A family affair: Traversing the seas to bring vital immunizations to island communities

Photo courtesy of WHO / Harrison Thane

When Rahmi (Mimi), a midwife from Pangkajene Islands (Pangkep), Indonesia, was young she used to wonder why her mother was always going away. “Now I understand,” she says. “She was fighting for us, her children, and also serving the island community, where her skills were desperately needed.”

At the time, her mother, Rabiah, was also a midwife. She provided care to remote island communities—places that could take her up to 24 hours to reach by boat if the weather and Flores Sea cooperated. As the only health worker on the islands, Rabiah had to do it all: deliver babies, conduct health screenings and health promotion activities, and ensure everyone in the community was up-to-date on their immunizations.

Though Mimi stayed home while her mother was at work, she’d often spend her free time playing doctor. Years later, Rabiah, a single mother, would send Mimi to midwifery school following in her footsteps. Her three other siblings would also become health workers.

“She is the greatest inspiration in my life,” says Mimi. “Since I was a child, I saw her fighting for the community. So, I also feel the desire to be like her, to be dedicated to the island communities.”