OUR PARTNERS & PROJECTS
At Wombs of the World, partnership is the heartbeat of everything we do. Since 2018, we have cultivated deep, respectful relationships with traditional midwives, hospitals, educators, and organizations around the globe- because true change begins with listening, learning, and long-term collaboration.
Why Our Partnerships Matter
Global maternal health is facing unprecedented challenges. Together, with our partners, we're creating scalable, culturally-rooted solutions that transform birth outcomes and restore dignity to childbirth worldwide.
Our Featured Partnership:
The International Childbirth Initiative (ICI)
We are thrilled to announce our partnership with the International Childbirth Initiative, a global movement advocating respectful maternity care and evidence-based birth practices. Our shared vision and aligned values set the stage for groundbreaking collaborations in maternal health education and practice.
Our Global Projects & Impact
TANZANIA
Since 2018, we've nurtured deep, intentional relationships with maternity clinics in Tanzania, laying a strong foundation of trust, collaboration, and community empowerment. Our approach prioritizes listening deeply, responding thoughtfully, and building solutions rooted firmly in the needs and wisdom of local communities. Here's what we've accomplished together:
Tanzania Impact Timeline
2019
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Water & Sanitation Initiatives:
Partnered with Safe Water Now to provide 50 water filters for clinics, benefiting new mothers and nursing staff. Collaborated with Boma la Mama to distribute reusable menstrual pads and soap to postpartum mothers at Karatu Health Center. -
Ultrasound Need Identified:
The Karatu Health Center highlighted an urgent need for an ultrasound machine, essential for serving 150+ birthing women monthly and addressing complicated cases promptly.
2020
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Ultrasound Machine Delivered:
Successfully raised $17,000 and acquired an ultrasound machine for Karatu District Hospital. Facilitated essential sonography training for Dr. Simpa with the generous support of Dutch midwife Saja Erens from Stichting Mount Meru.
The ultrasound is now fully operational and life-saving for countless mothers and babies in Karatu.
2023
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Maasai Women’s Collective:
Post-pandemic, we reconnected with communities and clinics. Supported Maasai women seeking to launch their bead collective, empowering them economically by crowdfunding for essential supplies and livestock.
2024
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Critical Medical Equipment:
Made significant strides with Karatu Lutheran Hospital, supplying:-
3 medical oxygen concentrators
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3 oxygen splitters for neonates
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2 overhead heat lamps
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4 fetal dopplers
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We are continually collaborating with local healthcare providers to identify and fulfill ongoing needs, such as neonatal incubators, vaginal ultrasound machines, and phototherapy lights.
2025
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Doula Training Milestone:
Sponsored local medical professionals—three nurse-midwives and one OB-GYN—from Karatu to attend a groundbreaking doula training collaboration in Zanzibar with Red Tent Doulas (UK). For these healthcare providers, it was their first dedicated exposure to gentle, holistic birth practices, greatly inspiring shifts toward compassionate care.-
This initiative paved the way to co-create a specialized doula training program tailored to the Karatu community, spearheaded by our Regional Program Director, Kai.
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Kitchen for the Medical Staff at Changarawe Hospital
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We always follow their lead and strive to get the clinics what they ask for. Changarawe is a newer clinic in the region, and with its novelty it is lacking a lot of essential equipment- including options for the staff to eat or store their food. We were able to fund a staff kitchen, with a stove and a refrigerator.
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CPAP Machines & Material
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We are so grateful for the amazing dedicated staff at the clinics, one of whom had made a temporary CPAP machine to help a baby breathe. Since then we have been able to fund a neonatal CPAP machine at Changarawe and Karatu Health Center.
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Maasai Village Toilets & Preschool
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We have been working with a Maasai community since 2020 and love watching their children grow. We are so grateful they trust us and that we work directly with the women of the village. We have helped them fund the constructions of several toilets and the structure of their future preschool. The Tanzanian government will supply the teacher and materials once the school is built! Which should be done any day now!
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"Every month, we see women and families whose lives are forever changed by the kind of care they receive, or don't. The difference between joy and tragedy often comes down to the presence of skilled and compassionate care during childbirth. This isn't just about numbers; it's about real lives, hopes, and the future of our communities.”
– Dr. Heriel, Director, Karatu District Hospital, Tanzania
There is always more that these clinics need, and clinics around the world need!
What is absolutely certain is that the medical staff at all of the clinics we doula in are working so hard to keep mothers and babies safe, and doing to much with very limited resources.
We always follow their lead and strive to support the projects they are spearheading.
Recent (2025) success stories come from the CPAP machines now being used in these clinics!
Looking Ahead: Our Future Work
Wombs of the World is entering a bold new chapter. Rooted in long-standing partnerships and guided by deep local wisdom, our upcoming projects reflect a commitment to both life-saving interventions and system-level transformation.
What’s ahead in Karatu is big, and beautiful, and so very exciting.
