Today, Ruthi needed to go to the nearest hospital for a blood test. While waiting to be called to the lab, she noticed another patient registering for care who did not have English skills. A passer-by stopped and helped patient get started by doing some of the translation for her. It seemed to Ruthi, that it takes a lot of courage to be somewhere where you wouldn't know the language.
What this reminded Ruthi of was how her Italian grandparents (nonno, nonna) and a lot of her aunts/uncles came to the USA to work the coal mines in the Carolinas without English skills. Ruthi's mother was born here but did not learn English until she entered first grade.
How bad it must be somewhere else, that a person would come here with no way to communicate with everyone else! How isolating/frightening to not understand the medical questions or procedures! Remember our reactions to our visit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada - where Boots' high school French helped but mostly the Canadians spoke English. We were able to communicate and knew we were only staying a few days and could get back to English-speaking areas quickly. A big difference between that and the situation Ruthi experienced today,
