The Nazareth conference was held
recently to celebrate 150 years since a tiny dispensary was established in
Nazareth by a devout Scottish couple, Dr. Kaloost Varden and his wife. The
hospital was then officially adopted by the Church of Scotland and today it is
the Israel Government Hospital for Nazareth, still supported from
Scotland.
Irene Murray was the head midwife there
for many years and through the work of Wendy Blumfield as a
childbirth educator, they all became good friends. Workshops were given which
were attended by Arab and Jewish midwives and Tipat Halav (child welfare clinic)
nurses from the kibbutzim and villages around as well as from the Nazareth
hospitals.
The conference workshop was given by
another British midwife, Kathryn Gutteridge, on the subject of helping women in
childbirth after a history of sexual abuse, a problem that applies to every
culture.
L to R Irene Murray (former head midwife),
Wendy Blumfield (childbirth educator) and
R. Miriam Shibli current head midwifery
tutor.
In the audience were midwives,
social workers, childbirth educators and doulas, Arab Moslem and Christian,
Jewish secular and religious. Many of them knew each other, hugged on meeting
and chatted so much it was difficult to keep the coffee breaks to the allotted
time.
The foreign media should witness these multi-cultural peaceful events.
