But courageous jungle midwives travel long distances to help expectant mothers in remote areas deliver their children more safely.

Without midwives like Pacha, Keyla and Manuela, pregnant women living in the Departamento del Chocó in northwestern Colombia would be on their own. Here, between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes, the population is predominantly Afro-Colombian, though there are also indigenous tribes. Most people spend their lives secluded in the deep jungle, in poverty and under constant threat from paramilitary groups. 

Women give birth at home in their villages, without hospitals or doctors. But for generations, assistance has arrived in the form the courageous women and men who work as so-called jungle midwives. 

The film shows the daily work of three jungle midwives. At 57, Pacha is the most experienced. She makes her own medicine from what the jungle provides. But even Pacha meets with surprises: in the film, one of her patients unexpectedly gives birth to twins. Working with no medical equipment, Pacha could not have anticipated this. She has to make a split-second decision to resolve the crisis. 

Pacha has been mentoring Keyla, a 28-year-old student midwife, for six months. Now, after a four hour trek through the rainforest, Keyla examines a pregnant indigenous woman for the first time on her own. Will she make the right decisions? 

Activist Manuela is a qualified nurse. Ten years ago, she founded an organization dedicated to preserving the jungle midwives’ age-old traditions, while familiarizing them with science-based medicine. Once a month she visits the remote villages to train jungle midwives.
 
The job of the jungle midwives is very difficult. But they are proud of the courage and commitment it takes to help bring new life and happiness to the people of an extremely poor region of Colombia.


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