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Doula Training Expansion
We’re co-developing a culturally grounded, hospital-integrated doula training curriculum for Karatu’s clinical staff. Created in collaboration with local healthcare workers and traditional birthkeepers, this training honors Tanzanian knowledge while introducing global best practices for respectful care.
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Gentle Birth Infrastructure (Coming Soon- Stay Tuned!!)
We’re preparing to launch a replicable, dignity-centered birth room model- complete with vertical birth tools, prenatal education protocols, and postpartum care practices that reflect both tradition and innovation. This visionary space will anchor our next phase of maternal health work in Tanzania.
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Enhanced Neonatal Care
We’re actively fundraising to supply Karatu’s hospitals with life-saving neonatal equipment, including CPAP machines, phototherapy lights, and ultrasound technology, all essential to reducing preventable infant deaths.
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Specialized Clinical Workshops
We plan to offer focused training on critical topics like infant resuscitation, respectful cesarean support, and shoulder dystocia, all led by experienced global educators/birth professionals and tailored to the realities of rural care.
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Community-Led Economic Empowerment
We continue to walk alongside the Maasai Women’s Collective—supporting sustainable income generation, improved family health, and intergenerational leadership through beadwork, storytelling, and community development.
ECUADOR
Ecuador: Where Birth is Ceremony, and Midwives are Revered
Let us introduce you to two of the most extraordinary women we have the honor of working with: Martha Arotigo and Luzmila Antonigo. This epic mother-daughter duo, rooted in the mountains of Cotacachi, Ecuador, are not only midwives and healers- they are cultural stewards, protectors of the sacred, and radiant forces of transformation in their community.
Meet Martha Arotigo
Martha is a traditional midwife, herbalist, and indigenous healer from the Andean highlands. She is a farmer, a guardian of the land, and a fiercely committed leader within the Hampi Warmikuna collective of traditional midwives. Her wisdom has been cultivated over decades—handed down through oral tradition, prayer, and the teachings of grandmothers whose hands caught generations of babies.
She does this work not because it is easy, but because it is sacred.
Because her ancestors did.
Because the mountain, Mama Cotacachi, asked her to.
And Meet Luzmila Antonigo
Luzmila, Martha’s mother, is a midwife, herbalist, and specialist in guinea pig diagnosis- an Andean healing tradition that has survived colonization and continues to guide families through illness and imbalance. Luzmila is also a beloved teacher at the Unanchu Mamakuna traditional midwifery school, where she plays a vital role in transmitting ancestral knowledge to the next generation.
Together, Martha and Luzmila remind us that birth is not just a medical event- it is ceremony. It is cosmology. It is community care.
Honoring Their Leadership With Action
At Wombs of the World, we don’t just celebrate Martha and Luzmila’s work- we invest in it.
We pay midwives. Generously. Joyfully.
Because honoring wisdom means resourcing it.
We have supported dozens of projects born from Martha’s vision—whether that’s building postpartum support systems, developing educational manuals on nutrition and plant medicine, or simply giving her and Luzmila the resources they need to continue showing up for their community.
We believe that when midwives thrive, communities flourish.
Looking Ahead: A Midwife-Led Future
Martha’s dream is big- and it’s already taking root.
With your support, we hope to:
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Fund the Unanchu Mamakuna School of Traditional Midwifery in Cotacachi, a vital space for intergenerational learning and cultural preservation.
Estimated cost: $60,000 annually for operations. -
Help Martha and Luzmila build a Women’s Empowerment and Birth Center, offering dignified care rooted in Indigenous wisdom.
Estimated cost: $120,000. -
Continue funding the countless grassroots projects Martha leads- from postpartum circles to reproductive health education for girls.
These aren’t just donations. They are investments in a world where birth is sacred, where midwives are respected, and where ancestral knowledge is not only preserved- but celebrated.
“Wombs of the World has seen the significance of our teachings, aiding in the preservation and dissemination of our seeds of knowledge. It's a partnership where wisdom flows both ways.”
- Martha Arotigo, Partera Di Anaku
Mexico
In Mexico we’ve partnered with traditional midwife and healer Mariela Ayala to co-create immersive learning journeys centered on curanderismo, sacred birth traditions, and community-based care.
Our programs in Mexico honor not just the physical act of birth, but the deep ancestral and spiritual knowledge held by the curanderas, sobadoras, and traditional midwives of the region. Through these programs, we are able to compensate local healers directly, while offering global birthworkers the opportunity to learn with reverence and humility.
South Africa
In 2026, we will launch our newest initiative in South Africa, in collaboration with the visionary activist, poet, and traditional healer Dr. Mmatshilo Motsei. This partnership will focus on healing justice, the decolonization of maternal care, and the weaving together of ancestral and clinical knowledge.
This program is not a training. It is a reawakening.
An invitation to listen, unlearn, and remember.
The Wombs of the World Foundation exists because of the strength of our global partnerships- and the support of people like you. Every donation, every sponsor, every aligned partner helps us expand respectful care, preserve ancestral knowledge, and amplify the voices of midwives and birthworkers around the world.
Let’s change the world by changing the way we care for women, birthing people, and babies.