The Race of Life and the Lessons We Learn - an Open Letter

Dear respected colleagues and friends,

How do I put into words things that I have failed to address for years?

Let me set the background. I’m a first-generation immigrant. English is not my first language. I struggle differentiating ‘v and ‘w’ sounds, and I slow down what I’m saying to ensure I get this process and get it right – you see, only one of these sounds exists in my mother tongue. Often I am left lost with colloquialisms. Once I asked a doctor ‘if I could scratch his brain’ rather than ‘pick’ it. I laugh when it’s mentioned but internally I’m mortified – too embarrassed to converse with him after this incident. I told another midwife and she then said she has done this a lot and that ‘it’s no biggie’, not realising the cultural insecurities and vulnerabilities this incident triggered for me when she simply laughed it off.

Culturally speaking, I grew up in an extremely sheltered family, speaking my native language at home and growing up in an abstract environment to that at school. The dual expectation of family and society caused a long-lasting identity crisis, making it difficult to find my authentic self within this restricted parallel universe.

At home I was taught not to question authority, and respect those in authority unreservedly as any disrespect would influence how ‘they’ treated us, our requests or applications as we are considered ‘other’. I was young – I argued often, saying that ‘we’ are all the same, unaware of the insults and labels used to describe us.

To continue reading article please follow link below:

https://www.all4maternity.com/the-race-of-life-and-the-lessons-we-learn-an-open-letter/

Image taken from The Practising Midwife Volume 23 Issue 8 September 2020