Ep. 19 - Bio | Indigenous Midwifery

Featured Presenter - Episode 19

A woman with dark hair and eyes smiles a closed mouth smile, She's wearing a red shirt and has a flower in her hair that is white with a yellow center.

Ibu Robin Lim, Global Midwife, Author, Activist and CNN 'Hero of the Year' (Filipina-American, Micronesian)

Ibu Robin Lim CPM is a Filipina~American~Micronesian midwife and a founder of Bumi Sehat a non-profit organization in Indonesia, and Wadah Philippines Foundation. www.bumisehatfoundation.org

Along with amazing team members Ibu (Mother) Robin works to maintain Medical Relief and childbirth clinics in Bali, Aceh (post 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami), Lombok, Indonesia (after devastation of 2018 earthquakes), Sentani, Papua (subject to multiple disasters, both natural and conflict related) In the Philippines team Wadah sustains childbirth clinics in Dulag, (in the aftermath of the super storm Typhoon Haiyan) and Palawan (highest known teen pregnancy rate on Earth).

Ibu Robin’s Passion is respect and Human Rights in Childbirth, and healthcare as a human right.

Ibu Robin’s best support has been her husband, Wil, Eight amazing grown and growing children (ages 44 to 14) and their partners… plus six grandchildren, born gently into her hands.

The seed of the BirthKeeper, was planted by her Filipina grandmother, who was a Hilot, traditional healer. It is said that Lola Vicenta planted an anting-anting, in Robin’s heart, so that she would be forever ‘irritated’ by injustice, and devoted to human service. Lim’s inspiration is her family.

In 2006 the Alexander Langer Foundation honored Ibu Robin as the Premier Alexander Langer.

In 2011 Ibu Robin was chosen CNN Hero of the Year. This gave Midwife~to~Mother care a broader popular platform, worldwide.

In 2012 APPPAH The Association for Pre and Perinatal Psychology and Health gave Ibu Robin the Jeannine Parvati BirthKeeper award.

In the shadow of the global pandemic, Bumi Sehat has helped provide basic foods to unemployed families. Special outreach is made for village elders and pregnant mothers, to maintain their health and nutrition. Health services are delivered with PPE, and love. Lim and her family/friends have harvested, dried, ground, encapsulated and tinctured heritage anti-viral herbs. Over 180,000 capsules and hundreds of tinctures have been given to the people for free. Using traditional herbal medicines of the Philippines and Indonesia plus the wisdom of the elders, illness and suffering has been prevented and people have been cured.

Robin’s published books include:

After the Baby’s Birth, Wellness for Mothers, Ecology of Gentle Birth, Awakening Birth, Eating for Two... Recipes for Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women, Placenta the Forgotten Chakra, Eat Pray Doula, "The Geometry of Splitting Souls" (poetry, Blue Light Press), "The Natural Family Planning Workbook… a lifestyle of nonviolence (with Marie Elena)," Butterfly People (a novel), and many more in Bahasa Indonesia are available on-line. www.iburobin.com.

In 2009 Robin’s daughter, Déjà Bernhardt released two award winning documentary films about Lim’s work and the essential importance of gentle birth for a more peaceful planet, “Guerrilla Midwife” and “Tsunami Notebook.” www.skwattacamp.com

To see and support the work of Ibu Robin: www.bumisehatfoundation.org

Video Links to Ibu Robin’s Work:

‪CNN Hero Robin Lim: Bumi Sehat Foundation‬

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOxWoNt1okA

Portrait of a Hero: Robin Lim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llZVq2epN4s

CNN Heroes 2011 Christy Turlington Burns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfmqrvipAXQ

CNN ‪Heroes Tribute: Robin Lim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLtpPXqG6W8

Birth of the Bumi Sehat new Clinic in Bali

http://www.bumisehatfoundation.org/videos/