It is nearly two weeks since our dear Michel passed away, and the loss of this incredible human still sits heavy in my heart.
The news of Michel’s passing reached me just days after I returned home from a pilgrimage to my own birth land, Switzerland — the place of my earliest years, where I had not been back since my 20th birthday, 25 years ago. I spent time in the home I lived in as a baby, with my god family, in the mountains. The places, smells, and sounds stirred long-forgotten memories — a quiet homecoming of sorts. I stood beneath the trees that were planted when I was a baby and now tower over me, holding their own stories of time passed.
Visiting my eldest daughter, who is now living and working very close to where I once lived, was also profoundly connecting. Sharing a landscape familiar to us both, but for our own reasons, felt very special.
While there, I had the honour of attending the birth of a beautiful little girl high up in the mountains overlooking a magical lake. Samara and I have been friends and colleagues for over a decade, but this was our first birth together. Joined by Ale, a new midwife friend, we formed a circle of elephants around this birth — weaving a silent, steady web of safety around the birthing mother and her family.
Now, back home, I find myself in an integration phase — holding both the tenderness of Michel’s passing and the enormity of my journey. Here in South Africa, spring is beginning to show herself: longer, warmer days and African daisies greeting the sun each morning.
I am holding my heart gently as I continue to sit with it all. The enormity of Michel’s legacy sits with me, and many ideas bubble to the surface about how I — and we — can stay true to his work. Yet I also feel the need to honour the fact that he himself is still transitioning, and that he and his family require our quiet holding and respect. Transitions must be honoured with reverence.
As I shared in my previous newsletter, Michel repeated one message again and again: every mother and baby require our silence to find one another. “Do not wake the mother!” he would say. In this moment, I feel the same is true for Michel. May we offer him that silence as he crosses over.
If you feel called to walk more deeply with these themes of birth, life, and transition, here are some upcoming offerings:
- Birth First Aid — a global, home birth–friendly learning space for birthkeepers.
- True Midwifery Study Spiral — with our next session on Supporting IVF Pregnancy and Birth led by Vera Dubrovine, 25 September 2025.
- Silent Birthkeeper (2026/2027) — add your name to the waiting list to be the first to know when bookings open.
