I have often wondered why someone would choose to go through pain again and again, yet still wear a smile on their face. Motherhood has a way of answering that question in ways words can barely capture. ❤️
Today, I understand that there are many medical options for delivery—such as cesarean sections, forceps-assisted births, and other modern interventions. Yet when we look back to earlier times, when many of these options did not exist, countless women still experienced safe deliveries. Babies were sometimes born in the bush or even in the marketplace, under the skilled hands of traditional birth attendants. ❤️
In those days, cases of pregnancy-related deaths and complications seemed fewer. Conditions such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, or the risk of delivering macrosomic babies were not as common as they appear to be today.
This leads me to a question that is both reflective and challenging: Where did we go wrong?
How is it that we claim to be more advanced, yet in some ways the outcomes appear more troubling than in times we often describe as “primitive”? Today, the rate of complications and maternal deaths in many places is still high. In fact, some people are now afraid of pregnancy in parts of Africa, despite the many medical systems and parameters put in place. ❤️
Perhaps the real challenge, as I have often maintained, is that we are moving forward without intentionally and critically selecting what our fathers and mothers handed over to us. Progress should not mean abandoning wisdom.
Think of the ancestral mothers who delivered millions of babies without formal classroom education. Their knowledge came from attentive listening, careful observation, and years of practice. There was wisdom in those traditions that we should not simply discard. ❤️
What concerns me today is what I call selective forgetting—the tendency to abandon inherited wisdom while embracing every new development as automatically superior, without critical evaluation. Why are illnesses and maladaptive behaviors becoming so common? Why do we accept systems without asking deeper questions?
This reflection is simply a call to always evaluate what we do and to examine the interests behind what is being sold to us. Too often, systems that should prioritize human well-being become driven by money and control rather than by the joyful smile of a mother holding her newborn child. ❤️
As Micheal Okwesilieze highlighted in his book Ancestral Mind, “forgetting is not simply a personal failure but a civic risk.” This reminds us that retrieving ancient wisdom and skills may be a necessary step if we truly want to move forward in life.
Childbirth and pregnancy are only one example. Many other areas of human advancement have gradually become monetized, and society often follows along without questioning. The earlier we begin to ask questions and demand systems that truly serve humanity, the better it will be for everyone. ❤️
And as I always say, let the change begin with you and with whatever you do for a living.
Every meaningful transformation will begin with restoring the healthy values of family and community culture. ❤️
I remain your friend and brother,
Maazi Onuora Obodoechi
Pen it down. 