Sr. Aminat Abdu is a midwife at Bati Health Center, graduate of the Hamlin College of Midwives, and member of the Hamlin Midwives Alumni Network, serving as regional representative for the Desse Area (Amhara Region).

On 27 February 2022, her town was invaded by armed forces. Everything shut down – markets, roads, and health services. Simply stepping outside could cost someone their life. But Sr. Aminat couldn’t stay at home, listening to stories of women dying in childbirth without doing something to help.

She made her way to the health center, which had been looted and was under military occupation. When armed soldiers stopped her and questioned which political side she supported, she replied: “I am a midwife. I’m here to help women give birth safely.”

They permitted her to stay, but only to care for women in labor. That very day, she assisted a mother in delivering a baby who wasn’t breathing. Sr. Aminat resuscitated the newborn, and both she and the mother wept with joy when the baby survived.

From then on, she worked tirelessly delivering babies day and night. As many women feared coming to the health center, she brought the care to them. Over time, even the soldiers began to support her work, supplying her with IV fluids and infection prevention materials.

One day, after assisting with three home births in remote areas, she returned home exhausted, only to find her own sister in active labor. With no supplies left, she rushed back to the health center to gather what she needed and made it just in time to safely deliver her sister’s baby. It was one of the most emotionally challenging births of her life, because this time, it was family.

Sr. Aminat has walked with women through gunfire to reach hospitals. She has lost babies and saved mothers. She has faced fear and felt joy in equal measure. Through it all, she has learned that in the darkest of times, midwives shine the brightest.