In Setswana, the word thari has several meanings. One refers to the ability to conceive, the other refers to a goat skin which is specially skinned and prepared to be used as a sling after a baby is born. If used in a phrase “bana ba thari” this can be used by people belonging to the same family, clan, community, or race. For example, “bana ba thari e ntsho” is used to refer to the black race.

From the indigenous African point of view, childbirth is not just a biological event that requires medical attention. Prior to colonisation and subsequent medicalisation of childbirth, pregnancy, labour, and postpartum period were regarded as sacred rites of passage celebrated by a series of rituals that were meant to strengthen, protect, and celebrate the mother and the baby.

Unlike biomedical model of birth, indigenous midwifery perceives birthing as a bio-social, cultural, and spiritual event that works in harmony with the body’s innate ability to give birth. By positioning birth as a wholistic phenomenon, health of the mother and the child is therefore inseparable from health of the entire ecosystem.

Building on the ancient African adage that it takes a village to raise a child, Afrika Ikalafe expands this view to include the role of the Indigenous midwife as a custodian of ancient knowledge about pregnancy and birth as a sacred rite of passage for the mother. Using a decolonised and holistic model of health, we believe that a marriage between a biomedical and indigenous models of birthing can result in positive physical, psychological, cultural, and spiritual birth outcome.