MAMA EARTH Magazine

Ann Davenport , a midwife who was working for Save The Children in 2004 found herself in Bolivia, South America with a team of Bolivian nurses and doctors assigned to a remote, rural province called Inquisivi .She , along with her team, were there to teach them about prenatal care and new techniques in childbirth.

In the magazine, Culture & Survival,it is reported that her trip to Bolivia  is where she was introduced to the Aymara women, midwives in the remote province, southeast of La Paz which is located in the Bolivia?s Mountains. She describes the women as wearing ?little black bowler hats, their legs tucked tightly under bright wool skirts. And no one smiles.? The very first questions these Bolivian midwives had for Anna were: Could she do cesareans or abortions? Because her purpose for being in Bolivia was the complete opposite of showing the midwives how to perform abortions, Ann declined. Through out Ann?s stay, however, she learned about many of the beliefs and sentiments that the Bolivian people had around birth and medical practices. One Bolivian woman said,? I would rather die than let that doctor put his hand inside of me!? Respectfully, Ann does state that there is a price for some of these beliefs and taboos. ?The Maternal Mortality Rate in Bolivia continues to be the second highest in the Western Hemisphere. Only Haiti is deadlier place to give birth.?

After a mother of 10 died in childbirth, but the baby survived, Ms. Davenport had these questions to ask:

?How is it that there is no information on family planning for couples like Juan and Carmen? Why do women insist on home births? Why would wives rather have their husband assist in childbirth rather than a trained professional? What difference can organizations, such as Save The Children, make in these circumstances? ? Ann continued by stating with all the good intentions and scientific knowledge and World Health Organization recommendations, somewhere they have gone wrong.

One thing was very clear for Ann:?If we?ve learned anything from anthropology and sociology, we know that we must work within ethnic belief if we are to successfully provide healthcare in this culture.?

Aymara & Quechua Indians Birthing Beliefs and Practices

1. There is a belief that there must be enough ?dirty" blood that comes out after giving birth in order to expel the placenta.

2. They believe in giving birth in a vertical position and eating warm foods immediately after birth to help the dirty blood and placenta to come out.

3. Most women give birth alone, or if they are with anyone like a husband or mother-in-law or midwife, they only prepare the food and clean up.

4. T he mother is responsible for her placenta and magre which they believe develops behind the umbilicus during pregnancy.

5. Another belief about the magre? is it can determine the state of the mother's health after pregnancy. If a pregnant woman is strong and has produced enough blood during pregnancy, ( as evidence of swollen hands and feet) the magre is believed not to pose a threat. However, if the mother is weak or has just come through a difficult childbirth, the magre can rise up in the body and may block the respiratory system.

6. To prevent the magre from rising after birth, the mother must deal with the magre immediately.

Once the umbilical cord has been tied and cut and the baby placed on a clean sheepskin, the mother ties a long woolen string to the end of the umbilical cord still attached to the placenta inside her. Next, bending on one leg she ties the other end of the string around her big toe. She pulls the placenta out by straightening her leg. (Ann Davenport believes this is a century old habit based on fear of hemorrhage caused by a retained placenta.)

7. Andean Women object to giving birth in a cold environment, giving birth in a horizontal position, or letting their babies be taken to the nursery.

8. If a woman dies in during childbirth, the reason is never known. Autopsies are not permitted in Aymara culture. Their culture also demands the dead be buried within 24 hours.

9. Tradition also requires the placenta to be washed and buried by the husband in a secret place near the home. This is to ensure the spirit won?t come back to claim the baby's life.

10. During the first three days of life, the newborn is given anise tea instead of colostrum from the mother.

Dig Mama

Dig into that spiritual matter needing to take hold

put it on front street for everyone to see

Dig Mama Dig

Don't be afraid

Dig into your insides,

Show your babies how to be overwhelmingly brave

Dig Mama Dig

Dig into the light

Dig all through the dark cool night

Dig Mama Dig

Dig until the morning' light

Dig into that healing love that makes everything ALL RIGHT!

