Miracles in Bali: meetings with Ibu Robin Lim and Debra Pascali-Bonaro. Divine Prayer for the Mothers of the World

My trip to Bali island in March-April 2018 was dedicated not only to the ocean, moral retreat after almost 2-year marathon of the disease and personal challenge, but also to meetings with two terrific women who are very famous in the world in communities of midwives, doulas, goodwill ambassadors, filmmakers and grateful parents!

So, I came from Nusa Dua to the cultural capital of Bali (Ubud) twice just to see, hug, bow, express my great gratitude to these unique women for their work in helping mothers, and to present my gift-mascot.

Gratitude, admiration and love, ˗ only such feelings are overwhelmed when you see and embrace an extraordinary woman, the mother of 8 children (five of them were born at home and three are adopted), a midwife, a founder of several clinics Yayasan Bumi Sehat (Healthy Mother Earth Foundation), the CNN'2011 hero for helping a lot of poor women in Indonesia and the Philippines, and charity work around the world, an inspirational speaker, a writer, a poetess, an advocate in HRiC, leading educational seminars, a saviour of thousands evacuees to Bali, Haiti, Lombok and the Philippines, Robin Lim (Ibu Robin Lim).

Ibu Robin

She is called Ibu Robin in Bumi Sehat and in Indonesia, and in the Philippines - Lola Robin. Ibu means “mother” in Indonesian, and lola means “grandmother” in Filipino. I called her “Ibu Robin” as a sign of great appreciation, as well as because she is at my mum’s age.

Ibu Robin is a mother not only for her children indeed, but also for thousands of families around the world. Robin considers herself and all children born on the Earth global citizens [1]. For me, such a worldview is an immutable truth and joy [2].

I watched a video on the Internet where Ibu Robin puts her own brick while building the Bumi Peace Kitchen. While before that, Robin Lim had a great dream to build a beautiful building, a new clinic Bumi Sehat, and this dream came true to her 60th birthday. Robin with her immense energy and love for people and Mother Earth carried it out![3].

Bumi Sehat Natural Birth clinics provide the round-the-clock (24/7) prenatal care, services in birth assisting and hosting in a short postpartum period free of charge for all Indonesian women in Bali, Aceh, Papua (Indonesia) and the Philippines (Bumi Wadah).

In hospitals in Indonesia, if a child was born in a hospital and the mother (parents) cannot pay the invoice for hospital services, the mother must leave the child in the hospital until these bills are paid! Robin says she saw how “a new-born was sleeping on newspapers in the hospital in such a situation while waiting for someone from the family to bring money.”

How does this resonate with the situation we heard from the reproductive rights attorney in Kenya, Evelyn Opondo, and this gave rise to the organization of the online conference for lawyers to protect the rights of pregnant women and women in labour.

So here I am in Bumi Sehat with my children: my youngest son rode on a sliding board in the playground, we all admired the man-made pond with colourful fish, a beautiful stone statue and a mosaic in the courtyard of the clinic (the emblem of the Mother squatting her baby while giving birth), the pleasant carved balconies of the second floor.

We are waiting for Ibu Robin, who does not come, but comes running and runs up to several pregnant women and mothers with kids - for all she has her own questions and a kind word. Ibu Robin has a beautiful, strong-willed, wise face - an interweaving of Indian and Filipino roots, framed by luxurious thick hair below the waist.

Ibu Robin has recently suffered from Dengue fever (a common disease for this region). She’s still with fever, but finds time and energy for women in Bumi, and for an audience with me.

Ibu Robin is not only the founder of Bumi Sehat and an indefatigable rescuer after natural disasters, but also a first-class fundraiser (a person who collects money for charitable needs and needs of projects) [1]. In Bumi Sehat there are logos of partners and sponsors of the clinic - international banks, airlines companies, eco-companies.

I was blessed not only to communicate with Ibu Robin, but also to serve in Bumi Sehat as a translator for my pregnant namesake from Russia, who came with contractions at her 42nd week, expecting her second daughter in Bali for a month and a half. I saw how Ibu Robin does an external examination, conducts ultrasound along with an US-specialist, and then I accompanied Svetlana to a session of acupuncture, that was prescribed due to her oligoamnios.

