SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)– Sequoia Kemp has felt a calling to helping other women since a young age. After all, she was only 13 when she first helped deliver a baby.
Raised by her mother Vickie Patterson, a longtime doula, Kemp herself is now also a doula for women in Syracuse’s South Side community. Since the first delivery she’s helped in, Kemp has founded both Doula4aQueen and the Sankofa Center for Reproductive Health and Healing to focus on helping pregnant women of color in on their birthing journey.
Leeandra Torrance, a full-spectrum doula at the Sankofa Center, said their work provides support for pregnant people before, during and after their pregnancy.
“I love educating the women on their bodies, and what they’re going to be going through, and just letting them know that when they are in the hospital, they have a voice,” Torrance said.
Patterson says a significant part of this focus results from the increased mortality rate among women of color during birth. Black women are over three times more likely to die in childbirth and postpartum than white women according to the Population Reference Bureau.
“When a woman says, ‘I want a doula because I don’t want to die’, that’s like sounding an alarm,” Patterson said. “Like why is a woman even thinking like that? When you get pregnant you just want to have a healthy baby and a safe delivery…but for some women, that’s not what they’re focusing on. They just want to not die.”
Kemp does not limit her focus to those currently pregnant, however. The Sankofa Center offers free virtual classes to women and families in the area, but one of Kemp’s best inventions is her “wellness room,” a center where families in the Southside Syracuse area can come for needs all donated by the community.
“Being able to say you need baby clothes? We got baby clothes. You need diapers? We got diapers! You know, like being able to see moms light up or parents or families light up and say oh okay this is one less thing they have to worry about, that’s definitely one of my favorite things about it all,” Kemp said.
FIONA HURLESS: It’s a quiet building on the corner of salina street and McKinley Ave, but the Sankofa Center of Reproductive Health and Healing is helping families across the Syracuse area, specifically families of color. Co-founder sequoia kemp is a doula here, where she helps provides support for clients on the journey to birth.
But she says being a doula about more than just the process.
SEQUOIA KEMP: “Doula work builds, it builds. It goes beyond birth, you know, we have moms who had a doula and then ended up becoming a doula themselves. That’s how powerful the work is. You know, you have moms who have benefited from our services, our wellness Wednesday program and they are coming back and donating clothes and donating diapers. And they don’t make a lot of money but because of the connection, because of the trust that is built, there is this reciprocal relationship. It’s not just this service model where you give give give, and I think that is the most beautiful part. That we also receive things back from our community.”
HURLESS: This relationship within Sankofa’s community can be seen through Sankofa’s “wellness room”; a room dedicated to the donations of everything from clothes to baby food, to feminine products. The room is open to all families in the community, regardless of client status, and welcomes all donations.
KEMP: “you know, a lot of our clients they have various barriers against them, so being able to say you need baby clothes? We got baby clothes. You need diapers? We got diapers! You know, like being able to see moms light up or parents or families light up and say oh okay this is one less thing they have to worry about, that’s definitely one of my favorite things.”
HURLESS: While the Sankofa Center has helped over four hundred families in just the past year, it’s not the only family sequoia gets to work with. She also gets to work with her mother, Vicky, who says being a doula is equally important to her.
VICKY PATTERSON: “you know, when a woman says i want a doula because i don’t want to die in childbirth that’s like sounding an alarm, like why is a woman even thinking like that, right? Like you just think you get pregnant you just want to have a healthy and a safe delivery and that’s what women should focus on but some women, no, that’s not what they are focusing on they just want to, not die. So to be able to provide a service to help eliminate that fear, I think it is a great thing.”
HURLESS: The Sankofa Center continues to have weekly meetings with their clients, as well as weekly opportunities for families in the community.
