Crime and drugs were ramped up in her neighborhood as she and her mother shared a home with her grandmother, aunt, and female cousin, who was three years older than her.  Yolanda vividly told stories of the abandoned house across the street where fiends and drug dealers would do what they do, police arrests, including one where this humongous black man was slanging police officers around like flies as they attempted to arrest him.  Toughness was the name of the game in West Philly; even for a young pre-adolescent girl, Yolanda would constantly get in altercations with other girls to defend her older cousin. With her courage, Yolanda built a reputation amongst her peers as a force to be reckoned with. 

 

Yolanda and her family relocated to Buena Vista, Georgia, when she was roughly 11 years young. At the tender age of 16, she realized her first opportunity at what she has always wanted to be, a mother, this initial time to a precious little girl named Jamila.  Yolanda innately embodied the essence of a virtuous mother as she cared for Jamayla primarily on her own while balancing motherhood and high school.  Yolanda graduated high school in 2002 and soon after that attended Fort Valley State University on a presidential scholarship after nearly scoring a perfect score of above 1500 on the SAT.  Near the conclusion of her freshman year, Yolanda met the love of her life, Armand Kadima, to whom she would marry a year and a half later at the age of 19.  A couple of years later, at the age of 21, Yolanda and Armand welcomed Armand Jr, an unrelenting little boy who was soon after birth diagnosed with Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) or, in other words, as the doctors exclaimed, a hole in his heart.  Yolanda and Armand elected not to pursue the recommended surgery to supposedly seal the hole in AJ's heart and decided against attending the cardiologist follow-up appointments.  In early 2008, while expecting twins at the age of 23, Yolanda and Armand were compelled to take AJ to a cardiologist to check on the hole in his heart, and voila, could observe no hole; it had miraculously healed itself or disappeared.  Elated, Yolanda and Armand proceeded to welcome girl and boy twins, Alanna and Zaire, who were truly bundles of joy, as the saying goes. In the summer of 2009, while attending a WIC appointment, Yolanda detailed to her caseworker that she had breastfed all her children for a minimum of 6 months, including the twins, who were in the weaning process as she had breastfed them that entire first year of their lives.

 

The caseworker was astonished and immediately recommended Yolanda for a peer counselor role to support new mothers with breastfeeding and educate them on the benefits of initiatives introduced by First Lady Michele Obama.  Yolanda's calling/purpose had found her, and she had found it; she quickly accepted the role as it was flexible with her motherly role as she mainly worked from home.  Yolanda began reading every book she could find on breastfeeding; she began researching, she started attending seminars and started accumulating certifications, including the IBCLC (Internationally Board-Certified Lactation Consultant).  In 2012, at the age of 27, As her youngest children started school, Yolanda left WIC. She started her private practice consultancy named 'Loving Hands Lactation Care' to support and educate women on lactation independently.  She also enrolled in school at Union institute & university to pursue a degree in maternal-child health in human lactation.  In 2014, at the age of 29, Yolanda and Armand began experiencing effects from the insurmountable toll marriage puts on people who marry young and immediately start having children, so they decided to divorce.  To position herself to support herself in the future, Yolanda took on a part-time position as a lead lactation consultant at a premier pediatric practice in Kennesaw, Georgia, while still consulting in her private practice when not working at the pediatric office.  In late 2015, Yolanda lost consciousness at a gas station, where she had been rushed to the nearest ICU. She was informed that she suffered a ruptured Fallopian tube due to an ectopic pregnancy and that she would have passed away if she had arrived at the ICU 30 minutes later than she did.  After learning this, Armand conveyed to Yolanda how he loved her and wanted her and his children back together. The Two reconciled in mid-2016 and privately spiritually re-married with their spiritual elder in the fall of 2016.  

