A Day With the Aeta Midwives

Ten years ago, a group of 15 Aeta traditional midwives joined us at Shiphrah to learn new skills and birthing knowledge. In March of 2012, the midwives Lornie and Dina, along with intern Staci, mission driver Jorge and I (Jeri) went up to Tarlac province to meet with 21 new Aeta midwives who want to follow their forerunners to learn more about their call to midwife their people.

They are a unique people. Driven from their homeland by the Pinatubo volcanic explosion, they are now struggling to change from their hunter-gather lifestyle to that of the farmer. They are Negrito. No one really knows where they have come from. Their history is lost in the dim mists of time.

Our challenges are significant. They are, for the most part, non-literate. They speak very little Tagalog, their language being either Aeta or Ka-pampangan, which none of our midwives speak. We loved working with the group ten years ago and are very, very honored and excited about working together with this “second generation” of Aeta traditional birth attendants. 

Pictures are on the way!!!!!!!!!!