The first episode in our series on Women Healers is a lovely discussion with Nafeesah Roberts As-Salafeeya, a Community Labor and Postpartum Doula.  Doulas play a critical role as healers because they provide physical and emotional support before, during, and after birth in ways that modern hospital providers cannot. They are birthing advocates that help women actualize their preferred birthing experiences whether at home or in the hospital.  Nafeesah tells of her journey into becoming a birth worker, and how her home birth experience put her on the path to empower other women with their birthing journeys.  Inspired by her own ancestral traditions, she started the Mbegu Birthing Project, which is a grassroots organization to support birth work in Mobile, Alabama.  We also talk about the legacy of black midwifery in Alabama and Deirdre Cooper Owen's book, Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of American Gynecology, which presents an important history of black women midwives in bondage and their treatment by white, male physicians developing modern gynecology in the American south.  We talk about Alabama's relationship with this history and how new generations of birth workers will be instrumental in advocating for women’s rights and ensuring racial equality in healthcare and birthing.   
 
If you would like to learn more about doula training or Nafeesah's services, you can contact her  at Nafeesahthedoula@gmail.com or access her skincare, tinctures, and teas at NittyGrittySkinCare.com.

Nafeesah's businesses and affiliates:

Daughters of Daisy Community Labor and Postpartum Doula Services
The Mbegu Birthing Project
NittyGrittySkinCare
One&Strong-United for Quality Reproductive Healthcare
Facebook.com/DaughtersofDaisyMarie
Facebook.com/TheMbeguBirthingProject
TheMbeguBirthingProject@instagram
Nafeesahthedreamdoula@instagram