I am so grateful for my time in Congo because it taught me a lot about need. I think pregnancy can be an anxious time for new mothers, constantly wondering what we need to prepare and care for baby. Sellers know this and feed off of it. In fact, I am amazed by just how much the world economy feeds on fear. I have been incredibly grateful for my time in Congo because I have seen firsthand what mothers really need to care for an infant, and it is very little. They seem to get by with only mother’s milk, a piece of cloth and caring arms. So when I ask myself, “do I need that cute swinging thing with pretty things dangling off of it?” I think of these women, and their children sleeping peacefully on the floor for hours while they tend to their gardens and prepare the daily meals. And when baby wakes, mom hoists baby onto her back with a piece of pagne fabric and carries on with her work. I don’t plan to raise my baby this way but I am grateful for this perspective because it will help me maintain a healthy balance and a critical mindset when it comes to purchasing.

I took this picture of a woman in labor in the “maternity” of a small mud hut health center in Kasai, typical of those found across Congo. This picture for me is a stark reminder of what the human body really needs to give birth. There were no beds and no instruments in this health center. This woman labored quietly on a dirty cement floor. I am often blown away by how quickly these women give birth in conditions that we would find deplorable. Where in the west labor can take upwards of 24 hours, they seem to blast through it in no time. No medications, no interventions. That being said, maternal mortality in Congo is a whopping 693 deaths per 100,000 births compared to the United States, which is 14 deaths per 100,000 births, the highest in the developed world I might add (World Bank, 2015). I am a huge fan of modern medicine and I know how many lives cesareans have saved. In fact, I am scheduled to have one myself because my baby is still in the breech position. But for uncomplicated births, these women have shown me just how strong we really are if we trust in ourselves and our bodies to do what modern human bodies have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years.

Magic 74/365, True Labor, Kalonda Oest, Kasai, DR Congo