Warrior Woman: Olga The Jungle Midwife

Before there was Youtube or Netflix, I used to watch documentaries on E! (True Hollywood Stories), PBS, A&E, and the Biography Channel. Nowadays TV has changed so much in terms of content that its hard to find a good documentary. For the last few months I have been obsessed with documentaries I find on Youtube. You know how you start watching one thing and then after three or four clicks you're watching something completely unrelated to the video toy started with? That's exactly what happened when I came across the 2013 documentary titled "The Jungle Midwife". To be honest, I had an issue with the title, but if it had any other title, I may not have clicked on it. Damn you, marketing strategies!

I usually don't watch documentaries about Africa because a lot of them have a western spin on them. Also, most of the time the people being interviewed in the documentary is being spoken for and what they are saying is not always translated accurately. So, unless they are produced by an African, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and/or Oprah, I skip them. 

Anyway, I clicked on this documentary and I was transported to the Central African Republic. From the start we see the lush green of Africa and after three seconds the hardened, yet concerned face of Olga Yetikoua consumes your heart. She is a midwife. The origins of the midwife date back to the beginning of time. The black/African woman as a midwife is a very unique part of history that you should definitely take a look at. Anyway, Olga is not just a midwife, she is a woman that we all know, but not often recognized for her strength. 

Olga travels by a makeshift ferry to get to a remote island where there is no medical aid and barely any drinking water, due to an ongoing civil war. She is going to help a woman in the village who is going into labor. Most women in this part of the world, like in many other poor countries, have complications with pregnancy and are prone to miscarriage and.or death. Despite the threat of the Lord's Resistance Army, Olga travels daily to remote villages to deliver medicine and much needed medical care to save the lives of expectant mothers and their babies. 

She arrives in the village to find a woman, whom she was told was carrying twins, crying out in extreme pain. Olga does a quick examination and quickly realizes that the woman will need a C-section and needs to be transported to the nearest hospital. The expectant mother is loaded on the back of a truck and driven over bumpy, rocky, dirt roads fifteen miles to the hospital. Olga's face is anxious, but this is the only way to try and save the mother and baby. After reaching the hospital, which in itself lacks proper medical equipment and clean water, the mother delivers her baby. One baby. Everyone is stunned that woman was not pregnant with twins. Come to find out, the baby was in an awkward position making it appear to be twins. Without an ultrasound or any other proper medical equipment there was no way of knowing how many babies the woman was carrying. 

At another point in the documentary, there is another woman who is pregnant with twins. This time, its for real. The first baby is born healthy, but the second is not breathing. We see Olga, using a technique she learned from her aunt (also a midwife) and bring the baby back to life. 

One of the most human moments is when Olga is talking to her husband and children on the phone. He wants her home, but she explains that she has work to do. Of course, he is not happy, but she stands firm. Her passion for her work, in all of its danger and difficulty, keeps her going and continues to save lives. 

Olga is one of the unsung warriors of a continent that many have deemed worthless. Warriors like Olga call these places home and they will give of themselves to protect it and its people. No matter the circumstances, it is our home and it is our responsibility to stand up for it, even if it does not stand up for us.