Vienna, Austria - 2002 |
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In
April, 2002, I traveled to Vienna, Austria, for the |
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 The Danube River as seen from our hotel. |
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 The MANA Booth at the Convention Center. |
 During Council Meetings, 110 delegates from around the world discussed global midwifery issues. |
 All proceedings were translated into English, French, Spanish and German. |
 Abby Kinne and Ina May Gaskin were the US Delegates to the ICM Council. |
 But it
wasn't all work and no play! |
 One
evening we went to dinner in this rotating spire. |
 We attended a reception at the British Embassy... |
 where we were entertained by Scotsmen playing bagpipes. |
 There was a multi-denominational Blessing at St. Stephen's Cathedral... |
 including Hindi dancers. |
 After a week of meetings, we attended the official Opening Ceremonies for the Congress. Each country processed into this huge hall carrying the flag for their country. Television cameras filmed each delegate processing in and projected it onto that huge screen you see here... |
 Here we are lined up, in order by country, awaiting our turn to process into the hall carrying the flag for the United States. The two women next to me (both in blue) are the current and past presidents of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), Mary Ann Shah and Joyce Roberts. |
 Soon,
all 110 delegates jammed the stage, each in their
country's native costume! Pretty impressive sight! |
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| Following the Opening Ceremonies, we
attended a reception where we had many opportunities to
meet our fellow midwives from all over the world and
photograph their beautiful costumes! (Gee, I wish the United States had an official "native dress"....I love playing "dress-up"!) Here are just a few of these incredible women! |
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 Great Britain |
 Holland |
 Australia |
 Africa |
 Greece |
 ...and Japan. |
| The Congress is an opportunity for
midwives all over the world to present research papers
and learn from each other. One evening during the Congress, we were invited to "Austrian Night" at the Town Hall for a formal dinner and entertainment, including a group of midwives who formed a singing group when they were students together. The group was called . . . |
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 Midwife Crisis |
 And a group of Belly Dancers -- all pregnant, of course! |
| Following two weeks of meetings and the
ICM Congress, a fellow midwife and dear friend of mine, Debbie Pulley, traveled to Venice, Italy, with me for a week of play! We had a wonderful time! |
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