A letter from Cindy Corell serving in Haiti
October 2014 - Languages beyond words
You probably don’t think about language much. Most of us learn to speak English from our earliest words. And even if we learn another language, we might not use it often.
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Mission co-worker Cindy Corell learns Haitian Creole with Lucson Celestin at the Celestin home in Cherident, Haiti
Studying Haitian Creole in midlife has been a challenge for me, but I needed it to communicate with people in Haiti, so I dug in. Creole classes off and on over three years set a good foundation for more intensive lessons in 2013, when I moved to Port-au-Prince as a mission co-worker. By October 2014 I was making good progress.
All of this made spending a couple of weeks in Latin America even tougher.
I traveled to San Salvador, El Salvador, in mid-October to attend a Training the Trainers course in Community Healthy and Evangelism, along with more than a dozen other PC(USA) mission co-workers, and then a second week for the Gathering of mission staff from all over Latin America and the Caribbean.
And the language spoken by most of these wonderful people—as well as our hosts at the conference center where we stayed—is Spanish. So my fledgling, want-to-speak-Creole brain was bombarded by yet another language. When someone greeted me with "hola," I responded, "bonjou."
When someone asked me a question that required “yes,” I said, “wi.”
It was a confusing time for many of us. After the stress of trying to make sense of a language I didn’t know, I decided to stop trying to understand people’s words.
I chose to understand people.
It made me think of all the ways that language isn’t spoken, all the ways we as human beings understand one another.
There is the language of gestures.
Do you want salad? bread? Today we have fish and beef. The waiters at the resort and conference center near San Salvador were friendly. They learned a little bit of English, and I did not go without what I wanted. Getting there required some interesting gestures, though.
There is the language of prayer.
In order that everyone could understand, we language-challenged folks were offered translation services via earphones. A translator spoke quietly into a headset, and the other language wirelessly transferred directly to us. If the presentation was in English, the Spanish speakers used the earphones. If it was in Spanish, the rest of the English speakers and I used them. It was seamless. And it also pointed out a fairness in that just as many of us needed the Spanish as those who needed the English.
One of those Spanish speakers was Carlos Cardenas, who serves as a Presbyterian World Mission co-worker in Nicaragua. I met him early on in the second week of my stay in El Salvador because he told me that as a disaster assistance worker, he came to Haiti shortly after the January 2010 earthquake. His English is minimal, but the words he spoke touched me deeply.
Our connection was in our love for the Haitian people. We talked about people we both knew. We talked about progress.
Later, as one of our small group meetings ended, Carlos offered the closing prayer in Spanish. I didn’t understand all the words.
But I fully comprehended the faith and gratitude.
There is the language of fun.
On the last night of the Gathering we had a party on the beach. I will remember it as the night I danced with a colleague from Honduras to the sounds of “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.” No translation needed.
There is the language of connection.
During my short stay in Miami waiting for my replacement passport, I bought some snacks at the gift shop. The cashier was on the telephone, speaking warmly in Spanish. When I came to the counter, she put down the phone and apologized profusely.
“I am so sorry, lady,” she said. “I am talking to my brother in our homeland.”
“Then please hurry and get back to your brother,” I responded. “A conversation with family is a lot more important than a soft drink and chips.”
There is the language of goodness.
Throughout these weeks of travel, I discovered many connections that transcended the language of words. I was helped, encouraged and inspired—in many languages.
But mostly in the language of love.
Thank you all for the support you have provided me in my ministry working in Haiti and surrounding locales. I am still learning so much, and spending time with colleagues in mission has set me even more on fire to walk in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of Haiti.
No matter your first language, come along with us. Be with us in Haiti, learn a new language, and visit these brothers and sisters of ours whose faith is deep and whose eagerness to be in partnership with us even deeper.
Walk with us, help us financially and, most important, remember all of us in prayer—in the most precious language of our Lord.
Blessings to you all.
Cindy
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 48
Read more about Cindy Corell's ministry
Blog: A Journey Across Haiti http://thelongwayhomeblog.org/
Write to Cindy Corell
Individuals: Give online to E200482 for Cindy Corell's sending and support
Congregations: Give to D507566 for Cindy Corell's sending and support
Churches are asked to send donations through your congregation’s normal receiving site (this is usually your presbytery).
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