2022: Jamaa Celebrates 7 Years

February 1, 2022 / 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 legacy black birth saint louis

Welcome to 2022! If you’ve been following along with us, in all of our accomplishments and legacies, you’ll see why we’re so excited to celebrate 7-years! 

From standing on the shores of Ghana, West Africa and that initial vision, to over exceeding our the first goal of our capital campaign, to becoming Missouri’s 1st Black CPM, moving full circle from our early days at the Ferguson Library to opening our very own fully functioning Midwifery Clinic in the height of a pandemic, to training over 200 Doulas in the St. Louis region, serving over 800 families in the city, and being awarded with the prestigious Merck for MOthers Safer Childbirth Cities Initiative Grant, we have so much to be thankful for, and this year, we are celebrating, “The Legacy of Black Birth in St. Louis!” 

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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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