Unheard and Not Understood

By Salome Mwangi, Boise, Idaho, U.S.

One day early on during the shelter in place, I was helping a provider, as an interpreter in Kiswahili. The first question the client asked was, “Why hasn’t the bus come to pick up my children and take them to school?” She then asked us to call the school to find out whether her children were at the correct bus stop, at the correct pick up time.

I thought, “Oh my goodness, they have been going out and waiting for the bus to take them to school, not even knowing that schools have been shut down.”

I work within the refugee community in Idaho, and I’ve been thinking about how scary and confusing that was, even for those of us who speak English. At least we understand the language and the news. It made me realize how much I take for granted. It also made me wonder how many messages are being sent out that are falling on dry ground and dying there, unheard, and not understood.

I’m really glad that Boise City came up with ways to communicate with those who do not speak English. We had to go above and beyond the Zoom calls and all the other media that many people cannot access– they use WhatsApp. Zoom as a communication tool does not even appear on their radar, and even if it did, it would be too complicated for many of our clients, even those with the language and technical skills. 

So we started communicating with people via WhatsApp, to help them feel less isolated, especially from information. We spread the word: how do you apply for unemployment, how can you get help with this, without the opportunity to meet face to face?

I moved to the United States from Kenya many years ago. I already spoke English, when I came. I’m able to sort through the barrage of information and differentiate between the fake news and the real news. Too many people have no clue about what’s the news and what’s not, what to do and how to do it, and where to reach out for support. We’re doing our best to change this.

Photo: "School Bus Cameras and lighting" by Government of Prince Edward Island is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0