Ecuador: Amazonian Midwifery & Workshops

Introduction

In a small town in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Indigenous midwives carry on ancestral traditions that blend herbal medicine, spiritual guidance, and community care. This internship invites you into the heart of that living lineage, where pregnancy, birth, and postpartum healing are supported through a deep relationship with plants, ceremony, and collective knowledge.

Hosted by a women-run healing center, this program is rooted in Indigenous approaches to wellness and reproductive health. Interns will learn how local midwives use plants for everything from steam baths to natural contraceptives, while also gaining insight into the social and cultural frameworks that shape Amazonian women’s health. Through hands-on support, observation, and participation in workshops, you’ll become part of a powerful intergenerational network of care that honors the wisdom of the forest and the bodies of those who live within it.

Daily Life

Each day unfolds in rhythm with the needs of the center and the surrounding community. You might start your morning in the medicinal garden, harvesting herbs for steam baths or tinctures. Later, you could help prepare food for visitors, sit in on a sharing circle with midwives, or assist in organizing a community workshop. Some days may involve shadowing the midwives on pre or post natal patient visits in nearby communities or helping with educational activities on topics like natural contraceptives. You may even shadow a birth during your internship. Evenings are often quiet, filled with time for reflection, storytelling, or preparing the space for upcoming guests.

You’ll be immersed in a living knowledge system where health, spirituality, and ecology are interconnected. Through your support in daily tasks and wellness workshops, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how Indigenous women care for themselves, their families, and their environment—guided not by modern equipment, but by plants, intuition, and inherited wisdom.

Travel & Accom.

The best airport to fly into is Mariscal Sucre International Airport (UIO) in Quito, Ecuador’s capital. Interns need to arrive to Quito no later than the night before their orientation begins. Quito is only 4 hours from Tena, the main city in the Napo Province. On the morning of orientation, a staff member schedules a taxi to pick interns up and bring them to Tena for training; they just have to pay the driver upon arrival.

Interns stay in Tena during orientation, and the cost of the accommodation is provided. The rest of the program is spent living at the healing center, where the midwives rotate staying and attending to patients. This is an amazing opportunity to immerse deep into the project, practice Spanish (and Kichwa) and get to know each of the midwives personally while learning about day-to-day operations. The healing center provides 3 meals per day & bedding.

Requirements

Interns are expected to finance their own travel costs (international and while on site).

Other requirements include:

• Minimum 4 weeks commitment.
  
• Academic and/or professional experience in midwifery, medicine, doula, herbalism or a related field
  
• Intermediate level of Spanish proficiency (or a strong motivation to learn quickly before and upon arriving!)
• Full travel & medical insurance
  
• Necessary vaccinations
  
• Necessary visa costs (Most nationalities are granted a 3-month tourist visa automatically upon arrival, and you can extend this for 3 more months for a fee while in-country. Always check specific visa requirements based on your nationality).

Costs

$2950 USD total, reserve your spot with $550 deposit

* Currency conversions are approximate. Use xe.com for up to date currency conversion rates
** All payments incur a 5% bank transfer fee
*** Places are confirmed with a 1 week deposit.

What’s Included:

• Accommodation during orientation
• Accommodation and 3 meals a day at the healing center. Includes a private room, bathroom, all bedding, and place to do laundry
• Guided pre-departure preparation
• In-country orientation that addresses risk management, culture shock, cross-cultural adaptation skills, history/culture/politics of Ecuador and the Amazon, team-building, goal-setting, and more
• 1:1 check-ins weekly
• 24/7 emergency support
• Network of doctors, therapists, Spanish tutors in-country
• Access to network of experts and information databases for research support
• Exit interview and end-of-program reflection
• Alumni group and future references

What’s not included:

• Costs of flights and visa
• Costs of vaccinations
• $15 per day for food during orientation training
• Personal transportation
• Any other activities outside of scheduled program activities (white water rafting, yoga, workshops, guided jungle hikes, etc.)

Full assistance will be provided in getting all these arranged if you choose our Premium Support.

Premium Support Upgrade

We understand there’s a great deal to plan and organise for your trip. When booking a Placement, many of our participants choose to purchase our Premium Support Upgrade to benefit from the expertise, knowledge and experience of our Project Coordinators. We can provide the personal advice you need to ensure your trip is organised with excellence and planned with efficiency; ensuring the very best experience possible. Read more about how we can help you.