Maternal Gift Economy: Breaking Through -
Ongoing Salons
Every two weeks
Salon #20 - September 25, 2021
Birthkeepers, Agents of the Maternal Gift Economy Shift
Ibu Robin Lim and Elena Skoko
September 25, 2021
Ibu Robin Lim
Presentation topic: Awakening Birth
Ibu Robin Lim CPM is a Filipino-Micronesian-American midwife, mother, grandmother, author, and founder of Yayasan Bumi Sehat a non-profit organization in Indonesia. Lim also serves on the board of Bumi–Wadah Philippines, where she is known as “Lola Robin.” Her Passion is Human Rights in Childbirth. She believes that each individual is an essential “Piece of Peace” therefore by protecting the mothers in childbirth and the newborns (our smallest citizens of Earth) we may build peace, one Baby, one Mother, one Family at a time.
Ibu Robin’s work as a midwife has taken her into the epicenter of disaster zones, following earthquakes in Indonesia, Haiti, and Nepal. She headed a medical relief team of early responders to the Indian Ocean tsunami in Aceh, where Bumi Sehat still supports a community health clinic and birth center. After nine islands in the Philippines were devastated by Super typhoon Haiyan, Ibu Robin and her team of Midwives received 777 babies in a small tent. 100% of the birthing mothers were homeless, hungry and thirsty. Even in the highest risk, lowest resource settings one can imagine, Lim and the Team midwives achieved a model of MotherBaby Care that is safe, culturally sensitive and loving. In Bali, where Ibu Robin lives with her family of four generations, team Bumi Sehat helped mitigate the suffering caused by the 2017-2019 eruptions of Mount Gunung Agung. Currently Bumi Sehat is feeding families left utterly without income from the pandemic. Ibu Robin and her family dry, grind, tincture and encapsulate herbal medicines, in particular Sambiloto (Andrographis paniculata) a heritage herb of Indonesia and the Philippines. In the tradition of her grandmother, Lim has given away over 350,000 capsules of Sambiloto to prevent and cure covid-19.
You can find her blog and books here. Also see: www.AwakeningBirth.org
Elena Skoko
Presentation title: Singing Birth, the Power of Maternal Voice
Elena Skoko is mother-activist and interdisciplinary artist (Croatia-Italy). She is an advocate for respectful maternity care and a scholar of birth culture. Her background as a singer and her experience of motherhood enabled her to create Singing Birth Workshops (www.singingbirth.com) for the purpose of helping women find their embodied voice, in childbirth as well as in life. She is a member of the International Feminists for the Gift Economy Network.
Advocating for mothers and babies, Elena realized that a deep work is needed to empower women in being able to voice their needs and manifest their agency. Childbirth is a crucial moment when a woman has the chance to hear the power of her voice in all her might. It is also a moment when the maternal gift economy manifests itself physically and symbolically: giving birth is a voiceful act. Elena gave birth in Bali, assisted by midwife Ibu Robin Lim, who's loving and gentle care introduced her to the motherworld and the practice of maternal gift economy.
More @ Memoirs of a Singing Birth book