| Administrative History | The midwife was Aina Avotins (1926-2021).
According to her obituary on www.dignitrymemorial.com, Aina Avotins was born in Saldus, Latvia in 1926. As a teenager she was forced to flee her homeland during WorldWar II and lived in refugee camps in Germany. After emigrating to England, she became a Registered Nurse and Midwife and specialised in the care of premature infants. Aina also studied at the Anglican Mount Hermon Theological College in London; between 1957 and 1965 she worked in eastern Tanzania with the inter-denominational Christian mission association “Africa Inland Mission”. Her work including leading a mission hospital at Lake Victoria, development of a children's health clinic, supporting a leprosy colony, teaching local health workers (having learned the local language, Kiswahili). In 1965 Aina Avotins emigrated to Toronto and for 24 years was the Director of Evening/Night Services at Wellesley Hospital. She was ordained as a Deacon for St. John’s Latvian Lutheran Church of Toronto in 1985. She retired in 2015 and moved to Ottawa. |
| Custodial History | These documents were donated to Derbyshire Record Office by the executor of the recorder in April 2021. |