Do you know what Ibu Robin advised Svetlana before the acupuncture procedure? To talk with her antenatal child, to say how he’s loved and invited, and in the evening to arrange a festive dinner with her husband - to show how this “dearest guest” is expected and honoured in this family. I asked Svetlana to take this simple but crucial recommendation pretty seriously, because the emotional and energy contact creates miracles (I know it perfectly well from my pregnancy experiences!). I believe that Svetlana and the baby-girl will be all right!

Do the Guardians of Births worldwide need a guard-mascot?

And I also believed that a wonderful gift that I can bring to Bali for the US-Philippine midwife Ibu Robin Lim and her friend and colleague, the American doula Debra Pascali-Bonaro, can be created only by a magnificent Master, more accurately - an honoured craftswoman of Ukraine, the first and the only organizer of international seminars on the production of folk dolls in Ukraine!

It was wonderful Tatyana Rappoport-Maslennikova who agreed to create a unique Rag doll-Bereginya [She-Guardian] according to my order for all my amazing vis-à-vis in Bali.

Татьяна является мамой 4-х детей, Tatyana is the mother of four, a craftswoman who conducts master classes in Ukraine to make folk dolls (dolls of female destiny, birth attendant dolls, dolls for playing and performing rituals, etc.). Her works can be found in private collections in over 10 countries.

These dolls-mascots with the greatest energy charge for their mistresses have travelled hundreds of kilometres to appear in my hands first, and then to be delivered to Bali, making thousands of kilometres more.

You just want to be next to this rag doll and keep it in your hands! This is an extraordinary and a quiet energy at the same time. Tatyana has put all her art into the dolls, her mother care, nursing care, love for children and enjoyment of great women! How does it feel and penetrate directly into the depths of the soul: energy, natural materials, the precision of forms, the light of the image...

Each of the dolls stands on a beautiful wooden pedestal of Motherhood, gently and firmly holding its babies in the hands. How else can we better convey the symbolism of the sanctity of motherhood and the sacredness of the work of authentic assistants in childbirth?

Moreover, to each doll, I decided to attach a cover letter with personal wishes to the proprietress and general explanations of the origins and the guardian power of the Motanka Rag doll:

“The traditional Ukrainian rag doll Bereginya [She-Guardian] is a strong protective charm and a sacral object dating back to the Tripolye culture (5500 BC); it is designed to protect both people and homes.

These dolls are not stitched or knitted but made using the wrapping technique. The Ukrainian rag dolls can only be made from new organic textiles and while the fabric may not be cut or have a needle put through it, it may be torn into smaller pieces and bound together with thread. As a result, a certain kind of a rag doll, a ‘motanka’, is produced. As a rule, craftswomen call the process of making these dolls ‘kutanye’ or ‘motanye’ [wrapping], as it is similar to the process of swaddling a baby.

According to the Old Slavic beliefs, these dolls do not have faces to avoid any accidental resemblance to an actual person and consequently being possessed by an evil spirit. In the Ukrainian tradition, the doll’s face is covered by a cross-made out of colourful threads or ribbons which symbolises the energy of the sun. The cross is also considered a symbol of the harmony between body and soul as well as the male (vertical) and female (horizontal) beginnings.

Natural materials are used for the manufacturing process (hay, straw, wood, herbs, dried leaves, seeds and grains). In accordance with the tradition, this rag doll has been made for you by a craftswoman in a good mood, good health, with caring hands, a loving heart and following some specific rules, i.e. lit candles, selecting the doll’s purpose for its owner (how it would help the owner), selecting textiles, choosing a particular day of the week, and making no knots when creating the doll, etc.

In the Ukrainian culture, this rag doll symbolises fertility, abundance and protection for the family. These dolls would often become a family heirloom and be passed on from generation to generation.

When creating this Bereginya doll for you, the craftswoman followed ALL the rules of making the traditional Ukrainian protective-charm dolls: she thought about you and made prayers for you!

