The Baby Links Social Club Story Series

Chapter 2: Ama arrives

Chapter 2: Ama Arrives

The scent hit her the moment she stepped off the plane — salt, cinnamon, and something sweet in the air. It felt like coming home, even if no one place could ever contain her spirit.

Ama had always been a traveler — her passport thick with stamps, her hands touched by babies born on three continents. And yet, when her feet landed on the tarmac in this small coastal town, something always clicked into place.

She pulled her tote tighter over her shoulder, the sound of her wooden bangles clinking lightly. Inside the bag: cinnamon bark wrapped in cloth, a new birth sling from Zanzibar, and a notebook full of ideas scribbled on planes and in temples. Outside: the sun, rising high, casting a golden glow across everything.

The tuk-tuk driver waved at her like he knew her — and he probably did. Everyone knew Ama, or felt like they did. She had that energy: magnetic, grounded, warm like the sun after rain.

As they zipped through the streets, past colorful fruit stalls and sleepy bookstores, Ama pulled out her phone.

A message lit up the screen:

Eva: “Your chair’s waiting. So is your smoothie.”

Ama smiled. Her best friend, her sister in vision, had a way of always knowing.

"Straight to The Baby Links," she told the driver. "We’ve got work to do."

---

Back at the café, the energy was building. Expectant mothers clustered around sun-drenched tables, midwives poured coffee with one hand and comforted toddlers with the other, and the sound of gentle drumming played faintly from a speaker tucked behind a banana plant.

Eva stood behind the counter, wiping her hands on her apron, checking the time — not because she was anxious, but because her body already knew what moment was approaching.

The bell above the door rang — not loud, but enough to shift the room’s rhythm.

Ama stepped inside, light dancing in behind her.

She looked around the room, soaking it in — the walls as green and orange as she remembered, the monstera growing even wilder, the chair beside Eva still empty, still waiting.

"Is that cinnamon I smell..." Eva teased, a smile already stretching across her face, "or revolution?"

"Both," Ama said, walking toward her with that signature grounded grace. "And they pair perfectly with mango."

They embraced — no words at first, just a long, tight hug that said I missed you, I see you, I’m ready.

They didn’t need to talk about the plan. It was already unfolding. This café wasn’t just a place to sip coffee and share birth stories. It was a living idea — breathing, changing, expanding.

Together, Eva and Ama weren’t just welcoming guests into a café.

They were gathering a movement.

Hope you enjoyed this week's blog post and cannot wait to welcome more members and get to know more health professionals and services that are involved in maternity.

Natalia, Afia and The Team xx

We met with Dede, Marga and spoke via zoom with Danielle, Ann-Marie, Nathanya and a quick catch up with Afia and Maria and Elissavet the physio.

Send us your thoughts [email protected] . Cannot wait to hear all about you.