RUTH EHRHARDT
Ruth Ehrhardt is the mother of 4 home-birthed children, a South African traditional midwife, the author of a book called The Basic Needs of a Woman in Labour (which has been translated into 15 different languages), and a birth and midwifery teacher. She is the daughter, granddaughter, and niece of midwives, so it seems this work was in many ways predestined from birth. Ruth has an innate love and trust for birth, women’s bodies, and babies’ intelligence. In her teaching and work, she mainly focuses on guarding and protecting the environment for pregnancy and birth, as opposed to guiding or facilitating the actual birthing process
SAMARA HAWTHORN
Samara’s passion for birth-tending was born with the birth of her daughter in 1995, developed with the birth of her son’s and matured as she was present for the birth of her grand-daughter in 2018. Samara trained as a WellMother Maternity Shiatsu Teacher with Suzanne Yates, whilst living and learning with the lay midwives of Tipi Valley, Wales. She then moved to Ashland, Oregon, where she apprenticed with CPM Maureen Mitchell of Helping Hands Midwifery. Samara returned to Wales in 2004, offering herself as a Community Doula and Traditional Birth Attendant. Samara’s sons were born at home 2005 and 2008, and over the next ten years, they grew strong roots on their homestead “Bryn y Blodau”, building a roundhouse and tending the land and animals, whilst continuing her path as a Traditional Birthkeeper,
ALEX KHULA
Alexandra, Alex, is passionate about birth after she gave birth unattended to her 2 daughters in rural Africa. She feels a deep connection to the sacred circle of women who she feels committed to serving in many ways. She worked for 15 years as a doula assisting midwives and traditional birth keepers in South Africa (Ruth Ehrhardt and Karen Clark) , Brazil, Indonesia (Ibu Robin Lim and Ibu Sulandri) and Portugal where she now practices holistic midwifery. She organizes yearly retreats in Portugal since 2016 with Ruth and later Samara, to empower the local community of women in the field of pregnancy, birth and postpartum care.
