For a woman to train to be a midwife in her community  her apprenticeship began with her watching the water buffalo birth during several seasons The purpose of this was the following: If the water buffalo were birthing and having a straight-forward  easeful birth (the majority of the time)  and the midwife apprentice tried to get close to the water buffalo or ‘help’ the water buffalo during its labor and birth  the water buffalo would KICK the apprentice