One evening I was sitting next to a woman doctor at a charity dinner. I was excited and eager to ask her about her views and thoughts on social injustices in maternal health. Her story was not what I wanted to hear, but what I knew I would.
Maybe this conversation got too deep for a first meeting, but these stories need to be told and heard. She began to share with me, “I did my residency on the labor and delivery floor of a small Florida hospital where there was a large Haitian population. The Haitian women have a cultural song that is sung to the woman in labor, it’s a song of ceremony and community.” I knew what she spoke of, I have heard this hymn. She then explained, “The staff made fun of it, they had their own version they would sing in the staff room, but their version was not beautiful or kind, they were mocking and cruel.”
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