The New Oberbuergermeister of Stuttgart Army Garrison!

On Monday morning Stuttgart Army Garrison welcomed a new Oberbuergermeister (Lord Mayor)… my Dad! It was a fun event and we were overwhelmed with the incredible five-star treatment we received. Our cousin Robert even came into town from Hanover… He and the Social Protocol gal from my Dad’s office, Liz, (Who by the way is an absolute hoot to hang out with! So far I’m loving the Germans!) had tricked us by telling us Robert wasn’t going to be able to make it! So we were thrilled when he shocked us by walking in!

The Ceremony was absolutely beautiful and we couldn’t have had a more beautiful day… But after all the hand-shaking in the reception line Drayton, Carolyn and I thought our hands were going to fall off! (I’m telling you what, Germans sure do have a tight grip… So try shaking about 200 hands in a row!) After the ceremony/reception Dad went straight to work while we decided to venture into Stuttgart for the first time to find the local Ikea… Robert had been in our new home for no less than two minutes before declaring that “We need a toilette brush!” (Now keep in mind that we’ve been in our house for all of 3 days and none of our “things” will be arriving until later August)…. Although he also   added that  Ikea has the best Swedish meatballs a man could ask for… So off we were! But holy cow! The ensuing  4-5 hour escapade took us to the four corners of Stuttgart.

In total tally my mom managed to  get thrown onto the Autobahn for the first time, we got lost in the urban center of Stuttgart during rush hour (thanks to a combination of Robert’s not-so-brilliant “sixth sense” for directions and our malfunctioning German Audi navigation system)… We asked a total of 4 people for help, had one person actually get into the car to help us try to understand the “Garmin”, broke 2 laws (one illegal u-turn and one hasty cut across an intersection in front of a very angry looking German trucker), and drove past Ikea THREE times screaming “but it’s right there!!!” before we successfully managed to make it to the parking lot… All in all the never ending search for Ikea took us almost 4 hours and to the far corners of Stuttgart… But we laughed until we cried the ENTIRE way! It was more fun than I’ve ever had traveling in a car around a foreign city… And not understanding the language (or Robert for that matter) half the time made it even the more comical!

Upon finally arriving at Ikea we did in fact confirm that Ikea has AMAZING Swedish meatballs and ice-cream… And we finally managed to find the toilet brushes after walking through every-inch of the store… After much deliberation over the specific type of toilet brush to be chosen (and getting yelled at, in German of course!, for touching the toilet-brush display)… We eventually managed to acquire enough cleaning supplies for all the toilettes in Stuttgart.

In the end we were FINALLY on the way home before we realized, much to our dismay, that there is a second Ikea in Stuttgart, literally only 5 minutes from Patch Barracks… Such as life… Haha

We spent the evening celebrating at a local beer brewery… The Schounbrauhaus… It was great to be out; although this time we took Liz along to be our navigator/second translator/comic relief for the evening! It w as amazing food and even more incredible beer… I have now determined that my favorite beer is “Unfiltered”, closely followed by “Import” or a “Pillsner”… This will be rather important  information come the Keg Tapping my Dad’s performing at a local beer-fest this weekend with the Mayor… Should be fun!

Tomorrow we’re headed on an impromptu day-trip to France! It might be a little risky given our current track-record of navigating with Robert, but he assures us we won’t regret it! And I am increasingly becoming a fan of the unplanned, spontaneous, go-where-the-wind-takes-you kind of travel… So I’m looking forward to an adventure!

With Love from Germany, Mary

The Birds Move to Deutschland!

