Upcoming Sessions
9th September
The Role of a Birth Partner
This month we’re sharing some tips on how your birth partner can enhance your role.
Who we are
Birthing in Colour is a birth group for Black & Asian women to gather and explore all topics Bump, Birth & Beyond.
The group is facilitated by Black & Asian birthkeepers; women who work with Mothers during the perinatal phase.
What we do
Collectively, we create a safe space where we can have access to accurate information to better our maternal health outcomes.
How we do it
Each session explores a specific birth-related theme, with opportunities to discuss any topic that comes up.
We meet on the 2nd Thursday of each month. All our meetings are currently online.
About
Why is there a need for a group for Black and Asian women?
The maternal health outcomes for Black and Asian women differ to those of our white counterparts. We aim to close the disparities by creating a space for us to gather to learn from each other, empower ourselves and celebrate the positive changes that we are creating.
The key to creating these positive changes is to have access to accurate and evidence-based information. Therefore in each session we aim to provide attendees with information that will help them to make informed decisions. (We also want to honour and rediscover our deep ancestral wisdom in order to make decisions that benefit the next generation).
We are aware that some people, especially those who are currently pregnant or recently given birth, may not want to know the statistics. For those who do, please follow the link to view the statistics from the MBRRACE Saving Lives, Improving Mothers’ Care report, November 2018.
Contribute
Death in pregnancy and childbirth is rare, but reports into maternal death rates have only confirmed that being Black or Asian and pregnant carries more risk.
There are various factors that compound this issue, but a factor that is largely being overlooked is the treatment of Black and Asian mothers within the healthcare sector. The beliefs of caregivers sets the precedent for the level of care they provide, so when we look at the undercurrent of unconscious and conscious racism that is apparent throughout the healthcare sector, BAME women are suffering at the hands of the very healthcare institutions that are suppose to protect them.
They are disregarded and disbelieved and in turn, experience a lower standard of care than their white counterparts. Thus creating a distrust of the medical system and affecting their engagement with it. The mistrust is a response to a lack of culturally-sensitive and specific research into the mistreatment that Black and Asian women encounter. Mistreatment that is also, all too often experienced by Black and Asian medical staff, which supports the fact that the high maternal death rates go hand in hand with racial bias rather than a lack of maternal care or resources.
Birthing In Colour is working to provide BAME women, mothers and mothers -to-be with informed choice around the decisions they make on all topics Bump, Birth and Beyond, so that they do not continue to be failed on a daily basis by the very institutions that should be designed to protect them.
Through our monthly sessions we are able to give BAME women access to the knowledge that our guest Birthworkers hold and provide them with a safe space to be heard and feel prepared for any stage of pregnancy or postnatal care. But we need your help in delivering this service. Help us in our quest to lower the maternal death rates amongst BAME women.
Make a donation now to help us deliver vital information directly to women who need it the most.
OUR FOUNDERS
Kheyla Anderson
I’m a mother of two, an advocate for safe and honest representations of motherhood alongside running a wellness company for mums. There is a lack of self-care afforded to mothers and working towards reinstating those ancient traditions is fundamental to healthy motherhood.
Mars Lord
Double award winning doula & birth activist Mars Lord has been a birth keeper for well over a decade. After attending the Paramana Doula course with Michel Odent & Lilliana Lammers, a spark was lit within her & the passion for birth and supporting parents has fired her soul ever since.
Thando Zwane
I am a Birthkeeper working as a birth and postnatal doula, hypnobirthing teacher and I run birth preparation workshops. I have been interested in birth for as long as I can remember and I learnt about caring for women before and after childbirth from my GrandMother when I was a child.
“For me the sessions feel like getting a big hug from my beautiful black sisters, mothers, aunties, grandmothers and ancestors. It’s a nurturing and supportive space where I can relax and be myself. There is no pressure just open arms ready to accept you.
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Contact
How to find us
Birthing in Colour is an online service, book your seat via Eventbrite or by clicking the button in the upcoming sessions section above.
Email Us
email: birthingincolour@gmail.com