This doll carries the kindness of craftswoman Tatyana Rappoport’s heart and thus it has received a powerful charge of positive energy, which makes it an Authentic Protective Charm for you! This Bereginya Doll carries the following wishes for you: …”

How happy I was when I saw that my gift Ibu Robin had placed in her home, on the altar, among the sacred things! I sincerely wished and hoped that the Bereginya Doll would help her mistress to heal quickly, fill her with even more energy and shine for her activities and her family.

Russians in Bumi Sehat

It's very much in vogue just now for Russian women to come to give birth to their child in Bali. The choice is usually made in favour of Bumi Sehat or home births on the island due to the favourable climate, the abundance of fruits and vegetables, the proximity to the ocean, the tolerant attitude of the medical staff in all hospitals in Bali to the childbirth after home birth.

In Bumi, Russians are treated very well and sensitively (women write that, of course, special energy is coming from Ibu Robin, but technically other midwives see the same as Robin Lim). Russian women are hosted, whenever possible, in a separate family room and give them maximum attention. It happens that in Bumi Sehat there is not enough room for women in childbirth, and then Ibu Robin takes some woman who has already given birth with a child to her home!

“Some Russian ladies write about how she [Robin Lim] invited them to her home, fed a delicious meal brought from home, invited them to the ceremony, and gave them clothes and so on. Just unfamiliar women to who were in her clinic.” [4]

At the moment, about one third out the births in Bumi are delivered by women from Russia and CIS countries. [4]

Considering that more than 80% of women giving birth in Bumi Sehat cannot pay even for the part of the service, and the cost of maintaining the clinic is more than USD 600 per day (maintenance, treatment, medicines, vitamins), so the donation to the clinic is a payment, first of all, for other women and babies, and the contribution into the good work of Robin Lim. As she said, after 2012, during the economic crisis, her clinic was not closed only thanks to the generosity of a Russian woman.

Our project also did online donations to Bumi Sehat, and a few days before the publication of this article (in Russian), a request was received from Ibu Robin, who helped over 70,000 families homeless after the earthquake (7 points) on Lombok (hundreds of dead and wounded).

Under the article there are details how you can make your feasible financial contribution. We are sure that every penny “counts” and will be spent really for the good. [5]

In addition to assistance with childbirth and free medical care, the staff of Bumi Sehat clinic conducts lectures on health and breastfeeding. Here, midwives from all over the world study and practice. Here they teach nannies, nurses, and teachers ("If a girl has a dream to become a nurse, a midwife or a teacher, we will help her, we will find a sponsor" (Ibu Robin).

There are also free classes on English, computer, gardening, music, and art for the local youth, as well as taking care of rubbish recycling and purity of Bali, conducting yoga classes for the aged people.

What are they serving in the Bumi Peace Kitchen?

How happy I was to receive an invitation from Robin Lim herself to spend a few days at her home in Ubud, which is only a few dozen meters from Bumi Sehat!

Ibu Robin treated us with a vitaminized drink hand-made by her mother (a very beautiful, energetic woman) and followed us to the Peace Kitchen, where her famous annual retreat “Eat.Pray.Doula” [6] along with the unique Debra Pascali-Bonaro takes pace!

The home of Ibu Robin is a real family altar consisting of several premises in the same territory with a shared pool. This is a reflection of the breadth of the soul and designs of Ibu Robin.

She lives here with her family, including grandchildren, volunteers, families who have given birth to a child in Bumi, and other tenants. Here is the cozy, colourful Bumi Peace Kitchen, in which we remember the wonderful library on humane birth, Tokay gecko (“cuckoo lizard”) [7], beautiful Balinese beds with canopies and embroidery on the ceiling, an attractive altar and things-preparations for the upcoming seminar “Eat. Pray. Doula.”

It is noteworthy that the alt of this retreat was generated by the publication of the book of the American writer, the director and the actress Elizabeth Gilbert “Eat. Pray. Love”, who visited Bali and became a friend of Ibu Robin, starring with her also in the movie “The gift of Robin Lim” [8]. Elizabeth writes warmly about Robin Lim on her Facebook page [9], and she says about the clinic in the film, “People in this clinic are like an army fighting for good.”