So here we are again… Yet another crazy military adventure begins!… We arrived at the airport in true Hinkle fashion with no less than 6 suitcases, 5 carry-ons, 3 computers, one dog, 3 excited kids, one very stressed out father, and one surprisingly calm mother… After a relatively uneventful red-eye flight to Frankfurt Germany, during which I and Carolyn (of course) slept not one wink, we finally arrived in Deutschland at 7am their time (approx. 1am US time)… Needless to say we were exhausted and ready to hit the bed…

We were greeted at the airport with overwhelming hospitality by my Dad’s new “entourage”… From the moment we arrived I think we managed to put everyone at ease with our definite sense of humor when his Deputy Garrison Commander ( a German Civilian) greeted me (the supposed Mrs. Bird) with flowers… Rather a funny beginning to our little adventure…

Since then we’ve received five-star treatment and tours to every corner of the Stuttgart base which is actually divided into four parts (we live on Patch Barracks)… Our house was already temporarily furnished with nearly everything we’ll need… The wives even came in to give it the little touches of home including a stocked refrigerator… Our shipment won’t arrive until late August, but for now I’m just happy to hang my clothes up in a closet and put the suitcase away at last (at least until I’m uprooted yet again for my move to Oxford)…

We ventured into Stuttgart yesterday with the Chaplain’s wife to get a introduction to the S-bahn (train) and bus system… It was gorgeous and we ran across the most amazing German Fish Festival in the process… I think Carolyn, Drayton, and I are going to fit right in here… Because Germans, much like the Bird kids, know their food! Haha On Tuesday we plan to venture to Heidelberg with our personal tour guide… Should be fun!

We’re still without internet or phone at home… So for now my only saving grace is the library which I think I’m going to eventually be living in once I get a little more free-time… We’ve been so busy with tours, visitors, and dinners that we’ve hardly had time to readjust to the time-change… Dad’s “Change of Command” is tomorrow morning and everywhere we go people seem to be in a buzz about it… It’s strange to be local-celebrities, but it’s such a small post that I guess having a new Garrison Commander is a really big deal… Everybody’s very excited for tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to it settling down so I can catch up on some writing and reading…

But for now I think that’s it… Hopefully we’ll have fun pictures of Heidelberg next time! :-)

With Love from Germany… Mary

In Retrospect…

One of my favorite parts of traveling abroad is always coming home and letting my thoughts unravel in retrospect… The greatest lessons and learning always seem to occur once I return to my normal routine in the States… And something tells me, much like my previous adventures in Africa and South America, that I’ll still be thinking and writing about my experience in Guatemala long after all my dirty clothes have finally been washed clean of sweat and dust, and I have recovered from this cold that I inevitably caught on the flight home…

So after only 3 days back in the States, I find it hard to pinpoint what will be the over-arching lesson that remains with me as I move forward… Although I am struck by two emerging themes that stayed with me throughout the trip…

The first was my own consciousness of how I was perceived by the women… I found that on this trip I was acutely aware of things as simple as my own body language. Almost as if, for the first time in my travels abroad, I was embarrassed to be rich or white. I swear I would have felt much more comfortable if I could have walked into the village wearing a traditional wrap and mud-drenched sandals… I think it made me uncomfortable because I’m beginning to resent the power-differential that I fear is always inevitably present when I travel to these communities. I want to know the women on a more personal level than visitor… And while I will never be one of them, I am beginning to resent what limits me (my mannerisms, language barriers, clothing, attitude, ect.). I stand out when all I really want to do is blend… I want to make them comfortable with me. I don’t want to be feared or thought of as different or befuddling… Yet I know that my ways as a foreigner can easily be intimidating without my realizing it, especially when there is the assumption that I came to bring/teach them something…

On this trip, for the first time in my experiences abroad, I brought only myself (and a few midwives kits put together by our team). I did not come to deliver medical care, or pass out stickers or clothing to the children. I only brought me and my thoughts… I came to learn. I came to be taught. I came to reverse the power-differential for once… I came because I acknowledge that I (as an American) do not know everything. I came because I believed (and absolutely believe now) that there was some wisdom that I could learn from their way of life… So any perceived difference in economic status or education seemed like a threat to that mission this time-around… I wanted them to know that I valued what they had to offer to the world… I wanted them to appreciate that wealth and privilege has not made me infallible    or all-knowing….

The second realization has been in acknowledging the incredible delicacy and complexity of these kinds of issues. I suppose I never thought that I would waltz into any culture I studied and miraculously save the day (as if I had some wisdom or knowledge, after enough degrees, that would allow me to devise some previously unseen solution to the debacle of women’s healthcare in developing nations)… I knew that these issues, in theory, were a complex mixture of the political, sociological, religious, and other… They far surpassed the thought process of most MDs, which was what has drawn me to the social sciences searching for some deeper explanation… But the reality of actually witnessing the push and pull of these problems, and their very real-life affects on the women who are trapped in the middle, has been startling to say the least.

