"​Don't ever, ever, tell me the ancestors ain't real. Don't allow anyone to lead you to believe that our ancestors died without giving a fight. Their spirits are alive and well, and fighting through me."

These are the words Brittany "Tru" Kellman. After our conversation, she told me about a challenge that was being fought at the time. The details of the situation are shown below in the VICTORY post that was posted by Jamaa Birth Village the very next day. YES!!!

Tru is a warrior in the truest sense of the word. And throughout her life she has shown the tenacity and strength required to see victory over oppressive forces. Like so many other Black women reclaiming birthwork and healing practices, the ancestors continue the fight for our liberation through women like her.

Topics discussed:

• "Black Woman's Guide to Homebirth..."
• Moving toward homebirth
• "Saving myself..."
• Becoming the provider the community needs
  
• Having a VBAC2
• Controversy about being the "1st Black CPM in Missouri"
• Allyship vs White Savior Complex
• "The Birthing of a Midwife..." groups
• Keeping Black women from getting lost and stuck in birth culture
• How Black women's DNA can be healed through birthwork
• Being a "protector"
• Understanding "I GOT YOU" in birthwork
• Walking in the footsteps of our Grand Midwives
• Being unconstrained in birth culture
• Assisting in birthwork in Ghana
• Nurturing and safeguarding "The Call"

​Tru extends these words of gratitude:

"Thank you to my ancestors who didn't allow our traditions and ceremonies to perish but instead allowed this power to be carried through our DNA and reawakened with force! Thank you to my sons Kylan, Kashawn & Kaleo for giving birth to a new me and allowing me to realize my calling. Thank you to my wife for caring for me and our family so well while I became a Midwife. Without her, this path would've been near impossible. Thank you to Mama Ummsaalamah for beginning this work and inspiring me to trust my calling. Thanks to my community back home for believing in me and my amazing Jamaa board and staff who held things down along the way. A huge thanks to my amazing preceptors Allison & Corina for pushing me through the finish line. "

Connect to Brittany "Tru" Kellman and the work she is doing:
​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/btkconsultingfirm/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BTKConsultingFirm/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TruKellman
Website: https://www.btkconsultingfirm.com/
Email: tru@BTKConsultingfirm.com
Phone: 314-619-3704

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamaabirthvillage/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamaabirthvillage/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamaabirth
Website: https://www.jamaabirthvillage.org/
Email: tru@jamaabirthvillage.org
Phone: 314-643-7703

Website: https://www.thecosmicgrove.com/

PURCHASE: 
A Black Woman's Guide to Home Birth by Brittany "Tru" Kellman: For Women and Families of Color & The Birth Workers That Serve Them.

Moji Yaï has a trailblazing spirit. She has literally created a path for women of the African Diaspora to find their way back home, while utilizing ancestral knowledge for our nutritional and womb health.

I was surprised that I had not heard of he "Wise African Women" Birth Education Retreats, but then I realized I had. I had seen photos of a sister who attended and I remembered how attracted I was to the authenticity of the experiences that I had seen her have in Benin. It was everything that I believe that a daughter of the African Diaspora should have when she seeks to reconnect with African healing origins in the land of our ancestors.

​She is also hosting a fundraiser for Lina, a midwife who shares traditional birth practices with the participants of the WAW Birth Education Retreats. You can contribute at the link below.

Topics discussed:

• Nutrition, ancestral knowledge, and the womb
• Seeing the connection to Africa
• Learning to connect with Black Americans
• Falling in love with birthwork
• Traditional midwives as protectors
• Acknowledging our "other protectors" in childbirth
• Preserving traditional practices throughout the diaspora and at home on the continent
• Negative connotations of traditional practices in Africa
• Safety for Black women in hospitals
• Single storytelling about birth culture
• The culture of birth among Black Americans 
• Creating "family" that can surround you in homebirth
• Accepting non-universal concepts on the continent
• Divisiveness and non-gendered contexts
• Considering what "poverty" is and how it affects birth on the continent
• The importance of ownership
• Reconnecting with "your people"
• Considering Diasporic and Continental African conflict
• Finding a connection to the continent and "being invited"​

​​I have so much admiration for the work that Moji Yai is doing. I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Learn more about the work Moji is doing and find out more about the Wise African Woman Birth Education Retreat:

Website: https://littlebylittlebirth.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlebylittlebirth/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/disskoolin_doula/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littlebylittlebirth/

Wise African Woman Birth Education Retreat:
​https://littlebylittlebirth.com/waw/

Home Clinic Renovation for Midwife Lina in Benin:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/home-clinic-renovation-for-midwife-lina-in-benin

I am constantly researching something. This week has begun with me reading more about the Grand (granny) midwives of the south... Those who "waited on women" because it was something that they felt God had called them to and taught them how to do as they listened and learned from older women who "caught babies." Women who believed that birth was a spiritual thing as much as it was a physiological thing. Speaking with Aisha Ralph, I knew I was speaking to one who was following a similar path. 

My conversation with Aisha was so rich that by the end I was FULL. Aisha is from Antigua and, as a daughter of the African Diaspora, is mindful of how her actions will impact future generations. There were several instances while I listened to her speak that I knew that she was speaking from beyond herself on behalf of our ancestral mothers, sharing truths that span beyond her years, that are necessary to sustain our families. We need midwives in our generation who can hear and recognize their role in preserving our birth traditions and our lives and African descended people. Aisha is also planning a journey with midwives in Uganda to enrich her personal midwifery journey, which you can support. 

I am excited to share Aisha with you. She has a beautiful spirit I am sure you will appreciate.

​Topics discussed:
​

• Being attracted to birth at a young age
• Considering birth options in Antigua
• Dealing with the medicalization of birth
• Protecting ‘your’ spirit in birth environments
• ​Being holistic vs being compartmentalized
• How you feel about your "divine creative energy"
• Creating legacy as an "ancestral mother"
• Reconsidering a system that is not serving you
• Dealing with cognitive dissonance
• Ensuring our personal autonomy
• Speaking with the elders
• How a generation forgets ritual and tradition
• Allowing ourselves to be empowered to RE-MEMBER
• “Ancestral connections cannot be broken”
• “Doulas” in indigenous cultures
• Universal birth and postpartum practices 
• Answering “the call” of your ancestors
• Embodying our full experiences in birth work
• Ceremonies vs family practices (rituals)
• Birth memories… “a woman never forgets”
• Feeling called to birth? JUST DO IT!

Aisha Tewerat Akua offers this gratitude:

​"To the ones in my ancestral lineage from the beginning of time to present, whose names are not known to me, who were themselves guardians of birth, and in whose footsteps I trod...

To the ones whose memory and legacy live on in the title "Granny Midwife"...
​
To my elders in birthwork, especially Jennie Joseph, Makeda Kamara, Debbie Allen, Racha Lawler, and Toni Hill, who have been a huge inspiration and have guided me with their words (most times without even knowing it)...

To my sister midwives, especially Janell, Efe and Tiffany, who have never failed in giving me encouragement and who have been consistent examples of perseverance and strength...
​
And to my biggest supporters and cheerleaders, my mother Daphne, my husband Nekia and my best friend Marcella"

Here are some ways you can connect with Aisha to learn more about what she is doing:

Support Aisha's journey with midwives in Uganda

Email: nurturingbirth4u@gmail.com
FB Personal: Aisha Taweret Akua
FB Page: Birth Matters