Sometimes the translating process with refugee clients can be a complete miracle.  Yesterday was a busy and adventurous day for us. Thank you CFC for allowing us to speak at the IRS and connect more people to the heart of our organization. Thank you University of Memphis for the Cultural Training Class we were blessed to share our experiences and story with some very attentive, interested students. Thank you to the donors who gave in order to allow us to purchase a minivan yesterday to help with transporting our clients. Thank you to our volunteers like Cornelia who has been lovingly shuffling mothers-to-be back and forth to The Morning Center for prenatal care. Thank you to The Morning Center for being as kind and flexible as you are as well as understanding to us as we work hard to get our clients in for their routine checkups. And this is where our translating miracle story from yesterday begins…

Writing this out may be complicated for me to rightly express what I am trying to relay. Regardless, I am going to try. We have had a pregnant mother who we have been working hoping to ensure that she and her baby get the prenatal care they need. She has other small children and an elderly father. We recently assisted them with their move into an apartment of their own which was a big deal and a good accomplishment for us all. We have all been awaiting this new baby boy but nothing ever prepares you for “The Big Day”.

As I mentioned before, Asha’s Refuge works with a team of volunteers to get moms to The Morning Center for their prenatal care.  The working relationship we have with The Morning Center has been extremely helpful to our clients.  The nurses, doctors and staff at The Morning Center are always patient with our clients and whole heartedly eager for them to have the medical care and attention that they need despite the various challenges that we face when working with refugee clients.   The Morning Centers team works with telephone translators, local hospitals, insurance companies, our Asha’s Refuge executive team and our team of volunteer advocates to ensure that the client understands everything from medical recommendations to setting appointment dates.  The entire program is really unique and such a blessing to see in action.

One of our brave volunteer advocates, Cornelia, set out to take our Mom-to-Be, Chekwe, to her regular appointment. Some days are frustrating when our volunteers go to a refugee home to pick them up for their appointment and the client is nowhere to be found. No matter how much we reiterate the importance of these prenatal doctor appointments, sometimes our refugee ladies are just not quite as punctual and serious about their appointments as we American ladies can be. There is a lot of cultural training involved regarding the clock and being on time.  Then again, we have successfully taught some of our clients to be on time and when we are stuck in traffic trying to get to them, they remind us how we were not on time.  Cornelia has been recently taking two clients to their routine prenatal visits which makes it twice as challenging to get the ladies both on time together.  Yesterday, Chekwe went to her doctor and was told that it was time for her to go ahead and go to the hospital to deliver the baby.  Chekwe was not too interested in rushing to the doctor because she had several things to do at home first.  Cornelia understood the importance of getting her to the doctor because of the various signs during the evaluation that indicated that the time was NOW.  Cornelia was the only transportation that Chekwe would have to the hospital and at that time, the only person who was up to date that could translate to the doctors at the hospital her current situation.  Chekwe was taking her time and even said she was not feeling the need to go to the hospital.  Cornelia insisted she pack a bag and get in her car so that she could take her to the hospital per The Morning Center doctors request.

I received a phone call from Cornelia updating me on Chekwe’s situation.  I encouraged Cornelia to please take Chekwe to the hospital reminding her that our friend would be in good hands at the hospital.  As an Asha’s Refuge volunteer advocate who is willing to help transport clients to and from the doctor, flexibility and patience is important.  So often our volunteers prepare themselves to take someone to the doctor and the visit ends up taking longer because of follow-up transportation needs or other complicated problems that arise such has a need stop by the pharmacy to pick up a medication just prescribed, calling an insurance company or even making a second trip to the hospital.  Sometimes it is hard for our volunteer advocates and staff to manage things for even one client let alone several clients at one time.  It is crucial for Asha’s Refuge to have a team of individuals willing to tag team and help our clients in the various areas they have need.  Thankful for all Cornelia had done that day, I switched off with her and spent some time with my friend Chekwe at the hospital realizing that it could be a long night since we anticipated a newborn baby soon.

When I got to the hospital, Chekwe had just been moved into the Labor and Delivery area of the hospital.  The nurses were happy to see me but were on the phone with translators talking to Chekwe.  The telephone translation service is wonderful but I must admit it is not perfect.  There are many reasons why it does not always work and there are many reasons why I think having an Asha’s Refuge advocate alongside of Chekwe (or any refugee client) is wise and extremely helpful.  Once I arrived, many of the questions were questions that I could answer for Chekwe which took less time and made both Chekwe and the nurses more confident.  I have known Chekwe now as a client for about 7-8 months.  Like a toddler, Chekwe and I had developed a small vocabulary list together and I knew what words she was familiar with and what words she was not familiar with.  I could, therefore, be very careful with what words I spoke to Chekwe in order to get her to respond confidently.  I laugh and use humor a lot with the refugee clients.  It is funny sometimes when we play charades and use our body language to communicate, but it works.  The refugee clients are familiar with the various facial expressions I make and many can very much “communicate” at some level with me.  Not speaking the same language as another person does not threaten or scare me.  I love the clients we serve and I give all I have in order to try to communicate with them and to help make them more comfortable trying to communicate things with me.