Something as simple as a language barrier can seem to make or break access to healthcare for these women… In theory, a difference in spoken languages can be over-come… It’s as simple as getting a translator, right? Wrong. Watching the rural communities in Guatemala has taught me that the difference between Quiche and Spanish is greater than the words that separate them… It’s the cultural beliefs that those languages unwittingly convey. It’s the stereotypes and racism against Quiche-speaking (and other dialects of Mayan languages in the area, such as Mam) people that the use of those ancient languages illicit. Furthermore, translation does not necessarily equal understanding. How do you treat patients who lack the vocabulary to understand a world of medicine so different from their own ancient traditions? There simply is no vocabulary.

And language was only the beginning of understanding what prevents Quiche women from gaining proper access to healthcare. Obviously there are the anticipated problems with infrastructure (roads, access to transportation, ect.) and affordability, which are common issues in most rural areas of developing nations… There are government policies which indirectly discriminate against traditional Mayan midwifery practices, thus making Mayan women less likely to seek treatment at a public hospital… There is family hierarchy and structure that gives enormous weight and influence to mother-in-laws/mothers/husbands when it comes to determining where and how an expectant woman will deliver… There is a tradition of Mayan medicine and religion that is being threatened to near extinction…

And to think that I had days where I thought my tissue engineering research was difficult… Ha! The reality of actually witnessing the social complexities of healthcare in impoverished communities is completing over-whelming to be honest… I’m at a loss for where to begin. I don’t even know what I still need to know so that I can begin to help.

And at the same time part of me has begun to question my motive for wanting to help… I am beginning to abhor the attitude that these cultures need to be fixed (as if the wealthy well-educated white American woman knows better than centuries of ancient Mayan traditions)… So how do you balance desire to improve quality of life within a community with a desire to preserve their cultural beliefs? How do you make sure compassion is not mistaken for pity?

The Mayan women are strong and beautiful and wise… To pity them would be to do their long-lived traditions a dishonor. They do not need the minute wisdom of a American in her mere 20’s to teach them how to deliver babies… Yet, I know I can improve their lives… I know that my knowledge and experiences are very different yet not inconsequential to their desire to care for their own women. We have a common goal, the question is only… How can I contribute to helping them reaching it?

Ajmaq the "Unknown" Nawal...

Just a short update for tonight because we probably won't have access to internet for the rest of the trip... Today we drove up to the ACAM midwifery clinic outside of Quetzaltenango... It was a beautiful facility and it was great to hear more about the midwives work in training the Quiche speaking midwives in the surrounding villages...

The highlight of the day (other than the gorgeous weather! Yes, this was the first day we saw the sun for more than a few minutes... haha) was participating in a Mayan ceremony... We hiked up to an ancient Mayan alter in the woods and a Mayan priest led us in a 2-3 hour ritual ceremony... It was an amazing experience to be in nature praying to "mother earth" and God with the midwives and priest... The Mayan priest took the time to bless and pray over each of us to be guided be our nawal (the unique spirit guide that leads each individual according to their birth-date in the Sacred Mayan calendar)... My nawal is Ajmaq... Despite my desperate attempts to try to figure out what it means, I'll have to fill everyone else in later... Haha! This Mayan spiritual thing is confusing... :-) It is kind of funny though, that one of the other gals in my dorm-style room is also Ajmaq and she seems to be the alter ego of my nawal... All the Ajmaq habits I don't have she does and vice-versa... Ha! We've determined it was destiny!

Well that's all for tonight... We're off to go Salsa dancing at the Centre Park in Quetzaltenango... Should be fun! Then tomorrow morning we're headed to Antigua for a day of touring the Mayan Ruins and shopping in the markets... Saturday morning I'll be on a plane back to the States by 11am and arriving stateside by 9pm that night assuming everything goes as planned!

Clowning Around in Guatemala!