And for more than 5 years, Ibu Robin Lim has been conducting weekly retreats (including advanced level) for midwives and doulas at Bumi Kitchen, along with the famous American doula, the filmmaker of the acclaimed film “Orgasmic Birth: The Best-Kept Secret) [10], an expert of our project since 2014, Debra Pascali-Bonaro.

Debra is a mother of two children born home. She consults and educates doulas around the world (more than 25 countries) within over 25 years. She is a popular and inspirational speaker, the chair of the International MotherBaby Birth, a member of the White Ribbon Union, a coach at DONA International and a teacher at Lamaze International.

Debra’s webinar “Orgasmic birth. From pain to power” I had the occasion to translate at our First International Online Festival on Natural Childbirth, when an interpreter from England unexpectedly failed to do so. This was my the most extreme translation during all the festivals of our project: my husband brought our awakened 1.5-year old child, whom I was breastfeeding and did the natural infant hygiene at the beginning of the webinar, while simultaneously translating Debra’s speech and presentation. It was an unforgettable and a bright experience for me!

Besides, we used the New Dictionary of Language of Pleasure from Debra Pascali-Bonaro for assistants in childbirth for the communication with a woman in birth, which was presented in this webinar. We also inserted it as an appendix (Appendix A) into the Results of the Women's Survey of Ukraine “Describe your ideal place for natural childbirth - help to create it!” for a joint project with the Kiev maternity hospital No 5 (“Natural childbirth under the protection of the hospital”). This analytical document has been also sent with a cover letter to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and to the Parliament of Ukraine in terms of the project on the legalization of home midwifery and the creation of the midwifery care service in Ukraine. These projects are pilot and unprecedented since the day of the formation of Ukraine.

This is how Debra, directly and indirectly, serves MotherFatherBabies and assistants in births all over the world!

“What About My Mother?“

The meeting with Debra in Ubud has been planned for a long time; there were obstacles, and even on the day of the meeting, taxi drivers' prices increased more than 2.5 times, the region was full of traffic jams, my elder son was a little sick. Therefore, Debra suggested me just to continue to communicate on the Internet, and enjoy the leisure on the ocean. However, the inner voice, the box with the cherished mascot in the suitcase brought for exactly for her, and the words of my wise guesthouse neighbour Marina, who helped me in logistics to Ubud (“Svetlana, sometimes it is necessary to give much to get even more”) told me that I needed to come even for this 20-minute meeting instead of the planned 1.5-hour meeting.

Our meeting took place in a cozy cafe near Bumi Sehat with the symbolic name WAMM (What About My Mother), where we came with my elder son, who agreed to go with me and take some photos, in rush on foot, searching the the way to the café ourselves, as the taxi driver brought us not there. Inscrutable and beautiful are the ways of the Lord!

For the first time Debra run a seven-day, only yesterday completed retreat [11], without her freindess and a partner Ibu Robin, who urgently went to the Philippines with her noble mission as a rescuer.

Debra looked very beautiful, but also very tired: a long seminar and the planned Ayurvedic massage after the seminar was delayed. I thought that I would find Debra after the relaxation massage, but no.

Nevertheless, everything happened that I dreamed of: warm embraces, sincere smiles and the opportunity to share plans for activities with mothers and families of the world; a unique feeling of human, activist, female, sisterly unity; important wishes from Debra for my work and family, and presenting my and Tatyana's gift – Bereginya Rag Doll. Debra wrote that she put her doll in her bedroom at home in New Jersey. It is the highest appreciation of our efforts with the craftswoman Tatyana!

As always, I am convinced that, as the Vedic scriptures say, “It is worthwhile for you to sincerely extend your hand to God, and God will always stretch His both hands to you to pull you out.” I should have done this entire preparatory journey to Bali and in Bali in order to get this unforgettable experience of meeting with these tremendous energetic and active worldwide women. A kowtow to them!

The Mother Goddess in “Joy”

I think the fullness of these amazing meetings and my way of serving the Divine Mother led me also to the place again near Ubud, ˗ the ashram “Joy” (Anand Ashram) [12]. Anand Ashram is the only one in Indonesia with the chapel dedicated to the Divine Mother (The Chapel of Mother Goddess).