It was necessary to induce labor for Chekwe.  Once the labor pains began, I could see that the pain was getting worse.  I began feeling a little helpless in the situation.  Chekwe could not express what level of pain she was in but I understood.  I could watch the contraction charts rise and lower as her body language expressed pain ever so quietly. As the pain intensified and the minutes went into hours, I found myself praying for Chekwe.  I got a cold towel for her forehead earlier and placed it on her forehead again for her.  I held the oxygen mask over her face so that it did not keep poking her in the eyes and smashing her nose.  I could not say the things I wanted to say to her in order to comfort her because I knew she would not understand.  When I was in labor with my children, I just wanted quiet.  I remembered when my best friend was in labor, she wanted things to be quiet.  I assumed the same for Chekwe.  I kept quiet.  But then, I started to whisper prayers over her.  The contractions calmed for several minutes.  I prayed to Jesus and tears rolled down my cheeks as I looked at my friend laying there somewhat suddenly peaceful looking.  She was laying on her side facing me.  Her face was in the side of the metal hospital bed.  She was holding on to the metal bars.  I held on to the outside of her hand and with my other hand, I rubbed her forehead.  I occasionally rubbed her back.  I was not sure if this was culturally acceptable or not, but it was my heart and it was the love of Jesus that was also like a mom or dad compelling me to nurture my friend.  There was absolutley no cultural divide in my way; just the love I had in my heart for her to be okay.

I began to think about Chekwe and all that she had recently experienced being new to America with several new little ones and now this new little baby on the way.  She made it safely to America and now her life was starting over here.  Her English was severely lacking.  She had no job skills either.  Chekwe was trying to raise her family here and just provide a better life for her kids.   What kinds of persecutions, war or terror had she and her children escaped from I wondered.  Asha’s Refuge had just recently worked with Refugee Empowerment (another super great program) to assist in getting all of her children into school for the first time.  I know Chekwe was happy for them.  Suddenly I began wondering where Chekwe’s mother was.  I wondered if her mother was alive.  I looked down at Chekwe and saw her like I would see my own daughter.  This girl was someone’s baby girl who was now a grown woman in need of compassion and care.  I am sure Chekwe’s mother would have wanted to be able to be with her daughter.  In her mother’s place, there I was.  I began to tear up and I prayed for her even more.  Jesus, please let the pain subside.  Please give Chekwe the rest she needs.  Please take care of her and help her medical situation stabilize and help this baby go ahead and make his healthy presence.  As I prayed, Chekwe was still quiet and calm and looked as though she had several minutes with little to no pain.

It was not too long after my prayers for Chekwe that the doctors and nurses gathered in her room to prepare for the delivery.  The nurses and doctors called the translator on the blue phones.  They had masks on that muffled their voices in such a way that the translator on the other end of the speaker phone could not hear what they were saying.  There were so many noises in the room that the speaker phone was picking up all the noises and the translator complained that he could not hear what he was supposed to be translating.  Several nurses and doctors were talking which made it easy for the translator to get confused.  I realized the translation problem and wanted Chekwe to have a good understanding of what the medical staff needed her to know and what was happening to her.  I walked up towards Chekwe’s head and positioned myself for what would be my very important assignment throughout the remainder of the delivery of our little baby boy.  I was to repeat anything important a nurse or doctor would say loudly and clearly into the speaker of the blue translating phone of which I was holding up close to Chekwe’s ears so that she could hear the translator.  The doctors and nurses were mesmerized at the translation process that would have to happen for this particular patient and were so thankful to have Asha’s Refuge there to help.  Chekwe was also extremely thankful for our help.

I wish I could give everyone a clear picture of this translating miracle.  The doctors were saying things like, “Push, and then hold for ten seconds.  Relax.  Now with the next contraction…push again.”  Slowly, clearly… I would repeat what the professionals would say to the translator.  The translator would then tell Chekwe to push.  There were of course other important things that needed to be translated to Chekwe and from Chekwe to the medical team.  There were times when the translator himself did not understand what we were telling him to tell Chekwe.  I would have to reword in a more simple form what the doctors were saying to the translator so that he could understand it better to explain it to Chekwe.  I wondered how many times these type phone translators had experienced helping a patient through the delivery of a baby.  The translator was a gentleman which made me also wonder how comfortable he was translating the kinds of things we were asking him to translate.  I could tell that he was just a translator and not any kind of medical translator.  He seemed emotional on the other end of the telephone when we finally pushed out our healthy crying baby!  The entire room was emotional.  Even now… I cry as I type this.  It was a lot for me to experience and a lot for me to consider how many ways we as an organization can make this process even better for our client, our partner organizations, the doctor and nurse delivery staff, our Asha’s Refuge volunteer advocates and the everyday translators on the other end of these blue phones.

I have some big ideas for the future of Asha’s Refuge in this area.  There are definitely ways that our well mom and baby program can improve.  It may start with specific language training focused on vocabulary commonly used with pregnancy, labor and delivery.  We have a healthy smiling baby boy and a safe and healthy mom.  Thank you to the team of volunteers, workers and supporters who have helped us with a successful pregnancy term and baby delivery.  It was certainly a translation miracle.

(Asha’s Refuge has new moms and babies all the time.  We are praying for volunteers who have some well-baby care, nursing, and strong advocacy skills to help us with our future client needs.  If you are interested in being a part of our volunteer team to help with prenatal care and post pregnancy/newborn baby and mom care, please let us know.)

The video below is of Chekwe’s littler daughter Dorika and her elderly father.  We went to visit her family to be sure they knew that the baby was here and that mom and baby were doing well.  “The baby is here!  Yay!”

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Asha’s Refuge

1035 Winchester Blvd., Suite A216

Collierville, TN. 38017