Another wonderful day in Guatemala passed... Today was absolutely amazing; a true cultural experience. It was raining cats and dogs this morning, but several of the girls and I decided to dress up in clown regalia to entertain the little kids that peek out of their houses everytime the gringos walk through the village... It became our new mission to coax them out of their houses to play... Haha...

So needless to say we dressed up in ridiculous, colorful clothing... Hair in ponytails, wild make-up and all only to be soaked by the worst downpour we've seen since being in the country... On the way out to the village we had to make a detour off the highway because of mudslides that covered the whole side of our two lanes (And by the way, Guatemalans have no qualms driving the opposite direction down a one-way highway! Just u-turn in the middle of the road and head in the direction you came from while dodging the oncoming traffic... Yikes!)... We finally made it out to the village safe and sound and began sitting in on our third day of midwifery training from the ACOM midwives...

Today we covered labor and delivery and post-partum care... And I am absolutely convinced I should be coming back to Guatemala to have Antonina deliver my own babies one day... What gentle loving care these women receive! The Mayans definitely got a few things right! The midwives, rather hilariously, acted out a delivery... Cristina (one of the three ACOM midwife instructors) was so funny putting the fake baby under her skirt in the vertex position... Such an actress! She would walk around fake moaning in pain, cursing her fake-husband and begging for help from "mi mama"... As she was fake-delivering she even moaned out, "Oh my-my-my... My esposa is out with another woman instead of being here!" Needless to say all us young American gals gasped, double checking to make sure we'd gotten the translation right... But the Quiche midwives just sat there chuckling and nodding as if this was a common occurrence and well known joke amongst the women...

The training overall was amazing... Massage seems to be a part of everything (which I'm not at all opposed to! Ha!) and the midwives are wonderful at letting the mothers run the delivery... They work with such love and care for the women they treat... I didn't realize how much that was lacking from our western medical deliveries until I heard about the care that goes into each and every woman's delivery... Every birth is a special celebratory experience shared amongst the women in the village... Their sense of community is absolutely inspirational; one woman's pain or joy is shared by all...

It rained all morning, to the point that I was a little panicked we wouldn't make it out of the village (about an hour of muddy, pot-hole ridden roads stood between us and the main road!)... After leaving the village successfully, we headed to Hilda's home near Xela to get a traditional Mayan sweat bath...

It was absolutely amazing! The tamazcal is the traditional Mayan sweat lodge that plays an important role both in Mayan religious ceremonies, and (interestingly enough!) in post-partum treatments for new mothers... We stripped down to bathing suits/underwear (or less once inside! Gotta love being in a group of all women!) and I LOVED it... The tamazcal is heated by water poured over scalding rocks in the center... While inside you meditate, sing, and beat yourself with "holy aloe" branches soaked in steaming mineral water... I was one of the first in and the last out... It felt wonderful to sweat out all the toxins and stress of the last few days!

I was thinking about it on the way home... And I am SO incredibly lucky... At the age of only 21, I have had the privilege to sit in a ritual tamazcal sweat bath with Mayan midwives, to hike the Ruins of Pisac in Peru, to join in a Massai marital dance... I've traded stories with people that speak Quiche, Swahili, Masaai, Spanish, Quechua, and Mam... I've met people that have completely different religious beliefs and perspectives... Who worship mother earth, God, Jesus Christ, the goddess Ix-Chel and more... What a rich and interesting life, and I'm only beginning! Haha! Now there's talk of a plan to go salsa dancing... So the rest will have to wait... :-)

Back in the City of Babel...

Today we headed out to the village for the first day... Thank goodness the rain held off long enough for us to get up the mountain without sliding off the roads... It was a little sticky at some spots (to be expected), but I actually enjoyed having to get out and hike a ways while the bus got through the mud... The scenery was absolutely breath-taking (no pun intended since the alititude would take your breath away if the view didn't! Ha!)... It was hard to tell how high the surrounding mountains actually were because we seemed to literally be in the clouds...

