| |
|
| Kate Boland arrived early Sunday
morning and visited with us until her
room was ready. |
| |
|
|
| Sunday afternoon, we went to the
Convention Center to set up the MANA
Booth in the Exhibit Hall. |
| |
|
| Notice how they spelled ALLIANCE on
our sign! (They fixed it later.) |
| |
|
|
| Once the booth was ready, we went to
the Congress Blessing and Opening
Ceremonies. |
| |
|
| Many delegates came in their native
costumes. Here is just a sample:
Finland... |
| |
|
|
|
| The blessing started with a beautiful
Chorale |
| |
|
|
| The Opening Ceremonies began with the
Processional of the Flags. |
| |
|
| This was
followed by a multidominational blessing
service. |
| |
|
|
| Many religions were represented. |
| |
|
| This man played the digerido for us! |
| |
|
|
| This was
followed by entertainment from an
Aboriginal dance troupe. |
| |
|
| This included a firestarting
ceremony. |
| |
|
|
| They actually started a fire by
rubbing two sticks together. It was
impressive! |
| |
|
| After the entertainment, we were
greeted by several dignitaries. This is
the governor of Queensland, Mrs. Bryce. |
| |
|
|
| Then we were welcomed by Kathy
Herschderfer who is the Secretary General
of the ICM. |
| |
|
| After the blessing, we moved to the
Exhibit Hall for the official opening.
This is Debbie at work at the MANA Booth. |
| |
|
|
| This is the ACNM Booth. I hope this
doesn't sound too catty, but our booth
looked MUCH more professional! |
| |
|
| This man on stilts from Birth
International attracted a lot of
attention! He was passing out candy bars! |
| |
|
|
| There were many fascinating and
educational booths to explore. |
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Monday, July 25th
| Each morning during the Congress, we
were greeted by the midwife. |
| |
|
|
| On this morning I had to present the
Education Standing Committee Concurrent
Workshop as I am the co-chair of this ICM
committee. |
| |
|
 |
|
| The workshop was supposed to be
limited to 40 participants and we had
almost 50! |
| |
|
| After my presentation, we broke the
participants into several small groups. |
| |
|
|
| These groups attempted to define
midwifery education on a global level. |
| |
|
| We had representation from most
countries who shared the unique
challenges a global definition of
midwifery education presents. A
representative from each group then
shared their recommendations with the
entire group. |
| |
|
|
| Later in the day, I led an Education
Standing Committee meeting. There were
about 20 participants in the meeting and
we accomplished a lot in the time we had. |
| |
|
| In the evening, a regional meeting
was held for the Americas Region (Canada,
USA, Latin America, and the Caribbean). |
| |
|
| That night, Debbie and I struggled to
get a wireless connection... |
| |
|
|
| ..by putting our laptops in the
window on the ironing board and sitting
on the dining room table! (It
worked....sometimes!) |
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
Tuesday, July 26th
| The end of another long day of
workshops. |
| |
|
|
|
| Debbie and I are still struggling to
get a wireless connection! |
| |
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, July 27th
| Sunrise on Wednesday brought a
special treat as two hot air balloons
glided across the sky. |
| |
|
|
| Yes, I am still waking up before the
sun comes up! |
| |
|
| This Australian midwife taught us all
to use a special call that Australia
mothers use to call their
children.....CoooooWeeeeee! |
| |
|
|
| The Keynote Address was about ICM's
partnership with Safe Motherhood. |
| |
|
| After another long day of workshops,
we gathered for the Australiana Dinner. |
| |
|
|
| During cocktails, stiltwalkers
carrying babies (not real ones) walked
among us. |
| |
|
| The band presented a "Bush
Dance" (much like what we would call
a "Square Dance") |
| |
|
|
| The entertainment was great! It was
moving to realize we were dancing with
midwives from all around the world even
though most of us did not speak the same
language. |
| |
|
| Here Kate and Betty-Anne joined in
the fun. Even Debbie and I were out there
on the dance floor, but no good pictures
of us! |
| |
|
|
| The dinner was scrumptious. It was
presented on a huge lazy susan in the
center of the table so you could taste a
little of everything. |
| |
|
| I loved everything except for the
octopus...yikes! I could not bring myself
to even try that! |
| |
|
|
| And the dessert was one of my
favorites... meringue! |
| |
|
|
Thursday, July 28th
Today was the last
day of the Congress and I had
"MC"duties introducing speakers
and keeping them on time with their
presentations. It was a series of
presentations about Cesreans/VBACs and
rising rates...interesting.
This was followed by
the Congress Closing Ceremonies.
|
| |
|
| Most of the speakers focused on Safe
Motherhood |
| |
|
|
| and the shockingly high maternal
mortality rates in the world. |
| |
|
| It really does make one think about
the relative importance of our local
issues when women are dying from
starvation and giving birth in such high
numbers elsewhere. |
| |
|
|
| We, in this country, are fortunate,
indeed! |
| |
|
| We were entertained by aerobatics... |
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
| One of the highlights of the Closing
Ceremonies was honoring Joyce Thompson,
CNM. Joyce has dedicated the last 15
years of her life to ICM representing
ACNM and for the last 6 years has served
as Director of the ICM. She has
accomplished so much for women worldwide! |
| |
|
|
| In the final moments, the
"midwife" gave her robe to a
new young midwife, to carry into the
future. |
| |
|
This bagpiper
invited us all to meet again in Glasgow
in 2008.
|
| |
|
| Then we all joined hands, midwives
from all over the world, and sang
"We are midwives, We are
invincible!" (with apologies to
Helen Reddy) It was awe inspiring! |
| |
|
|
| That night, just for old time's sake,
Debbie, Tracy Bowman and I met one final
time on the street outside our
hotel....in our pjs....for the THIRD
night in a row of false fire alarm
evacuations!. |
| |
|
