By Kermshlise Picard, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), July 29, 2014
IJDH’s impact on cholera advocacy is spreading all over the world and you can see it in the language use of our staff and volunteers.
This month, Der Spiegel, a popular German magazine, posted a video interview with Mario Joseph and one of the cholera victims we represent. Legal Fellow Katharina Rall translated the video and subtitles into English so that most of our supporters could understand the message. Originally planning to volunteer for one summer, Katharina has now been with IJDH for over a year. She works tirelessly to make sure that Haiti’s cholera victims get justice from the United Nations.
Staff Attorney Beatrice Lindstrom—who speaks English, Swedish, Korean, French, and Haitian Creole—also helped us with her language skills this month: On July 15, she was interviewed on a swedish radio show about cholera. The same week, she helped with ideas for protesters' sign in Haitian Creole, Korean, and English when our supporters in Haiti wanted to protest Ban Ki-moon’s visit. Photos from the protest were featured by various news outlets and shared many times on Twitter.
Speaking of Ban Ki-moon’s recent Haiti visit, volunteers helped translate our press release about the visit into French so that our supporters in Haiti could also be included. A few Haitian news outlets picked up the story and word spread to human rights defenders and advocates, some of whom are in the protest photo above.
At Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), our sister organization, the staff are all Haitian and the main language spoken is Haitian Creole. At least 10 of IJDH’s current team members are well-equipped to converse with the BAI team—either already fluent in Haitian Creole or learning it in their spare time. All this language capability makes IJDH an exciting place to work, and our ability to communicate with people all over the world is how such a small organization is making such a big impact.
Thank you to all the volunteers, fellows, interns and supporters who help make our work possible. We couldn't do it without your translation help, advocacy, tweets, Facebook posts, emails and donations.