Dear midwife colleagues, dear kaiwhakawh?nau,

I hope this email finds you well. My name is Linda, I am a home birth midwife from Berlin, Germany.  In February 2026 I will make the long journey to your beautiful country. It would mean the world to me to be able to meet with a kaiwhakawh?nau who is interested in sharing some of her time with me.  For a chat, a walk in nature, a workshop, an introduction into the art of Maori Midwife - whatever you have time for and feels good for you.  I don't mean to come with empty hands.  I would be very happy to exchange knowledge - I can show various body work / massage as well as Rebozo techniques from Mexico.  I can also talk about the challenges midwives and families face in Germany today.  I?ll be based in Wellington first and fly out from Auckland on the 26th of February.  I'd be happy to go anywhere in Aotearoa to meet up.  Thank you very much for your time and understanding.  I would greatly appreciate your reply. 

Kind regards

Linda Pearl Kurzweil 

linda@kurzweil-hebamme.de

Signal/ WhatsAPP:  +4915736218249

Instagram: hebammelindakurzweil

About myself:  I am an independent home birth midwife for 15 years and a mother of twin daughters.  In my work I focus on the individual needs of women and their families in their perinatal process. I always try to be their devoted and reliable agent guiding them through that important transformation.  About 10 years ago I travelled to Mexico in order to widen my horizon, to see what?s possible beyond the clinical western belief system. Some Indigenous midwives generously shared their holistic knowledge with me. I am very very grateful that they did so. Since then I am sharing some of their knowledge among the midwives in Germany, showing it to my students and colleagues. The mothers I work with are taking great benefit from it. In 2020 I did a Bachelors degree in midwifery. In my thesis I focused on the rituals and traditions of Indigenous Mexican midwives and how it can help women in Germany support them with their rites of passage. I found out that most of our own traditional knowledge is sadly forgotten for various reasons. And that it is so important to save and protect traditional knowledge, rooted in nature- as long as it still exists in the world. I am aware that I come from a colonial background and consider myself a postmodern midwife.