Doulas Perspectives: The Pandemic Around the Globe

Elena Carrillo, President of DONA International.2021, is the proud mother of four and grandmother to eight. Ms. Carrillo has been a certified advanced DONA doula & trainer, Lamaze childbirth educator & trainer, lactation educator, and counselor for 40+ years. She is the Director of International Certifications of the postgraduate program “Perinatal Specialist” at Anahuac University (Mexico) and has trained doulas, childbirth educators, and lactation educators teaching and traveling around the world. 2,500 + attended births and 4,000 couples taught, confirm that childbirth education, labor, and postpartum support ensure the best outcome for mothers and babies, regardless of where the birth occurs.

Rasee Govindani, a DONA doula in Bangkok, Thailand, will share her experience supporting families who birth away from their home countries and will touch on the pandemic’s affect on Thailand and birth. She aims to give a different perspective on birth work outside of North America and how a doula’s role shifts when navigating cultural and linguistic differences plays an important part in birth support.

Shereen Zarroug is a DONA Certified Doula, Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, and the DONA Regional Ambassador for the Gulf region in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  Shereen has been a doula for six years and has supported over 80 families as a doula and 100’s of families as a Childbirth Educator. She has worked hard to promote the profession of doulas in Dubai and has worked together with hospitals to improve their educational programmes, events, and workshops for expectant families.  Shereen has also been instrumental in working with the local hospitals to get doula bans lifted. By advocating for doulas, Shereen was instrumental in the doula profession being recognized as a legal profession to be licensed as a business in Dubai.  She has had the privilege to organize and bring three DONA International Doula Training Workshops (with current DONA President Elena Carillo), and together they have trained over 30 new doulas. Shereen is also the mom of three beautiful children.

With a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Kenyatta University, I am also a Maternal and Infant Care Specialist. With several qualifications such as Certified Doula (CD (DONA), Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator (LCCE), Certified Nutrition Advisor, Certified Lactation Specialist, Certified Infant Massage Instructor (IAIM) and also a Certified Infant and Young Child Nutrition Advisor. I have been supporting parents for the last 12 years and have so far met thousands of babies as my little clients. My clients straddle the economic divide as I offer both hospital birth support and home based pre & postnatal services. I support and walk with parents so that they can fully have confidence and enjoy the parenting journey right from pregnancy, birth and beyond.

Augie Rigual is and Adv (CD)DONA Doula and Director of International Development for DONA International.  Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and residing in Florida for the past 27 years, she has become a bilingual DONA Birth Doula trainer, offering these trainings for many Latino communities in other states and Puerto Rico.  She is currently the Program Specialist for the Healthy Start Coalition of Osceola County and offers the Childbirth Education through Healthy Start in English and Spanish on alternate months.  Augie holds a weekly postpartum bilingual CAFÉ that is very well attended by English and Spanish moms.

Jenny Garcia is an OBGYN physician, lactation consultant, and DONA Birth Doula Trainer in the Dominican Republic.  She has been teaching nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals about women’s health since 1990.  Jenny considers herself an activist on women’s health issues and loves the work that she does.