Ixmucané Birth Center
Ixmucané Birth and Learning Center
In honor of Mayan tradition the Birth and Training Center is named:
Ixmucané (“Ish-Moo-kanay”) from the Mayan creation myth the Popol Vuh.
Ixmucané is the GREAT Grandmother of the Mayan peoples and the entire human race. She is the feminine goddess, the protector of women, and the vessel maker (Goetz, Morley, & Recinos, 1950).
Set in a valley surrounded by volcanoes and coffee fincas, outside of Antigua Guatemala, ran a freestanding women’s health and birth center from 1996-2005.
With more knowledge and training and with a sustainable organizational and economic model, they are now reforming a collective of 30 professional midwives from all over the world to run and self regulate a free-standing model center, demonstrating authentic and professional midwifery care.
The vision was to self regulate their own center that provides safe, gentle, birth care, supports local midwifery, trains others in authentic midwifery and illuminates their results.
With combined 100’s of years of experience, an international collective of professional midwives will provide model care, work closely with local traditional midwives and provide a supportive space to train midwifery and doula apprentices from all over the world.
The Center will be a safe space for the local traditional midwives to bring their clients and receive supervision and support in their own professional development. Indigenous and professional midwives, sharing knowledge and skills, preserving effective traditional midwifery, (whose indigenous knowledge is being lost and skills being eroded) and enhancing safety with evidence based professional midwifery.
The Ixmucané Center will:
- Provide a MODEL of care, demonstrating evidence based, art and science of professional midwifery.
- Provide a research site to practice and study authentic midwifery
- Expand the traditional midwives’ knowledge and skills, and enhance these with evidence-based aspects of modern midwifery theory and practice
- Involve traditional midwives and their communities in the design and implementation of their training activities
- Teach tangible skills and providing one-on-one training to strengthen these skills
- Provide a safe space for traditional midwives to share their experiences and concerns and to mobilize and advocate to improve their profession; and work towards a model that would allow traditional midwives to learn new skills in their own communities, helping them better meet the unique needs of their constituents.
For a list of criteria, apply to join the collective.
