Date: TBD
How An Israeli Midwife Promotes Safe Birth for the Ugandan Jews – The Shifrah and Puah Maternity Center of the Abayudaya
When Ilana Shemesh retired from her passionate career as a nurse midwife in Israel, she volunteered in a birthing center in Uganda and then visited the remote Jewish community, the Abayudaya. After fundraising, she returned the following year and opened The Shifrah and Puah Maternity Center that serves the Abayudaya women and their neighbors. She will share her adventures with us.
About the Speaker
Ilana was born in the United States and grew up in New Jersey. She came to Israel in 1973 to volunteer during the Yom Kippur war and made Aliya. She volunteered during the war on Kibbutz Ramat Hakovesh where she met her husband. She then attended nursing school in Israel and studied midwifery and worked for 35 years as a midwife in Asuta Hospital and Misgav Ledach Hospital and was a pioneer in promoting birthing rights for the women of Israel . She was the first home- birth midwife and delivered hundreds of babies in her birthing units in her backyard. She has lived on Moshav Yashresh for over 30 years and has three married children and six grandchildren. She is an active member and past co-president of the conservative synagogue in Rehovot , Adat Shalom Emmanuel.
About the Abayudaya
The Abayudaya are a community in eastern Uganda near the town of Mbale who practice Judaism. They are devout in their practice, keeping kashrut, and observing Shabbat. There are several different villages where the Abayudaya live. Most of these are recognized by the Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism. In June 2016 Rabbi Shlomo Riskin led a Beit Din that performed an Orthodox conversion for the Putti community of Abayudaya.
