Meet the ICM treasurer! Franka Cadee spoke to Elizabeth Duff about life and work in the UK, in Africa, in the Netherlands and in midwifery--and why the ICM is 'wearing new shoes'.

• Auteur: Duff, Elizabeth
• Tenlastelegging: Interview

Q: How did all this start--did you always want to be a midwife, or did it creep up and surprise you?

FC: My original ambition was to be an anthropologist. I got as far as the last year of my anthropology studies at the London School of Economics, in the UK, then I suddenly realised what I really wanted was to be a midwife. At that time, in the 1980s, it was difficult to find a course for direct--entry midwifery so I started off by becoming a nurse ... I went on to qualify as a midwife in 1991, and in between the two I had my baby daughter Ella--born at home--which also gave me some extra training!

Q: We seem to be travelling very fast through your life ... could you go back a bit and tell us why you were in the UK at all, as you come from the Netherlands?

FC: Of course--the answer is that my parents worked in international development, and therefore they moved around from one country to another. When I was very young, I moved with them, and received my education either in local schools or at home. However, when I grew older, I was sent to boarding school in the UK. I returned to join my family during the holidays, so I spent time in a many parts of the world, including Pakistan, Tanzania, Sudan, Nicaragua and Sierra Leone.

Q: But following your midwifery studies in London, you decided to stay there for a while?

FC: Yes; I did my training at the Royal London Hospital, and I was able to work there for a time. However, I very much wanted to carry out home births and at that time it wasn't encouraged in the national health service--especially not for newly qualified midwives--so I also practised as an independent midwife.

Q: It all sounds like a lot of hard work, when you had a young baby to look after?

FC: Sometimes Ella came with me to attend a birth, and everything seemed to work out. Looking back, it must have been quite difficult at times, but it was what I wanted to do, so there was no question of giving it up. I have always told my children that they come first--they are even more important to me than my work--but they have learned that this still sometimes means I have to rush out of the house in the middle of reading a story or playing a game.

Q: What made you decide to return to the Netherlands?

FC: I was looking for a job outside London, as I felt the children would be better away from the city as they grew up. I couldn't find anything I wanted straight away, then my friend Dora [Opoku] saw an advertisement in the Midwives Chronicle for a midwife to work in a partnership in...