Åres Særlige Pris 2013. Tale af Prismodtager Ágnes Geréb
Speach by Ágnes Geréb. Obstetrician and midwife in Budapest.
The essence of what I would like to say is: Thank you.
Let me turn your attention to the Tower of Babel as I am trying to show my feelings about the ’Good Start in Life’ Foundation. You know, there used to be a common language but it got confused. But a cry, a wish seems to be resounding from the humming of all the confused languages; the wish of midwives the wish of all those helping with childbirth and that is “Let’s give everybody an equally good start in life”.
Once upon a time – in 1986 – I got to London and dropped in to the very first international homebirth conference in the world. I didn’t know English at the time but I felt that I understood everything. And this came to me as a revelation.
In 1990 – after attending two homebirths in Hungary – I spent a few weeks in the USA with a midwife who attended home births. Although I didn’t understand much of the everyday language, I felt that I understood everything in the birth centre and at births. Plus, it came to me as a revelation.
In 1992 I organized the first international conference on childbirth with Michel Odent, Sheila Kitzinger, Wendy Savage, Kitty Ernst and others in my hometown in Hungary.
I didn’t speak English well enough, but I felt I understood everything. And, this was another revelation.
From that time on I‘ve organized about 10 international meetings and conferences in Hungary, and I attended several Midwifery Today conferences, and I’ve always felt I understood everything.
Three years ago when I was in prison my older daughter sent me a book written by a midwife in English – I could read it without any problems. And again, this was another of those “aha”-moments.
Under my house arrest I have a lot of time to contemplate things. In contemplating my relationship to languages I realised that I would understand even a Chinese midwife speaking Chinese about her experiences and feelings around a real, undisturbed birth. Now I think every meeting, every encounter which really takes place among midwives who respect undisturbed birth has taken me to a territory where there is a common language. Every meeting, every encounter which really takes place among midwives who respect undisturbed birth has taken me to some essence – all these encounters have helped me and I suppose all of us to understand, to recognise and to get reinforcement that the path we are following is the right one. We have all found that we all use the same language as our mothers and daughters no matter in which country or which age we live; the language of being born, giving birth, helping women in childbirth, being present and melting into birth.
Giving the equal chance of a Good Start in Life to everybody, to give them the possibility of being born undisturbed will obviously contribute to the ability of the person who’s been born in this way to “live and let live” as Baltasar Gracián Y Morales, writer and monk in the 17th century said. And this attitude will give peace a bigger chance.
James Mason, a 19th century chess player had a famous saying: 'Every pawn is a potential queen'. I often heard the late Miklós Erdély, the great avant-garde artist and grandfather of my two younger children refer to this as follows: 'Every pawn is pregnant with a queen’. This captures perfectly one of the most essential attitudes of midwives and mothers to a newborn baby.
Let me send a message to all the midwives in the world: let’s not allow the common language that lives in all of us, the language of birth to become confused.
Let me say thank you again to the Good Start in Life Foundation for creating this award and for calling attention in Denmark and all over the world to peace and equality by this award
In ending I would like to give special thanks to the following:
Mr. Bertel Haarder, senior member of the current Danish parliament, whom I know is a great supporter of the work of the Good Start in Life organisation and I am grateful and honoured that he is here today to present this prestigious award.
Let me say thank you to A Good Start in Life and their board members and a special thanks to Cecilia Virgin its founder. I am aware that since 1989, the Foundation has been awarding professionals who strive to help and support families throughout the pregnancy, birth and the first year of a child's life. I am also very conscious that this is the first time in the history of the award that it’s been given to someone outside of Denmark and I am both honoured and humbled to be that recipient.
I would like to say thank you to the Danish Midwives Association and their president Lillian Bondo who set out to support my personal attendance in Copenhagen and who has ensured that Donal Kerry, international representative of activists of the Freedom of Birth movement in Hungary, could be in Copenhagen today on my behalf.
And thank you to the Metropolitan University Midwifery Education Unit for hosting the award ceremony and for their strong support for physiological birth and for having a strong midwifery profession and strong midwifery research in place.
And almost finally let me say thank you to Jette Clausen, Lecturer in Midwifery at the Metropolitan University, who did most to bring my work and situation to the attention of the award organisation
And last but not least I would like to thank Donal for all that he’s been doing for me, but mostly I thank him for the opportunity to be present at the birth of his children.
Thank you.