Oct 2016: 1st Annual Jamaa Gala

October 31, 2016 / Okunsola M. Amadou

Jamaa Birth Village means family in the African language of Swahili. Come and go with me, on the humble beginnings and birthing of a village.

jamaa annual gala

In October of 2016, we celebrated our 1st annual gala! Many of our supporters, friends, and clients came to celebrate with us. The Brian Owens Band played tunes, while we enjoyed appetizers, stories, and gathering together in honor of the work that had started to grow vastly beyond my imagination.

By this time, our organization had become a sister organization with Uzazi Village, who is also a dear friend and mentor. She drove all the way from KC to celebrate with us!

We were able to raise a whopping $1300 that day, and received our first official grant of $1500 from a local foundation to sponsor the costs of our Gala. We were overjoyed and so full of hope of what was to come. 

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Okunsola M. Amadou

Okunsola M. Amadou, a Fulani-American Midwife, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Jamaa Birth Village. Previously known as "Tru", Okunsola is an initiated Olokun and Egbe Priestess in the Isese religion, where she is currently studying as an Iyalorisha. During Okunsolas rites of passage, she received her traditional face markings, representing her nobility and position of royalty in her lineage.

She founded Jamaa Birth Village in 2015, in her Ferguson, MO living room, starting the St. Louis Black Doula movement and growing the St. Louis Black Doula community from 5 to 200+ in 5-years through her Community Doula Training, the city's first Black written, created and taught community-based doula training. In 2018, Okunsola created the St. Louis Doulas of Color Collective, which now boasts a thriving membership of 40+ Black Doulas and is home to Missouri’s first BIPOC Doula directory.

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