedy, an act f faith. The birth attendant could look like any Malawian woman in chitenge and head-wrap walking towards the mountains of her home, Dedza. It could look like any normal day, cool and foggy in the morning,perhaps even a light drizzle. But this woman's eyes are open, keen for a sign. In the foothills of the mountains she strains her eyes to see a wild hare, becoming rarer and rarer with the killing off of all Malawian wildlife that is going on. If she sees one and it runs away, the traditional birth attendant goes to the spot the animal was standing when she saw it flee. Then she crouches down and digs into the earth. If she finds a root where she has dug, she cuts it from the earth and brings it back tot he village. This she gives to the woman and tells her it will bring her a safe and healthy child.
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