Ingrid Berry
RETIRED RN, MIDWIFE & HEALTH ADMINISTRATORCAKE DECORATORWRITERSTUDENT OF ESCHATOLOGY
Ingrid Berry was born and bred in the midlands of Kwa Zulu Natal, the youngest of four children in a modest income household. Her father was a policeman and her mother, a civil servant. Although she wanted to study the arts and sciences, Ingrid grew up in generation that assumed sons would be university graduates and daughters would be secretaries, and was therefore prohibited from attempting subjects at school, 'not intended for girls.'
At school, her English teacher suggested that Ingrid had a flair for writing, but once she obtained matriculation, there was no option for her to obtain a college or university education. This had been a privilege only offered to her much older brother a decade earlier, and Ingrid had to find employment to support herself. In the seventies there were only two options to study and earn a living simultaneously, so Ingrid opted for nursing over teaching.
Once a path is chosen, it becomes a journey, and the road travelled grows long. Ingrid's nursing journey saw her through four decades and three countries, specialising in fields ranging from neonates to gerontology and ultimately health administration. But her personal journey was far different from her professional journey. Applying all she had learned professionally about health proved disastrous to her own health and wellbeing. Facing a major health crisis in 2014 precipitated a journey down a new path; a journey of research and personal discovery.
An about-turn down a different road as she returned to the place where, as a young and idealistic teenager, her teacher had once told her 'you should write'. Back to the place where 'secretarial' training and keyboard skills, once despised, became a safe haven to explore the written word.
At school, her English teacher suggested that Ingrid had a flair for writing, but once she obtained matriculation, there was no option for her to obtain a college or university education. This had been a privilege only offered to her much older brother a decade earlier, and Ingrid had to find employment to support herself. In the seventies there were only two options to study and earn a living simultaneously, so Ingrid opted for nursing over teaching.
Once a path is chosen, it becomes a journey, and the road travelled grows long. Ingrid's nursing journey saw her through four decades and three countries, specialising in fields ranging from neonates to gerontology and ultimately health administration. But her personal journey was far different from her professional journey. Applying all she had learned professionally about health proved disastrous to her own health and wellbeing. Facing a major health crisis in 2014 precipitated a journey down a new path; a journey of research and personal discovery.
An about-turn down a different road as she returned to the place where, as a young and idealistic teenager, her teacher had once told her 'you should write'. Back to the place where 'secretarial' training and keyboard skills, once despised, became a safe haven to explore the written word.
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