LeadershipPromotora Profile:
Mary Jane Velasquez, Promotora and Doula
“Before, the women were so alone and afraid when they had a baby. Now I can make it easier for them. I know the work I do is appreciated by them and the families. I can see it in their faces.”
-Mary Jane Velasquez
Mary Jane Velasquez is a farmworker Doula at the Sparta Health Center in Sparta, Michigan. Born and raised in Texas, Mary Jane met and married her husband when she was 16 and left school to join him as a farmworker. They migrate from South Texas to work at farms in west Michigan each year. Mary Jane had her first child when she was 17 and now has four children, ranging in age from a preschooler to a young adult.
Mary Jane joined Migrant Health Promotion’s Camp Health Aide Program in Michigan around 1996 and was a Camp Health Aide for many years. She also participated in Migrant Health Promotion’s Colonia Health Worker Program in Texas. Those experiences gave her self-confidence and inspired her to finish school by earning her GED.
When the Program Coordinator invited Mary Jane to become a Doula in the Farmworker Doula Program, she expressed interest immediately:
“I still remember what it was like for me when I was pregnant and migrating away from my family. There was no one there to teach me and help me to understand what was happening. I was so afraid! I had no idea what was happening to me when I had my first baby! The men are all so busy working or just not interested. I knew that being a Doula I could help so many women like me.”
As a Doula, Mary Jane visits pregnant migrant women in the farmworker labor camps. She provides them with information about prenatal care and the delivery procedures of hospitals and migrant clinics. Just as important, she becomes a friend. When a woman goes into labor, Mary Jane goes with her to the hospital and stays with her throughout her labor and childbirth. She visits again after the new mom leaves the hospital and returns to the camps with her newborn.
Mary Jane remains very committed to helping pregnant, farmworker women. Her goal is to become certified by Doulas of North America so she can work as a doula in any hospital, wherever she migrates.
