Call the midwife AROHA'S SPECIAL DELIVERIES

The maternity carer wants more pregnant mums to have the traditional Māori birth experienc

- Kasia De Vydt-Jillings

She’s been present at hundreds of births, but the fi rst time Māori midwife Aroha Harris Tutaki witnessed a wahine in labour, she was 15 years old. It was her friend’s sister and as a teenager, she was in awe.

“I remember feeling amazed by the strength of this māmā,” she recalls. “When you’re in the realm of someone bringing forth life, it’s pretty amazing.” 

Inspired by the experience, Aroha considered a career as a midwife, but was told swiftly by a careers advisor that she didn’t have enough life experience.

After her grandfather, who had raised her, died when Aroha was aged 10, she struggled with mainstream education and left school fi ve years later.

“I knocked on what was then Māori Aff airs door and asked them to help me become something. One of the options was hairdressing and I ended up working in that career for 27 years,” says Aroha, 49, who went on to own her own salon for 11 years.

But through almost three decades of a busy career and having two children, Bronson, now 28, and Jada, 24, the pull to become a midwife never fully left.

Little did she know, but it would be a surprise third pregnancy, 11 years after her second child was born, which empowered her to follow her initial intuition.

"It was a real blessing being pregnant with my baby Milan [now 12] because it reminded me, 'You once wanted to be a midwife.' I went home, announced to my hoa rangatira [partner] Rob that I was hapū [pregnant], and was selling the salon and wanted to go and get this degree.

"After 27 years out of education and dropping out of school, it was pretty scary, but I've always been determined and where there's a will, there's a way."