I enter the midwives’ association office in a humble neighborhood of Buenaventura, a city on Colombia’s Pacific coast. Inside, some 40 midwives discuss the schedule of upcoming training sessions. Then they go outside to collect herbs intertwined on the trunks of palm trees, which they use to prepare potions for their patients. These midwives have a deep knowledge of natural medicine that forms part of their Afro-Colombian cultural tradition.