Sacred Waters Collective

Geget.

The future of midwifery means everything to our community. Today, we’re looking forward to a day when midwives can change lives and improve birth outcomes for all. Celebrate midwives with the American College of Nurse-Midwives for this week!

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Metepenagiag Mi’kmaq Nation New Brunswick
OCT 22-25th, 2024

*Due to demand they have opened up more spots for training*

If interested contact Raven Labillois ASAP

Email: [email protected]

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Fill out the link in our bio to request assistance!

There is a large network of people from around the region who are standing by to help.

We are able to connect you with midwifery care, full spectrum doula support, housing, transportation, gasoline, cooked meals, groceries, water, and more!

Any mother or family in need is encouraged to apply!!

Please donate if you can. Donations will go directly to resources and transportation.

And let me know if you are available to help. What services can you offer and what area can you serve?

Michigan just passed SB 351, which means protections for humans expressing milk in public!!! Yay!!!

What Lindsey said. 🥰🤎

The August 2024 Local Breastfeeding Supporter Meeting Recap on Celebrating August Breastfeeding Month and Lactation Supporters’ Work Across Michigan is now available! To learn more and read the report, go to mibreastfeeding.org/local-meetings and click on the “Meeting Recaps” tab.

Okay enough shenanigans. For now. I welcome all the funny toothless Auntie memes though. 🤣🤣

Back to your regularly scheduled programming. Which is me disrupting s**t. Today was the day where parents gathered after dropping off kids. I made a few folks double take. 😂 But also had quite a few folks comment that they loved my shirt. Had plenty of great conversations centered around birth justice in Indigenous communities. It was a great morning inspired by a tee shirt! 🖤🤎✊🏽

Oh man. I don’t have the words for how I’m feeling right now. I’ve been away for a week with my sisters as we embarked on an incredible mission. The state of Michigan has a doula initiative wherein folks can become trained doulas to serve their communities. After this week, there will be 18 registered Indigenous doulas added to the registry! We are so miigwechful to Zaagi'idiwin for entrusting us with this work. Our sisters Melissa and Candace are the most kind and loving sisters who are so generous to share their teachings with us. We are forever thankful.

First, I need to thank the Hannahville Indian Community for inviting us to their community and hosting us to do this work. We were treated with the most loving and generous hospitality. We even asked if anyone could direct a sweat and they came through; we went to sweat with some of their community members and some of our participants. It was a beautiful and healing sweat. Chi-Miigwech to the community of Hannahvill for your generous hospitality! We couldn’t have felt any more welcome!

This first picture is from fall of 2022, when we came together to dream this collective up. First up was becoming a registered non-profit. We did that and we are now known as the Sacred Waters Collective. We have a very big dream board of the activities we want to do. Everything from breastfeeding, doula work, parenting work, teen parenting work, rites of passage such as strawberry fasts, and a whole host of other important aspects of life that were stolen from our communities. We set out to reclaim these teachings and want to learn and gift as much as we can.

The core group of folks doing the work right now are Lindsey Jean McGahey, Kelsey Wabanimkee, Sage Kaake Hegdal and me. I am so proud of what these women accomplished in such a short time. We are making moves in this world. For the betterment of our communities. I couldn’t be more proud of what was accomplished this week. It’s only going to get bigger and better from here on out!!

We ended our week together by feasting Lake Michigan, making a food, to***co, and song offering to the grandmothers and nibi for giving us and sustaining life. Nibi is sacred, and it is for that reason we chose this name for our collective, to remind us of the important work we have been set out to do in our communities. Miigwech Nibi! We love you, we thank you, we are forever indebted to you. 🤎💧🌊

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What our doula training gatherings start with. Medicines. 🥹🤎✊🏽

Sacred Waters Collective is proud to present this year’s Michigan Indigenous Milk Medicine Week proclamation signed and sealed by Governor Whitmer. This year Lindsey worked on drafting and submitting the proclamation with support from the rest of the collective.

A copy of the published proclamation can be found here: https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/proclamations/2024/08/08/august-8-14-2024-indigenous-milk-medicine-week

Sacred Waters and the Governor of the State of Michigan joins with Flower Moon Families Lactation Services, Panoramic Doula, Postpartum Healing Lodge, Nourishing Nations, Nizhóní Sol Birthwork, Sage and Rebozos, Indigenous Medicinal Birth Lodge, Miigwech Inc., Land As Body, Sacred Soul Doula, Rachel Derusha Anderle, Healing with Dbik Anakwad Kwe, Michigan Breastfeeding Network, and Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, to hereby proclaim August 5-11, 2024 as Indigenous Milk Medicine Week in Michigan.