On the day of my visit, there symbolically was no activities and visitors in the ashram. Instead of the maximum of 15 minutes allowed to me at the entrance, I spent more than half an hour with free explanations of a nice volunteer girl from the reception desk. She took me to the chapel, in which, just stepping on the threshold, I started crying with gratitude and praying because of the energy that reigned there. This chapel represents the feminine aspect of the Woman Mother Goddess.

I was surprised that along with statues of Hindu deities - the main religion in Bali (Lakshmi, Durga, Kali, Saraswati, Gayatri) there were statues of Christian deities (Mary Magdalene, Mother Mary).

The irresistible prayer for all the mothers of the world suddenly poured from my heart, I did not want to ask anything for myself. Then the idea to ask for wisdom, strength and patience in the way of serving families in the humane birth of their children (enlightenment and unification of people in this topic) came to me; the request for the Divine guidance in the fulfilment of this mission.

This chapel is not allowed to be photographed. Leaving the chapel, I realized that in such a place it is simply impossible to pray and to be without global or not good intentions.

I came to the Wishing Fountain for Global Harmony, which I did not notice at first in the courtyard of the ashram, just at the entrance!

How wonderful it was to receive this multiple blessing of meetings, joy and insights in Bali and after...

Is Bumi Sehat the only place where you can give birth naturally and gently in Bali?

There is also, for example, the centre of natural birth in Ubud, Graha Bunda [13], which also has many positive feedbacks. The other alternative is home births. In general, as you know, you can organize yourself a natural birth in any country in the world. A good example of this is the famous Russian midwife, teacher and psychologist, the expert of our project Natalia Kotlar, who at the age of 42, being a grandmother already, gave birth to her fifth child without assistance, in the ocean in Goa (India). [During the layout of this article in Russian, Natalia wrote to me that she was in Bali with the mission of assisting several births!]

Unfortunately, in South-East Asia a dangerous fashion emerged that came from Western countries, being there not a trend, but a hospital routine based on the technological paradigm of procreation: “In fact, Asian doctors like to prescribe stimulation, anaesthetic and caesarean for any reason. That’s not even because of their laziness and unwillingness to wait for the appearance of a baby, but because now in Asia it is considered a fashionable, civilized, “white” way to give birth to children. The majority of rich Balinese women tries to give birth via C-section and anaesthesia. Therefore, in Europeanized hospitals you will often be offered Caesarean on an appointed date without any indication. It is also beneficial for the hospital because, in the case of a Caesarean, you will stay at the hospital longer – about five days, and, naturally, pay more” (Anna Yashchenko “How to give birth to a child in Bali”). [4]

“And I ask you to help me to change this” (Ibu Robin Lim)

I ask you, my true heroines, Ibu Robin and Debra, and my dear reader, to help me and several activists in the world (Dr. Michel Odent (UK), Ruth Ehrhardt (South Africa), Hilda Garst (Italy), Liliana Lammers (UK) to contribute in:

a) getting away of the humanity from:

• this “fashion” for “technological birth”, “noble birth” by planned Caesarean section and analgesia of healthy women due to unconscious/uninformed choice and the dominance of the “aggressive obstetric model” and male obstetrics. This “fashion” was originated by 20th century;
• the paradigm of “support-management-assistance-guidance-coaching”. This paradigm has a thousand-year history, but this does not mean that it is humane and progressive for humanity. According to M.Odent, “the basis of this cultural stereotype is the belief that a woman cannot give birth herself ... In this dominating system, a specialist needs to be taught how to act. So it is quite obvious that this paradigm has no future: in the case of procreation, we are at the brink of the abyss” [14];

the transition of the mankind to a paradigm, where the key words are “protection” (from processes that stimulate women's neocortex) and “understanding the physiological needs of the human species in childbirth and postpartum”.

So, the “brakes” of the birth process are human speech, light and if a woman feels that she is being observed and that she is in an unsafe situation / place.

