Erie Refugee Immersion

On any given day my biggest variance in my use of language is whether I choose to speak Received English or Pittsburghese. Often I’ll pepper in some German or Russian, but never as a means of extended communication. Working with adult refugees at St. Stanisław’s ii Erie was certainly a rare experience.

Suddenly a massive language barrier was erected between us and them and Pittsburghese’s usefulness ran out. But through this adventure of human communication, I learned many valuable things and was able to make a difference in the lives of a couple people.

Seated in a former elementary school classroom, I looked around to see our cohort ready at their stations. The Catholic Charities director had left his laptop on my desk on and unlocked. Nobody quite knew what to expect. Where were our refugees from? How long have they been here? Do they want to be here? Can they speak English? And poignant to my station, how do I, a life-long student, help actual adults find adult careers? All was answered in time.

The refugees shuffled in timidly. Most were African, from the Congo. One came over to my desk, a young woman. She shook my hand limply and I jumped into a mock interview which was derailed by the fact that she could not speak English. I had to take a step back and reevaluate. I spoke to her in French and she opened up, but this was not sustainable as my French is extremely limited. That is when I opened Google Translate on the laptop. I was nervous that this would be in vain, as I have had bad experiences with the platform before. But alas, it worked for Swahili. The only problem was that I could not understand her responses because I speak no Swahili. It sounds like this would be frustrating but it actually lightened the mood as we both were forced to realize that we absolutely could not communicate through language.

From that place of cluelessness we moved on to more intuitive methods. Through a combination of miming, sound effects, and smiles we were able to establish that she is a good cook, enjoys cleaning, and has four small children. She loves American food and would rather be nowhere else. When we came to a closing point I thanked her, shook her hand, and instructed with my other hand that she was supposed to grab mine firmly. After her I had four other people. The intuitive strategy worked for the most part, until I got a man who was visibly frustrated at not being able to speak past a few words. He had been in the country for nine months. That session was short and unproductive. The Swahili Google Translate was somewhat effective, but could only take us so far.

My last man was named Jeremiah. He had been in America for only four months and spoke good English; he said he had started learning it in the refugee camp about a year ago. Jeremiah was expressive, personable, and motivated to make a life for himself in Erie. When our time together had come to an end, I shook his hand and instructed once more to grab firmly. He was extraordinarily appreciative of such a small gesture.

I was energized by this experience. Communicating past language barriers can be daunting but ultimately taught me a lot about how I communicate in general. There seems to be an intuition common to all human beings, a basic wordless way we can share ideas. I was also saddened for my refugees that knew so little English. These were people that spoke four or five languages, but after months in America had picked up such a tiny amount of English. Then there was Jeremiah, who barely landed and could carry full-blown conversations.

I found their lack of English skills concerning, as I know they are capable. I wonder what is holding some of them back. They must be under an incredible amount of stress leaving their homes and coming into a place so different from the African interior. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to adjust from one environment to another.

What I took from this experience is complex. On one hand I now have the ecstatic realization that intuitive communication is something most people seem to have as an innate ability. On the other hand, I am confused and saddened about the longevity of the language barrier. I would like to return, and perhaps bring a group to keep this project going.