Kindred the Family Soul  is a hot recording and  soulful vocal duo from Philadelphia consisting of husband and wife Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon. Both began as solo performers. However, the two magnetically united and began writing songs. Eventually, true love engulfed the air, Fatin and Aja married and started a family. During the beginning stages of their family, Fatin had put the music on the back burner and worked as an appliance salesman. This only lasted for a while before the passion of music and performing was calling the both of them. Fatin and Aja began performing at the Black Lily Club where they caught the attention of, our girl, Jill Scott, who took them to her label, Hidden Beach Recordings. Yes they were signed and their debut album, Surrender to Love, was released in February 2003. Mama Earth Magazine caught up with Kindred the Family Soul in Berkeley, just hours before their show at Kimball’s Carnival located in Jack London Square. So incredibly inviting and warm, this husband/wife duo openly shared their love and appreciation for their  family as well as the ins and outs of balancing family life and their professional musical career.

 
Mama Earth:What’s it like raising a family and being professional recording artists like you are?

Fatin: “It’s a lot of joy and pain. But it works to our advantage

For the most part, we’ve been very blessed to share a passion for something that we love, to get the opportunity to do it, and raise our family at the same time. There have been obstacles at times because when we are at work, we both are at work. That means that somewhere along the lines that doesn’t mean that when mommy’s out daddy has them or when daddy’s out, mommy has them. So, we constantly have to keep plan B. Also, keep the children’s life in a regular cycle and not allow them to get caught up in what Mommy and Daddy do. We try our best to keep our family first. At the same time we recognize we provide our family with a security blanket. It’s push and pull. That’s why I say “joy and pain”

 Mama Earth: When many artists or performers begin to have their children, other family members encourage them to put their art on the background. How did your family respond to you all pursing your career?

 Aja: We didn’t have that issue. I got to speak up and say that. Our parents and family are one hundred percent behind us. When we got married and had our children a lot of them were disappointed that we didn’t make music as much of a priority as before.

 Fatin: And I was the one who said, “ Maybe we should put this music on the back burner and focus on the kids. Our family has been like, “ Look, we’re here to help facilitate your dream.” Even today as we speak that is what’s happening. Our family has been amazing. They never said, “Choose!” They have always said, “What can we do to help you?” We consider our family the 5th  Beetle. They really are the 3rd member of Kindred and The Family Soul because without them we wouldn’t be able to have this conversation with you.

Fatin: At least without some crying going on.

 
Aja: And some running around. And believe me. We have had some meetings and interviews with that. Trust me! (laughter)

 Mama Earth: Where did the name come from?

 Fatin: The thesaurus is where kindred came from. We went to trademark the name and there were some other groups with the name Kindred or Kindred was somewhere in their name. So, we added The Family Soul—kind of self-explanatory. We were a family and we did soul music. We were just looking for a clever name. Of course, we were aware of Sly and The Family Stone, Mother., Father, Sisters, & Brothers out of Philadelphia. We just wanted that feel. We just wanted to come up with an original soul name that would be memorable for a long time and that it would really describe who we were.

Mama Earth: What themes are you wanting to communicate through your music?

 
Aja: The overall theme in what we are trying to do is taking pride with where you are in your life. That it’s not the end of your life. It’s just another journey that you’re going through. Just trying to explore our lives in a realistic way. Just speaking about where we are. It doesn’t make sense to sing songs about being at a club partying, when we only do that on occasions. It really makes more sense to talk about the love and what our life is about. It’s about our relationship. It’s about our children. It’s bout all of the challenges we face playing those different roles. I think people who play our music and are in those same situations wear our music as a badge of honor;; in as sense that they look at what they are going through as something worthy of artistic expression. I also think (our music) takes a little bit of the fairytale edge off of what people believe marriage and kids is all about….If people really listened to our music they would hear that we  don’t have a “perfect” relationship. They even say, “You know, I thought marriage and kids was this and that, but you guys really gave me a lot of hope.”  It makes people feel like there situation is not that bad. Yes, because we have grown and been through a lot of things. Yes we have struggled with the different roles we  play.  don’t always feel like a “glampuss” all the time. I think the message we are trying to get across is own who you are. It’s okay. It’s a beautiful thing!

 

To Find out more about Kindred the Family Soul go to www.kindredthefamilysoul.com and also listen to KBLX. They play them all the time!