Building A Cultural Bridge

--by ChakaRuna, posted May 6, 2010

When my son was young, we earned a very low income and were living in one of the housing projects in Queens, NY. Having Spanish was his first language, but through attending nursery school, my son was already bilingual.

We were at a health clinic waiting our turn one day, when one of the nurses asked out loud "is there anyone here who could translate from Spanish?" Immediately my son called out raising his hand "I can". I took him into the doctor's office and both he and I helped a Spanish speaking woman to communicate with her physician.

This small act from him many years ago, has been a mirror for me to try to become a bridge between cultures. I now live in an area of Ecuador where there are many English speakers living among the Ecuadorians who speak only Spanish. I have been translating public meetings, without charge, so that bridges may be built among all of us by getting to know one another as individual persons, and so that a community spirit may grow.

2667 Reads

Posted by ChakaRuna
May 6, 2010
Comments (2)

Readers Comments

jsmc10 wrote: This is a great opportunity, your son will have many more choices opened up to him as he is bi-lingual from a very young age, bless you

SummerStrawberries wrote: Wow that's really great!

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