This is what we declared in our renewed mission of Miracle in the Heart Project; this phenomenon can be traced in the latest books and seminars of Dr. Odent and Liliana Lammers, and in the book of the authentic midwife Ruth Ehrhardt “Basic needs of Women in Labor”. [15]

I appeal to you, joining the words for help of Ibu Robin herself in her speech during the awarding of the CNN Hero of the Year prize: “Today, 981 women will die in the world during childbirth or pregnancy. And tomorrow again. And yesterday, too. And I ask you to help to change this.”

Ibu Robin saw many deaths of women and newborns in Haiti, Lombok, the Philippines. She saved a lot of mothers and children. She is truly a “real” person and a “real hero”!

I think we cannot change the fact that women will die, but we can have influence on:

• the frequency of mortality of pregnant and parturient women,
• quality of life of pregnant women, parturient women, nursing mothers,
• the rate of perinatal mortality,
• primal health of children (every day 490,000 babies are born! [16]),
• the appropriate well-being of families in this world

by moving to a new birth paradigm with a comprehension of the physiological needs of human mammals in childbirth and the early postpartum period.

Our basic needs in childbirth coincide with the basic needs of other mammals!

It is not in vain that both Ibu Robin Lim and Debra Pascali-Bonaro have vivid projects aimed to inspire a mother to look inside and find her own answers, rather than relying on doctors and midwives. Such a kind of “Inner Knowing”: ‘Awakening Birth’ by Robin Lim, along with midwife Deborah Flowers [17], and ‘Awaking Your Inner Wisdom’ by Debra Pascali-Bonaro [18].

My maternal experience and interaction with the authentic midwives of the world (hands-off, “silent midwives by Odent”) tell me that it is not so much the belief of a doctor and/or a midwife/doula/monitrice that awakens the “inner knowledge” and the sacred power of the mother (her Feminine initiation) during pregnancy and childbirth, but her own exact experience of such physiological processes, if they occur without external interventions, in a secluded place and with understanding and protection of other basic needs of the woman and baby in labour and in first hour after birth.

At the same time, the millennium setting in the minds of a woman that without the socialization of birth and support (moral, entourage (candles, music, smells, massages, etc.), physical (assistants, hammocks, feetballs, lianas, etc.) she couldn’t cope herself in childbirth, weakens a woman, reduces the quantity and quality of her hormonal cocktail, jeopardizes the health genesis and the existence of a human species.

The lactation consultant, the organizer of international conferences (including M. Odent and Ruth Ehrhardt), the translator of the book Ruth Ehrhard in Italian and Dutch, the mother of 3 home born children, Hilda Garst, suggests and anticipates:

• "No mother should be disturbed neocortically anymore during labour, birth, postpartum,
• No cord should be clamped anymore within the first hour after birth,
• No baby should be separated from its mother anymore,
• No mother and baby should lose their “authentic colostrization [colostrum] and breastfeeding” anymore!

If only humanity interiorize and PROTECT these so simple, humble, no cost, carbon zero, ethic, ecological, in symbioses with all the other life forms on the Earth acting basic needs of its own species during the primal MotherEarthMotherBaby continuum, we would shift to the new procreation paradigm!

… there are so many slogans of world organisations: “We promote, protect, support (breastfeeding/natural births/skin-to-skin contact/…) and empower mothers!” However, if you protect physiology from interferences so that breastfeeding/natural births/… will self-promote, self-protect and self-support, and so the physiological intrinsic power in the reproduction-evolution-motherhood processes will not be disempowered and weakened ever!” [19]

I believe that the shift of the millennial cultural paradigm is possible during our life even. I believe that we live in an amazing time of the transitional historical stage on the way to the revival of the aboriginal, authentic paradigm of births (including, through doulas). I believe that doctors and assistants in childbirth in the world, changing their vocabulary and realizing what the “support-guide-help-guidance-coaching” paradigm is, will assiduously join the “paradigm of authenticity”, still serving the Divine Mother, the Mother Earth, a Woman, her Baby, her Family, but in a different, more humane aspect.

I believe that our common global prayer of mothers and the actions of mothers, world organizations, local initiatives and institutions, assistants in childbirth can accomplish the Miracle of rebirth (regeneration), avoiding the path of degeneration!

The rays of Light from Svetlana [“Light bringing”]!