The Baby Links Social Club Story Series

Chapter 4: Behind The Lens

The café had emptied out, but the warmth remained — hanging in the air like the scent of cinnamon and orange peel. The chairs were slightly askew, cups half-full on tables, evidence of a circle well held.

Eva sat alone now, her legs curled under her on the window seat, laptop open, camera beside her like an old friend. Outside, the sun dipped low, casting shadows through the monstera leaves on the wall — patterns that danced like they knew the stories told that morning.

She uploaded her photos slowly, deliberately. Click. Whirr. A shot of Ama lighting a smudge stick near the tea counter. Another of the young OB scribbling in her notebook as a doula spoke. A midwife’s eyes closed as she listened — truly listened — to a mother’s birth story.

These weren’t just photos. They were proof.

Birth workers could sit together.

People could change.

Story could soften science.

Eva sipped the last of her chai, now lukewarm, and opened her video editing app. She worked with focus but softness, letting instinct lead. She layered a clip of Ama saying, “Birth isn’t a procedure — it’s a portal,” over a time-lapse of the café’s circle forming. She slowed a moment of laughter — spontaneous, unfiltered — as a background track of gentle rhythm built behind it.

Then, over an image of a hand holding another in labor, she added her own voice:

“Birth isn’t a moment. It’s a memory. A mirror. A revolution that starts quietly — in the body, in the breath.”

She watched it once. Twice. Didn’t tweak it.

She posted the reel to their shared account.

Caption:

“Healing the birth divide — one circle at a time. #TheBabyLinks #MidwivesAndMedicine #BirthMatters”

Within minutes, the comments began:

“This gave me chills.”

“As an OB, I’ve never felt so seen.”

“Where is this café? I need to come.”

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

And then the DMs rolled in — a midwife in the Philippines. A medical student in Sweden. A doula in Johannesburg.

Eva leaned back against the cushions, her eyes soft. This wasn’t about going viral. This was about being visible. About showing people what was possible. About planting seeds in minds and hearts far beyond the café walls.

She reached for her camera again and clicked a final photo — the empty circle, bathed in golden light.

Then she whispered, almost to herself:

“We were never just making coffee.”

“We’re making a movement.”

With love from Geneva and Lyon where I finished uploading the blog post. Natalia xx

Natalia, Afia , Laura , Maria , Maria and The Team xx