Linde Envisions Optimal Care for Women in South Africa

My name is Lindel Wilson and Midwifery and birth has revisited me at the age of 33. It has said “This time, I’m here to stay.”

I am a massage and beauty therapist by profession, and my work has allowed me to travel the world. Along the way, I had been tempted to start many little projects like starting my own organic skincare line to working as a makeup artist. These, however, turned out to be passing phases as I never was able to get my great ideas completely off the ground, or have them materialize into what I had envisioned them to be. I am a big dreamer but I have my feet firmly on the ground.

I say midwifery has revisited me because as far as I can remember, throughout my life, I have been attracted to the process and magic of birth and pregnancy. As a young girl I was drawn to babies and fascinated by pregnant mothers. While growing up on a farm I remember being absorbed and spellbound, watching discreetly as the animals would birth their young. When I graduated from high school there was a flash of an idea to pursue midwifery, but it didn’t last.

Motherhood changes something in all women, I believe, and allows us entry to a secret door which once through, puts life into perspective and shows us what’s really important. And so, that midwife feeling has come back and it feels more innate to me than ever before. I believe it has come back because only now am I ready.

There is a similarity in the way you hold a sacred, protected space when giving a massage and when supporting a woman in labour and birth. Both entail such vulnerability that is totally entrusted into your hands.

I am completely inspired and challenged by my curriculum in the Birth Institute Certificate in Holistic Midwifery and in awe and honored to be mentored by an incredible group of local independent midwives in South Africa. After having been given the opportunity to catch my first baby not so long ago (one of my dearest friends) these roots dug a little deeper into my being.

Like most places all over the world, our South African maternity health care system is in dire needs of a midwifery led intervention! South African women need to be reminded that birth and pregnancy are a gift and that with genuine care and support from midwives it can be the most rewarding and life changing event. I am excited about getting involved with our local communities and bringing health education and birth power back into the hands of women and mothers who don’t even know that it’s theirs to start with. It’s about empowering women to be strong inspiring mothers who I believe are the foundation the pillars and the roofs of our communities.

I dream and envision a system where the rightful place of midwives and the necessary place of obstetrics is recognized. Where ego is tossed aside and a peaceful, symbiotic relationship is formed so that at last women are really cared for properly.

Linde Wilson is a student of the Birth Institute Certificate in Holistic Midwifery, a comprehensive distance-based midwife training program.