 

As Yolanda turned 33 in 2017, she took on the spiritual name "Shiphrah," dedicating her life to fully serving her community as a full cycle Doula, an aspiring traditional midwife, and changed the name of her or her practice to Maternal Roots.  Shiphrah was the name of one of the midwives during Moses' birth in the Bible who disobeyed the Pharaoh of Egypt by not killing the newborn Hebrew babies as he had ordered.  Ironically, this was quite a divine calling and a noble undertaking for Yolanda when maternal mortality and infant morbidity amongst people of African descent were and still are at their highest in the most advanced nation on the planet.  In late 2017, Shiphrah began feeling what she referred to as spiritual urges from the Creator to bring forth another child. She had been telling Armand for years that she always knew she would bear seven children. In October 2018, under the care of a phenomenal traditional midwife, she apprenticed under her firth child, a prophetic baby boy named Qashar, who was birthed by Shiphrah in the most serene and blissful home birthing experiences that any woman could dream of.  Qashar was the world to her as she was at a point in her life where she could continue fulfilling her lifelong dream of being a mother. However, this time, she was not bounded by limited financial means nor time as her youngest children were ten, and she could dedicate as much time to loving and caring for Qashar.  From cloth diapers to in-house pediatric visits, to the most delicate plant-based breast milk from mom, to amber necklaces and bracelets, she provided Qashar with the best possible care, and most importantly, unconditional love.  In late 2019, on an energy-filled and divinely aligned night, Shiphrah and Armand conceived what would turn out to be twins, Shiphrah's 6th and 7th children as she always knew she'd have.  The apocalyptic year 2020 came, and unprecedented events of our modern times ensued.  Through the masks and shelter in place mandates, Shiphrah spent a ton of time with Armand and their children, whom she had already been homeschooling for the previous four years.  This pregnancy matriculated with her others, with bouts of constant nausea and vomiting induced by what she concluded as a condition named 'Hyperemesis.'  Shiphrah planned for another home birth, especially given that the world was under siege COVID-19 and hospitals were not a place anyone wanted to be.

 

Given her experience as a Doula and an aspiring midwife, the fact that twin pregnancies are considered high risk, Shiphrah thought it would be prudent to engage the best natural perinatologist the city of Atlanta had to offer.  During her 38th week visit, the perinatologist recommended a standard immediate cesarean delivery. He was concerned for baby B as baby B had not gained weight over the previous four weeks.  Baby B was not experiencing an imbalanced heart rate, and his movements were expected. The only concern was his weight, as he measured 4 pounds 3 ounces while his sister was 6 pounds 2 ounces. Shiphrah highly trusted this perinatologist; thus, Armand reluctantly surrendered to the recommendation, and on July 23rd, 2020, the divine twins, baby girl Shiphrah and baby boy Yavin were birthed via cesarean.  Shiphrah's health began deteriorating soon after the cesarean, and she departed this earthly realm a few days later at 1:18 PM on July 27th, 2020.  Shiphrah transitioned to the afterlife doing what she has always wanted to be, a mother.  Upon her arrival at Emory the day before she transitioned as the previous hospital transferred her to receive superior care, her initial and only request was for a breast pump so she could supply milk for her newborn babies.  Even in her last moments, all she cared about was being a mother.  Shiphrah had found her purpose, and it had found her; she touched and loved so many families as she supported them from pre-conception to postpartum; she even served as a Doula during her 37th-week pregnancy and helped her patient in delivering a child. She was also an herbalist, so Armand recalls driving her during her last week to visit the patient she had just supported, and during the ride, she was mixing postpartum care herbs to provide to her patient.  Armand was in awe of his best friend, wife, and spiritual partner.  It’s been said that "Our black men are being murdered in the streets, while our black women are being murdered in the delivery rooms."  Why is it that in Georgia, the maternal mortality rate amongst women of African descent is absurd 18-1 to their white counterparts?  It seems that Shiphrah's life and death is another revolutionary incarnation to propel the liberation of the people of African descent, the birth justice version. Another black revolution movement! The marathon continues.