By Lubna Zeidan, iACT Refugee Program Co-Director

“Ayman will translate at the dentist’s, don’t worry,” said Issam, the Syrian refugee I was meeting with. And that made me worry. Ayman was a street smart 12- year- old who reminded me uncomfortably of Fagin’s kids in Oliver Twist. He was no doubt an innocent victim of, in this case, civil war circumstances, but these experiences made him VERY untrustworthy. I knew for a fact that Ayman spoke very spotty English -but with great confidence- and I had overheard him translate some things to his parent. Those translations were at best inaccurate, at worst self-serving.

Nothing I could say, save for acting as perpetual translator, would deter Issam from believing anything his adored first born told him. “He’s the only one in the family who truly speaks English-he’s doing so well!” beamed Issam. Ayman was failing most of his classes, was unruly and a constant distraction. He’d only had two years of regular schooling before the war and was in 7th grade. I knew he couldn’t read -though he could fake it pretty convincingly, and I suspected he had a learning disability never diagnosed. That did not keep him from a regular record of expulsions and disciplinary actions. Throughout it all, dad was a staunch supporter of his son, believing that he was innocent of any teacher’s complaints and that as Ayman claimed, “those teachers don’t like Syrian people.”

From my over 20- year experience working with refugee families, Ayman was an exception. Like other refugee children he was designated interpreter for his parents, but unlike most he enjoyed the power for what it allowed him to get away with. While many refugee kids I knew were not necessarily forthcoming with their parents about the limitations of their English, they genuinely felt the weight and stress of the responsibility of being the main interpreter for the family.

Refugee kids are kids. They, like all kids, have a different agenda than their parents and can evaluate situations and surroundings very differently than an adult would. However, it is the norm that younger refugees are more likely to learn English before their parents do, and the realities for refugees and most immigrants, is that Austin does not offer translation services free of charge. Newcomers who speak Spanish would find a number of people in the community they can communicate with, but that is untrue for those who speak Arabic, Pashto, Kinyarwanda, Burmese or any of the languages of most refugees.

The older kids in a family become the adults- translating for mom at the doctor’s office, for dad at the rental office, and for siblings on the playground. They are therefore the first to be aware of the details of an illness or the threat of an eviction. They suddenly have all these extra responsibilities and have no support for their own issues and problems. They tend to put their challenges on the back burner because they see that the adults at home cannot help. But they need their own support- school is hard when you don’t speak the language of instruction- when lack of language affects your performance in everything from math to science to social studies. Young adults who dreamed of higher education in the US are forced to work to help support the family-they feel their dreams are dashed and their future doomed.

If you can feel the seriousness of the issue and you have 20-30 hours to volunteer in the next year (about 2 hours a week), please connect with us to mentor a refugee youth. Our mentorship program matches adults with refugees aged 15-24 to help them figure out issues and plan to succeed in school or take the first steps towards a career. These young people are rudderless without some guidance, and they often steer the whole family. We promise the experience will be rewarding and uplifting.

A few hours a week can change a life. Please contact our Youth Program Coordinator at tsass@interfaithtexas.org

Note: We did attempt to mentor Ayman and his younger brother. After a few weeks of trying to get Ayman on board, the mentor decided to concentrate his efforts on the younger brother. The brother was doing quite well in school the last I heard.

(The names in the above have been changed to protect their identity.)