About Ruth and True Midwifery

My name is Ruth Ehrhardt.

I am a mother, midwife, traditional birth attendant, teacher, writer, and founder of True Midwifery.

For over two decades I have been walking the path of birth and midwifery, and I have accompanied women and families through pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and the wider rites of passage of womanhood.

My work is rooted in the protection of physiological birth, deep listening, traditional wisdom, and the understanding that birth is a profoundly human, emotional, spiritual, and cultural experience.

Through writing, courses, retreats, study circles, and mentorship, I now focus primarily on education and the preservation of birth knowledge and birth culture.

I live in Kommetjie,a seaside village near Cape Town, South Africa.

ROOTS & LINEAGE

I come from a lineage of women deeply connected to healing, birth, storytelling, and resilience.

My mother attended births amongst farm communities in South Africa, and my path has also been shaped by the many midwives, teachers, elders, mothers, and grandmothers who carried birth wisdom through difficult times. The work and teachings of Michel Odent and Liliana Lammers have also profoundly influenced the way I understand birth, physiology, presence, and the protection of the motherbaby relationship.

This lineage, both biological and learned, ancestral and lived, continues to inform the work I do today.

PROFESSIONAL PATHWAY

• Certified Professional Midwife (NARM, USA)
• Traditional Birth Attendant (South Africa)
• Founder of True Midwifery
• Co-founder of Home Birth South Africa
• Author of The Basic Needs of a Woman in Labour
• Helping Babies Breathe & Helping Mothers Survive Master Trainer
• Founding member and organiser of the Cape Town Midwifery & Birth Conference
• Former board member and facilitator for The Compassionate Birth Project
• Teacher, speaker, and facilitator across Africa, Europe, the USA, and Canada