Hi everyone!
I will be spending this summer interning and conducting interviews at Maternidad La Luz (MLL), a birth center and midwifery school in El Paso, Texas. I am extremely grateful to have the opportunity to work with the wonderful staff midwives, student midwives, and clients at MLL in just a few weeks and to UNC's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, APPLES Community-Based Research grant, and Honor's Thesis Research grant for making it all possible. I will be attending and participating in appointments and births, as well as attending courses with other student midwives. I will spend about forty-eight hours per week in the clinic, do two, twenty-four hour shifts at the center per week, and conduct and transcribe interviews somewhere in between. Hopefully there will be some time to explore some of western Texas and southern New Mexico's great hiking and sights, too!
Right now, I am working with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to ensure my research is ethical and that the rights of participants are protected. It is a long back-and-forth process and I am trying to get everything worked out before I drive out to El Paso with my partner and traveling adventurer, Sam. Because public transportation is pretty minimal in El Paso, the midwife I will be living with, Judith, advised that I bring my car out to El Paso. Sam and I will leave Sunday, May 23rd and travel through Montgomery, AL; New Orleans, LA; Austin, TX; San Antonio, TX; and Ozona, TX until we reach El Paso on Thursday, May 27.
Stay tuned for photos from our trip across the country in about a week and a half!
- Kimberly
Hello, just wanted to say I read your journal years ago and absolutely LOVED it. It was totally inspirational and so full of love and hope and excitement. Thank you very much for finding the time and writing so well. I hope you are an amazing midwife/doula/everything by now, because you so deserve it. Thanks again. Cliona
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