I love to receive babies into this world, so crawling around on my knees in the birth room is my best place, and most often you can still find me there. Because a midwife was chosen—it could have been any midwife—my FAITH in the Goodness of the world has really increased, in fact, gone off the scale. I feel like we—all the millions of voters and the midwives and the doulas and the moms & grandmoms and dads, and children—we all occupied Birth on CNN in front of millions of viewers. In fact, we occupied LOVE!! PA: What are your biggest influences in Life, Work and Art? RL: I love my husband and my sons, Hanoman and Thor’s music. They have a band called Soul Doctors. My other son, Zion is an amazing artist. They inspire and influence me. I love Ina May Gaskin. Michael Franti is more than a friend, his music makes me smile and sing, so I guess I am one of his millions of fans. My daughter, Deja is an incredible filmmaker and inspiration. My granddaughter is an inspired dancer. My daughter Zhouie is the most intelligent woman I have ever met. Our daughter Lakota is the mastermind behind Indonesia’s most amazing media network: Akarumput (a.k.a. “Grassroots”). PA: How would you describe yourself in five words? RL: Mom, Grandmother, Midwife, Lover, Poet. PA: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
conclusion that bringing Humans to earth with an intact ability to LOVE is essential if we are to survive as a species. So, I became a fierce advocate for gentle birth as a solution for the most pressing problems of our times—a solution that begins at the source. Gentle Birth, protecting mother and baby, is a solution that I believe will result in positive change for our society. PA: What makes you most vulnerable personally? RL: I get crazy upset when I feel mothers or babies are not getting the loving care they need. I cry when I work in the garden, because the Sun, the rain, the wind and the Earth all work together to make us food and flowers. It just blows me away. PA: How do you transform your pain? RL: I sing, I clean house, I write poetry. I cry. And I tell everyone I can, “I Believe in YOU.” PA: How do you let go? RL: I cry. PA: What inspires you? RL: My family. The amazing heroic women in labor, they are the truest inspiration, and when they push their babies into the light… I am astonished every time. PA: What makes you happy?
RL: Right here, at Bumi Sehat, catching babies, and at home… being with my family.
RL: Rain, my children, Sun, my grandchildren, clouds, my husband, my daughter-in-love, and the entire Bumi Sehat Team. The pregnant moms, the new babies. I get happy very easily and very often.
PA: What can people do for the planet today to make it a better place?
PA: What is your biggest hope for the planet and the world?
RL: Research points to the fact that being born without trauma is the foundation for having an intact capacity to love and trust. I learned that a healthy society is made up of loving, trusting individuals, and that these individuals in turn protect their environment, become stewards of our land, air and water, and they make peace, rather than war. I came to the
RL: Peace between people. Peace for our Mother Earth. I believe that Gentle Birth is a huge step toward Peace for the coming generations. mOM Shanti! —Love, Ibu Robin
www.bumisehatbali.org
originmagazine.com | 64
“I came to the conclusion that bringing Humans to earth with an intact ability to LOVE is essential if we are to survive as a species.”