Upon arriving in the village, we were greeted by two Spanish speaking midwives from a neighboring community... The midwives, Cristina and Antonita, are from a local organization that focuses on training the women of more rural, impoverished, and Queche speaking villages in the ways of Mayan midwifery... Once again, it seems that language barriers will be the bane of my existence (and future work abroad)... Everything seemed to take 5x longer because of all the translations. All the women were excited and eager to share their own experiences and backgrounds, but it seemed as if we were back in the town of Babel... From Queche to Spanish then Spanish to English; the simplist statement takes forever...

I'm learning to appreciate the much more wholistic and spiritual Mayan approach to pregnancy. Every little action and decision in the Mayan culture is based around the Sacred Mayan Calendar. You can't even pick herbs for your patients unless you first plan out the best day according to the Mayan calendar... Everything is ritual here...

I sat in on a midwifery class in the morning led by Antonita and Cristina... We covered prenatal treatments for women from about 2-4 months into pregnancy... The most interest part was the masses of herbs they taught the women how to use to treat basic pregnancy ailments (such as nausea, bleeding, and lack of appetite)... I'm finding it somewhat difficult to sort through my feelings on their more "natural" approach because I have been trained to inherently "trust" western medicine and science... In some cases I know that western medicine could improve quality of life for these women, but I am beginning to understand the multi-cultural quagmire that comes with medical globalization... These women are trying to reclaim their Mayan heritage in an era when midwifery is not respected by the scientific world that I come from... They do not view western medicine as the enemy, but rather as a supplement that should come only when absolutely necessary... It's a delicate and complicated social balance with the pregnant woman left lost somewhere in the middle of two colliding cultures...

Lots to think about and keep me busy! With love from Guatemala... ~Mary

Another Summer... Another Country!

So I'm finally safe and sound in Guatemala! After a long day of flying, beginning with a 4am wake up call in Washington DC, we finally landed in Guatemala City... As soon as we boarded the bus the rain began and hasn't ceased since (definitely the opposite of the severe drought I experienced last summer in Kenya, but I guess it's good to get a taste of all extreme forms of weather)... The bus-ride which should have been 2 hours took closer to 4... Huge mudslides and drainage from rainfall have destroyed much of the mountainous roads... Leaving huge gaping holes in the roads large enough for several vehicles to have fallen through... But we made it to Panajachel on the famous Lake Atitlan by night-fall... I finally managed to sleep (being a little bit of an insomniac is probably not a positive trait for a world traveler) last night... Our little mountain bungalows were quaint, cozy and even had toilets (a real treat after Kenya!)... It rained all through the night, but we still managed to hike down to the Lake for a quick look... We'd planned to spend the whole day by Atitlan but with all the rain Lupe (our amazing host from the AMA recommended we get out of the valley before, as she so elegantly put it, "the mountains began to melt"... :-) Needless to say, it sounded like a good enough reason to me...

Yet another 2 hour bus ride and we're finally settled at the AMA house in Quetzaltenango (the second largest city in Guatemala)... The house is absolutely amazing and luxurious by my standards... Complete with wireless internet (hence my ability to post a quick update and photos), running water, electricity, and a telephone... It's heaven as far as I'm concerned... We took a quick walk around the city square before lunch and I'm looking forward to exploring the town and local churches in more detail over the next few days, since this will be our home base for the rest of the trips (Yay for no more mudslide ridden mountain roads!)...

I'm loving getting to know the women, both in our group and at the AMA house... Some of our hosts that work with AMA are absolutely inspirational... Such mature and wise visions for the women of this country, particularly the Mayan women... There is definitely a lot I can learn here, and I'm thankful to be on a trip abroad that for the first time, is not focused on providing something but rather just listening and learning... While philanthropic work abroad is important I'm learning that it can sometimes underscore the importance of learning something in return from the local people... These women have a lot to offer in terms of guidance and vision for the future...

Anyhow, I'll keep it short... After a quick siesta we're headed to the house of a local (and I mean that relatively since I think it's rather rural... haha) traditional Mayan bone-setter and chiropractor... It should be an interesting introduction into tradtional Mayan healthcare... Since I do have internet I'll most likely try to post a few more times... Our schedule is supposed to be full but since we're working around the never ending rain and mountain conditions I may have more down-time that I previously expected... Which is actually not a completely bad thing since I'm enjoying the reading/writing time to myself... Ha!

Love to all from Central America! -Mary