Behind the exotic curtain of the Brazilian Amazon forest and its legendary indigenous tribes, there are very different riverside populations. These communities were established by 19th century rubber boom migrants escaping the droughts of the hinterland in Bahía and the Nordeste. Today, they live along the labyrinth of rivers that make up the Amazon basin, often hours away by boat from their neighbours, without electricity or treated water and with barely any social services. Fiercely self-reliant, their fates are still linked to the forest and the laws of nature and survival. Because of their geographical isolation and anonymity, these Amazon communities have been compelled to safeguard the ancient tradition of midwives.
Much more than just clinical intermediaries, these "doctors of the forest" have also become the guardians of ancestral memory. In these largely illiterate communities, the midwives' preserve the tradition of oral storytelling, which is the only link people have to their own history and culture. Because of this sacred function, their role is elevated at the moment of one of life's greatest mysteries: the giving of birth to another life. Whether wading through winding river tributaries or gliding through dense rainforest paths, they link isolated communities though the preservation of oral histories and customs and become guarantors that a human bond will link mother and child, before, during and after birth.
It is this human bond, often forgotten by the sterile medical protocols of Western life, that allows women to exist fully, even through pain. A midwife in Pará state, Dona Ilda explains: "A woman needs to have courage to confront the pain because the strength of a woman with courage is placed here (pointing to her belly.) I can recognize the belly of a woman with

courage. "
Some of these women begin the long path to becoming a midwife by chance; others are initiated by older family members: mothers, aunts, grandmothers. In either case they describe themselves as possessing a "gift from God." When asked how she became a midwife, Dona Raimunda answers, "God taught me". The midwives' domain naturally extends to the preservation of precious forest remedies for physical ailments and to the tales and legends, real and imagined, that offer solace and understanding to a remarkably vibrant but largely illiterate, isolated people. For instance, they speak of the "Boto", a freshwater dolphin, known for its powers of seduction. "He leaves the river in the middle of the night", says one midwife, Dona Neuda, "and turns into a handsome man, dressed in a white suit and wearing a hat which covers his little breathing hole. The Boto visits us women when our husbands are away hunting. They seduce us and sometimes make us crazy."
The work of the traditional midwives is an expression of a distinct and mixed cultural heritage: indigenous, African and Portuguese influences emerging from the environmental pressures specific to the Amazon. Invisible to the outside world, they are indispensable to their communities. Dona Maria Silva, a veteran of over 100 births, explains: "Giving birth is like going through a rainstorm; clouds gather and the sky becomes dark. The tension builds up to the actual hard rain. And then serenity follows, accompanied by a clear sunlight. My role is to accompany a woman through the storm." - Jonathan Nossiter