One of the most astonishing things about the office in Trinidad is that English is not only the language of operation – it’s everyone’s mother tongue. When one of the educators who conducts our outreach activities dropped by the office, it took effort to get my brain wrapped around the fact that she talks to our beneficiaries in English (which, according to my Haitian colleagues, is debatable). A lot of what I’m interested in with regards to communication is nuance – not just what we say, but how we say it. The last time I observed an outreach or I spoke to an outreach worker in her/his first language was when I was the one doing the outreach activities a a volunteer on 17th St in DC.
We got to see two educators, Fabi and Kimberly, in action yesterday. They set up a table at a busy square (no camps!) and caught the after-work crowd. They usually set up a proper stall and do this for hours at a time but this was a mere taste of the action done for us especially, so they were using a little folding table. As a result, they were mobbed, which gave my Haitian colleagues and I an excuse to be useful. The laminated cards with flamboyant photos of STIs were very popular, as were requests for female condom demos with the alien-looking model vagina. It felt really good to be out of the office and doing this kind of work with people.
I tried to express to my team what a rare treat this was for me and I got the instant predictable: “You should learn Kreyol!” “Kreyol is easy – easier than French!”
(sigh) If I had a penny….
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