The proclamation reads:

WHEREAS, Michigan honors the 12 federally recognized tribes, and many more tribally recognized tribes, native to this land and acknowledges the people, land, traditions, and customs stolen by colonial systems through government practices of forced separation and forced assimilation; and,

WHEREAS, Michigan acknowledges the grief of Indigenous peoples and joins in mourning the loss of the Indigenous children whose remains were and are being discovered on stolen land and denied their birthright of the perfect first food; and,

WHEREAS, Indigenous body-feeding is a sovereign right for Indigenous peoples no matter where they reside; and,

WHEREAS, Michigan celebrates doodooshaaboo (milk) and human-milk feeding, with Indigenous peoples as a gift from the Creator directly given to life-givers so they may nourish the next seven generations; and,

WHEREAS, Michigan acknowledges that doodooshaaboo (milk)and human-milk feeding, is also considered a medicine, and is acknowledged by Indigenous peoples as the first medicine children receive to live healthy and strong lives; and,

WHEREAS, during this week we are dedicated to broadening public understanding of the critical impact human-milk has on improving the health of infants and birthing persons within the Indigenous community;

WHEREAS, Michigan is committed to reducing infant mortality and increasing the health outcomes of life-givers and babies during National Breastfeeding Month - and Indigenous maternal mortality is 2 to 3 times the rate of white maternal mortality and Indigenous infant mortality is 3 times greater than white infant mortality with a 73% increased mortality risk if the baby is not body-fed; and,

WHEREAS, to improve health outcomes by providing equitable and culturally appropriate and respectable care for Indigenous families in the prenatal period through postpartum, as well as in lactation support as Indigenous birthing persons are 2 1⁄2 times less likely to receive prenatal care with 50% receiving zero before birth; and,

WHEREAS, Michigan is committed to creating a safe environment for Indigenous parents and babies in
clinical practices due to Indigenous peoples coerced into sterilization and/or contraception immediately after birth which can be detrimental to lactation; and,

WHEREAS, Indigenous body-feeding is vital to counter the inequity and injustice experienced by Indigenous families and their ability to practice their traditions in accordance with their ancestral and tribal communities; and,

WHEREAS, Michigan celebrates the diversity and encourages visibility of human-milk feeding experiences; and,

WHEREAS, inherited trauma has had a significant effect on bonding and traditional parenting in Indigenous households: an Indigenous baby who is not body-fed is held 50% less in their lifetime while body-feeding promotes bonding between infant and parent; and,

WHEREAS, Indigenous birth workers and lactation supporters provide families with support and education to reclaim their right to body-feed their children freely for however long they desire; and,

WHEREAS, decolonizing parenting and feeding traditions promotes food sovereignty, body sovereignty, and healing of generations; and,

WHEREAS, diabetes is the 4th leading cause of death amongst Indigenous people with 1⁄3 of the population being affected by diabetes in their lifetime and human-milk is a prevention against diabetes; and,

WHEREAS, Indigenous body-feeding is an act of defiance, resistance, and beauty we should support and protect at every level of society;

WHEREAS, reactivating Indigenous birthrights will undoubtedly build a strong foundation for Michigan and Tribal Nations to build healthier communities for the next seven generations;

Sacred Waters Collective is celebrating Indigenous Milk Medicine Week! The theme this year is “Mind, Body, Milk Medicine.”

“This year's theme emphasizes the vital connection between mental and physical health in lactation and breast/chestfeeding. Mental well-being is essential for the overall wellness of those on their Milk Medicine journey and their communities. By focusing on the intricate relationship between mental, physical, and lactational health, we advocate for accessible mental health resources to support breastfeeding and chestfeeding individuals, especially during the postpartum period.”
-Indigenous Milk Medicine Collective

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🎉 We congratulate Clarisse Agbegnenou, French Judo champion, for her successful advocacy work - athletes at the 2024 Olympics in Paris will be offered hotel rooms they can share with their breastfeeding children close to the 10,000 population athletes' village. 🥋

🧡💙💚 Clarisse said "To put things in perspective, I've decided to breastfeed my daughter until she's weaned. She hasn't yet, so I'm following her. I've made sure that I feel good physically, because of course there's an element of tiredness. But as a mother who needs to be very present for my daughter, I asked for the opportunity to have her with me during the Olympics." 🤱🏻🤱🏽🤱🏿

Image credit 📷 clarisse_agbegnenou on Instagram, from October 2022.
[Image description: smiling mother wearing judo kit sits on a bench in a sports hall breastfeeding her baby. She smiles broadly at the camera.]

