Welcome to our village. We're glad y'all have come to Austin. In planning this wonderful conference, one of our goals has been to offer you all opportunities to nurture and support yourselves and each other. Let me tell you why this is so important to us.

Last year on the Internet, I read about a midwife down in Australia who was frustrated with the system and the difficulty she found having her ideas heard by other midwives. She was subjected to criticism and character assassination, and heard from more experienced midwives that she didn't know anything because she was new and they'd been doing it longer. She committed suicide.

Her story is a great example of our profession's biggest problem -- internalized oppression. And not one of us has escaped its effects.

I believe midwifery is an oppressed profession. For decades, we have been the target of bad press that portrays us as dirty and dangerous. Today, many people still do not know that midwives exist, and many who do know about us believe they are settling for lower quality care if they use a midwife rather than a doctor. All over the world, midwives are under legal attack. But it's what we do to each other that is keeping us from succeeding completely in our efforts to liberate ourselves.

How has this happened to us? Well, if we get invalidated, exploited, or abused -- and that happens to each of us sooner or later -- every time we suffer these things and don't do anything to deal with our feelings about it, that hurt stays inside us until we can play it out. If we don't actively work on these feelings, we play them out where we think we are safe--on ourselves, and on those we have power over.

So we attack and criticize the children of our profession--the students and new midwives. We attack and criticize each other, finding fault, saying "she practices differently than I do, therefore she is doing it wrong". Someone steps forward with courage to work on changing things for the better, and instead of being supported, gets attacked and critized some more. So we isolate from each other.

Any time I feel intolerant of, irritated by, impatient with, embarrassed by, ashamed of, better than, not as good as, fearful of, not safe with, isolated from, mistrustful of, not cared about by, unable to support, or not supported by, another midwife, internalized oppression is at work. And if I act or don't act based on any of these feelings, I am giving in to oppression. The good news is that alot of work has already been done on this problem. Many of us have done personal work on our own issues. We are coming together more and more; taking the risk of sharing our problems with each other and finding out we are loved; reaching out to midwives different from us and building bridges instead of walls. At the organizational level, we are using processes that are inclusive rather than exclusive, so that every voice may be heard.

Our oppressive behaviors have served our profession and helped it to survive the external attacks. But we can no longer settle for surviving. Our profession must thrive so that every woman can have a midwife if she chooses. As we strengthen our profession, we are changing birth and changing our culture for the better.

In coming together this weekend as a community of midwives, it is vital that we honor and cherish the elders of our profession, the children of our profession, and everyone inbetween.

There is not one of us who has not reached deep into her heart to help a woman. We cannot keep doing this if we don't refill the well. We need to look not only to our Higher Source, but to each other. Every one of us needs and deserves to be nurtured, honored and supported by each other.

[To symbolize this we want to invite you all to participate in a short ceremony to honor the tools of our trade, our hands. We are going to exchange hand massages. If you don't feel comfortable participating, that's okay. If you are not a midwife and want to participate, please do.

There are people handing out lotion. Pick up some, and pair up with someone you don't know. Take each other by the hands. Honor those hands. Acknowledge the wonderful work that they do. Honor the person that goes with those hands. One of you massage the other one's hands, and I'll let you know when to switch.

The following was forwarded to me from the Internet midwife list and I'd like to share it with you as you nurture each other, since I think it's appropriate.

"When a new client comes to me and asks about what kind of instruments or tools I use, I smile and hold up my hands. After twenty years and some 2500 births, I am grateful for my hands and for the knowledge that they have all by themselves. My hands are used to soothe a brow, to massage a back, to pour water on a laboring tummy, to assure with a gentle touch that all is well, to lift a new baby onto mom's tummy. And yes, to lift a stubborn cervical lip, to massage away an adhesion caused by prior forceps, to support a perineum with a wicked old episiotomy scar. When I die, I want my only grave marker to be two beautiful hands, folded in prayer." Thank you Valerie El Halta, for these beautiful words.

Do you feel nurtured and honored?] We can continue to do this for ourselves and for each other, through the rest of the conference and for the rest of our lives.