Synopsis
“Go home to your country,” our downstairs neighbor yells in fury at my German mother as we hang our laundry off our balcony on the second floor apartment. It is summer 1953, and we live in Rotterdam, the city of my birth. Anger, despair, an open wound of losses drench the city after World War II. Germans are the enemy even though the war is over. America becomes my icon for freedom.
I am lost. I have no idea who I am culturally, Dutch or German. A native of Holland, I love my German Mom. The situation comes to a climax after my American husband dies. Alone, I do not connect to any place or people. Born in two cultures, then rejected by one, challenges my individuality.
This lack of my cultural persona and its psychological complexity culminates in my breakdown and break through.
“On Foreign Ground” shares my cultural and spiritual quest to gain identity among Indigenous medicine men in the U.S. who rekindle my connection with The Ancestors and identify my weaknesses. Living abroad in Guatemala, Indonesia, Venezuela and Iraq, along with a stay in a Buddhist temple in Vietnam do not destroy what’s left of my identity. Integration of their cultural values and beliefs, births a new sense of unity. My transformation cherishes the oneness of the human race.
It embraces world citizenship.
I am lost. I have no idea who I am culturally, Dutch or German. A native of Holland, I love my German Mom. The situation comes to a climax after my American husband dies. Alone, I do not connect to any place or people. Born in two cultures, then rejected by one, challenges my individuality.
This lack of my cultural persona and its psychological complexity culminates in my breakdown and break through.
“On Foreign Ground” shares my cultural and spiritual quest to gain identity among Indigenous medicine men in the U.S. who rekindle my connection with The Ancestors and identify my weaknesses. Living abroad in Guatemala, Indonesia, Venezuela and Iraq, along with a stay in a Buddhist temple in Vietnam do not destroy what’s left of my identity. Integration of their cultural values and beliefs, births a new sense of unity. My transformation cherishes the oneness of the human race.
It embraces world citizenship.
“Reading “On Foreign Ground” by Ingeborg van Zanten-Hayes (Standing Bear Woman) was a powerful and delightful experience. Van Zanten-Hayes presents an easy-to-read writing style that begs readers to discover more beauty and wisdom hidden on the next page and the next. Interesting and insightful encounters take place in locations around the world where she gleans the best attributes and spiritual wisdom among peoples of diverse cultures. Standing Bear Woman is an honest person with her feet firmly planted on sacred ground regardless of where she is at the moment. Her world-views on Oneness, Forgiveness and Love give readers new perspectives into a world full of darkness. Her long journey of discovery takes her into the lodge of the shaman where she discovers her true self. There is much to be learned from this wise, intelligent and beautiful woman. She breathes the hot air of the darkness and lives to share wondrous dreams.” – Lee Standing Bear Moore, Manataka American Indian Council