Awake

Mixed Messages

A woman meets with a welfare case worker to sign forms to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families grant money. Several weeks ago she lost her job at a hotel doing laundry and has had several people helping her to get an appointment with her caseworker. But she walks out of the meeting bewildered and with no money to pay rent and no food stamps to get money for her and her 3-year-old daughter. How could this have happened? Was the caseworker cruel and unfeeling? Did the system fail miserably? No. The caseworker was probably as confused as the woman. The problem was pure miscommunication. The problem was the interpreter.

It wasn't the interpreter's fault that he didn't know the particular dialect of Somali that the woman speaks. But he might have known that he was missing something. He might have known that he didn't understand enough of what was being said. He might have understood enough to understand that through his faulty interpretation, an injustice was sorely felt by a desperate refugee longing to assimilate in American suburbia.

If you pray for the refugees that live in our midst, remember also to pray for their advocates, interpreters, and caseworkers. The circumstances of their lives are in many cases dictated by the choices and actions of these people.