Detroit area folks, please spread the word if you know folks who provide these services. 🤎

BIRTH DETROIT IS GROWING! We are currently looking for companies to service the birth center for housekeeping services, lawn care, and snow removal. If your housekeeping, lawn care, or snow removal company is interested in learning more about this opportunity, please send all information and inquiries to [email protected]!

Did you know.. August is National Breast & Chest Feeding Month?!

In the spirit of celebration, here's some cues you can expect from a newborn before they're hangry! 😉🍼🚼

Follow us for more info on Feeding and other birth related topics!

Only one more week before application close! Application Deadline: July 29th at 5pm est.
Sacred Waters Collective and Zaagi'idiwin are seeking applicants for a Michigan Indigenous Full Spectrum Doula Training, held in Hannahville Indian Community August 29-September 1, 2024.
Share your interest in this exciting opportunity in the application below. If you have questions after submitting your application, contact us here!
This course is 36 hours for certification and is an MDHHS approved training to support Medicaid recipients as a Doula support provider.

docs.google.com

F3 Making a midnight milk delivery! I didn’t even ask him to help with the cooler, he just picked up and started hauling it. This is what successful breastfeeding looks like in our communities. IT IS A COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY.

While Sacred Waters Collective doesn’t have a formal milk sharing program, we do our best to help deliver community milk when we can. If you or anyone you know needs milk in Michigan, reach out, we may have some to share.

Application Deadline: July 29th at 5pm est.

Sacred Waters Collective and Zaagi'idiwin are seeking applicants for a Michigan Indigenous Full Spectrum Doula Training, held in Hannahville Indian Community August 29-September 1, 2024.

Share your interest in this exciting opportunity in the application below. If you have questions after submitting your application, contact us here!

This course is 36 hours for certification and is an MDHHS approved training to support Medicaid recipients as a Doula support provider.

Applications close July 29th!!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeqj0ynG8oMjKvtSXkGkjL2ursJ-2uMzjPalAfFDvyTJeKL3Q/viewform

We are so excited!! Not only will our collective members be in attendance, but two of our collective members will be speaking!! Please join this inaugural Indigenous Milk Medicine Week Virtual Conference. It’s $FREE.99! And if you happen to be non-Indigenous and are signing up, please consider donating $1, $5, $20, $1,000 to the org!! Hope to see you there! 🤎✊🏽

As Michigan "Indigenous Milk Medicine Week" approaches, Sacred Waters is seeking contributors who would like to be included as representatives of the Michigan proclamation in support of this time.

If you are an Indigenous birthworker or organization supporting maternal and infant wellbeing, and would like to acknowledge your support of this document, please contact us by Monday, July 8 at 8 a.m. to be added!

The full draft of proclamation can be viewed here:

Draft Proclomation: August 5-11, 2024 as Indigneous Milk Medicine Week Draft Proclamation: August 5-11, 2024 as Indigenous Milk Medicine Week in Michigan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHEREAS, Michigan honors the 12 federally recognized tribes, and many m...

Guess what? Your local to Michigan Indigenous birthworkers are out here getting $h!t done! A couple years ago we received funding from Michigan Health Endowment to get us organized. We used that funding to form our non-profit, Sacred Waters Collective. We have our non-profit status, a website (sacredwatersecollective.co) and are now working on funding to be able to write our own breastfeeding and doula courses, in addition to providing direct services to Indigenous folks in our areas.
As such, we just received word that we have been funded to offer an Indigenous Doula training here in Michigan! Sacred Waters Collective will be partnering with Zaagi'idiwin Indigenous Full Spectrum Doula Training to offer full spectrum doula training to twenty people in the state of Michigan!!
While we do not have the details hammered out yet (location, dates, etc) we want to begin by collecting email address of those interested in taking this training. We will use this to send out the application when we have everything set. Feel free to share this with those interested in becoming a doula and serving their communities in the space of pregnancy, birth, and/or postpartum.

https://bit.ly/Indigenous_Doula_Training

Interest Form for Sacred Waters/Zaagidiwin Indigenous Full Spectrum Doula Training Good news! We (Sacred Waters Collective) have partnered with Zaagidiwin Indigenous Full Spectrum Doula Training to bring the Indigenous Full Spectrum Doula training to Michigan! As of the time of this form, we do not have the training dates or locations hammered out. This training is for Indigenous....

Who from GTB area is interested in Anishinaabe teachings around pregnancy, birth, and postpartum? You don’t have to be GTB but the teachings will be held in our territory. Let me know below so I can send invites.