In the spring of 2016 I had the great good fortune to travel with my good friend and midwife colleague, Marina Alzugaray, as she made a journey to Cuba after 50 years of living in the United States, away from her beloved homeland of Cuba.
Marina has been a practicing midwife in the US for nearly 4 decades. She understands the process of giving birth—even when it is giving birth to one’s self. She asked me and two other longtime midwives to accompany her to Cuba, and to be her support people, her midwives, throughout this momentous journey of rebirth and rediscovery.
Thus, Diane Holzer, Yeshi Neumann, Marina and I spent several weeks in Cuba in April & May 2016. (All three of these women are authors in Into These Hands, Wisdom from Midwives. You can read their stories there.) And we returned again in 2017 for professional and cultural exchange, and to visit friends we had made.
Cuba is a beautiful and diverse country, the people are resilient and friendly, and we had marvelous adventures together. (The story is too big and too amazing to tell in a few paragraphs.) The best part of our trip was getting to know the local people. One of our most fortunate experiences was being invited to the home of Katia and Bernardo and their extended family, whom we visited on several occasions.
I gave Katia a copy of Into These Hands, Wisdom from Midwives, which she really liked. She said, “I will use this book to learn to speak better English. And I am excited to read the life stories of my new friends from the United States.”
So we now have a copy of Into These Hands, Wisdom From Midwives in Cuba and new friends that are absolutely dear. Needless to say … we are all going back for another visit as soon as we can. Viva Cuba!
Wisdom from Midwives 