Ibu Robin Lim is an advocate for parental rights and birth without violence. Trained as a midwife, she has gone into devastated areas with limited medical supplies to deliver babies. Lim is a proponent of gentle birth and has been referred to as a guerilla midwife for her work in delivering babies in environmental disaster zones and war zones. She shares her insights into human resiliency and the importance of hope and love in creating a more peaceful and compassionate world. “ Compassion is simply necessary if one is to be a BirthKeeper. Because I attend birth in disaster zones, any thought of my own suffering pales, disappears, and is forgotten. When I am with people who have barely any food or water, and inadequate shelter at best, I truly believe in the strength and resilience of humanity,” says Lim. “These survivors of tsunami, earthquake, and super storms are not complaining. They are pulling together and helping one another to rise up and live well. It’s easy to love and have compassion in the middle of a life such as mine.” Lim’s Yayasan Bumi Sehat birthing sanctuaries offer free prenatal care, birthing services and medical aid to anyone who needs it in Indonesia, where the average family earns the equivalent of $8 a day, and a normal hospital delivery without complications costs around $150. While some Indonesian celebrities and expatriates choose Bumi Sehat to birth their children, and they often give donations, 80% of the families served by the clinics can barely pay anything, and are helped for free. From its beginnings as a community health and childbirth clinic in Bali, Lim took the Bumi Sehat Foundation to Aceh following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Combined, the two clinics have facilitated the birth of more than 5,000 babies. Lim reflects on her work, “In my work as a midwife, I witness the miracles of love day and night. Love is essential. It is kind and strong while being gentle. “
