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Baby Catchers of the Amazon
In Brazil, many communities are spread out along the labyrinthine miles of rivers and jungles of the Amazon. The inhabitants of these isolated villages are called the Ribeirinhos : the river dwellers.
In these tropical lands, it is said that a pregnant woman has one foot in her grave. Young mothers depend on traditional midwives who accompany them through the storm of birth giving thanks to their ancestral knowledge which they humbly describe as a “gift from god”.
93-year-old Dona Ida recalls, “I was 15 years old the first time I ‘caught’ a baby. He was born feet first. God helped me and I figured it out.”
She is not unusual. Armed with solidarity, courage and common sense, the midwives of the Amazon have been 'catching' children, as they put it, for many generations. Geographic isolation makes it necessary, and the lack of basic medical service keeps the tradition alive.
Baby Catchers of the Amazon is an intimate portrait of three of these dedicated women who welcome life and confront death in a place where the very continuation of life often relies on their leathery hands.
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