Jenny's journey | POY Latam

Jenny visits the mountain in Oaxaca, brings offerings for mother earth.

Zapotec midwife, Enriqueta Contreras, braids her hair at her home in Oaxaca. Enriqueta worked all her life delivering babies in different communities in Oaxaca.

Doña Enriqueta and Jenny visit the forest where she lived for many years delivering babies. They offer a prayer to a tree that Enriqueta has known since she was a child.

Enriqueta Contreras explains to Jenny Silva what these medicinal plants are used for.

Ruth is cared for at Doña Enriqueta’s house by her and Jenny. In the photo Jenny gives her a pre natal massage. In Western medicine, massages are forbidden when a woman is close to giving birth.

Doña Enriqueta visits with Jenny and her granddaughter her friends in the community of El Cerezal. In the pictures her friend who she helped to give birth with her daughter.

Medicinal herbs boiling in a pot to be used in a Temazcal guided by Norma Yescas, Doña Enriqueta’s daughter, also a medicine woman.

Jenny Silva visits the home of Rosaura López, one of her clients and friend.

Jenny massages her client Mandy Perez days before her daughter is born at her home.

Mandy Perez relaxes for a massage days before giving birth to her daughter at home.

Metztli Perez was born in her family’s home, attended by her father and midwife Jenny Silva.

Mandy and her daughter Metztli rest minutes after giving birth.

Placenta of the baby Metztli, considered the tree of life in indigenous cultures.

Jenny offers a prayer for the new life that has arrived and Metztli’s father, Francisco, sings a song of welcome to his daughter. Franciso and Mandy are Aztec dancers.

Mandy surrounded by her family and newborn daughter. Contractions still felt after giving birth.

Jenny visits Mandy and her family weeks after baby Metztli was born.

Rosaura Lopez’s room weeks before giving birth.

Jenny blesses Rosaura López in her home with Copal smoke during one of her pre natal visits.

Rosaura in labor surrounded by her family at home.

Jenny bathes Rosaura with medicinal herbs.

Baby Tiskani is born at home with the help of midwives.

Rosaura breastfeeds her baby Tiskani the first day of his birth.

Rosaura breastfeeds her baby Tiskani during her quarantine bath.

Rosaura and Jenny walk in their neighborhood.

According to the CDC, the U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries in the world due in part to the lack of maternal care providers, especially midwives. Black and Latina women are among the most affected.

Karla’s story will focus on the life and work of Jenny Silva, who has been serving the Hispanic community in Los Angeles for more than a decade, helping nearly 300 families as a traditional doula. With four children, she defines herself as an indigenous Chicano-Mexican mother.

When Jenny went to school in Los Angeles to get her midwifery license, she saw that Central American ancestral practices were not given credit in the textbooks. So she decided to embark on a spiritual and learning journey to her ancestral homeland Mexico, traveling to Oaxaca to learn from Enriqueta Contreras, an indigenous Zapotec midwife.

This story highlights the exchange of ancient knowledge, essential for positive maternal health care, across cultures and borders.