Tag: translation

A Huge Thanks to Our CUNY Interns!

Our three extraordinary CUNY Career Launch interns, Jolie Camara, Stephanie Cruz-Lopez, and Moheeb Kaied completed their Social Services Access Team internship at Cafewal, a resource center for asylum seekers located in NYC’s East Village. During their 6-week internship Stephanie, Moheeb, and Jolie each worked more than 114 hours, helping over 160 community members navigate immigration issues, apply for work authorization, create resumes, find employment, and obtain social services and benefits. 

Interns Jolie Camara, Stephanie Cruz-Lopez, and Moheeb Kaied on the last day of their internship (Photo by Diamy Bah).

Our interns became familiar with the immigration system, New York’s social services, and the various application processes necessary to access these systems. They also learn how to work with interpreters and other volunteers. 

Moheeb Kaied is an urban studies major at Hunter College. Born in Yemen and raised in Brooklyn, he is deeply committed to helping refugees and immigrants in underserved communities. “One of the most rewarding parts of my time here was assisting our Arabic-speaking clients with translation… I worked directly on two translation cases, it was an incredibly meaningful experience.” In addition to helping community members access resources, Moheeb also tracked the type of assistance he and his colleagues are providing in order to assess the internship’s impact. Moheeb is interested in working with community-based organizations to gain the skills necessary to build a better future for refugees and New York City as a whole. 

Jolie Camara studies political science at Hunter College with a minor in international relations. She is also earning a certificate in human rights. Jolie’s personal experience of coming to New York seven years ago led her to RTP and Cafewal. She understands the struggle that new arrivals go through and wants to help people feel welcome in New York. Jolie applied her Bambara, Mandingo, and French fluency to help people feel seen and understood.

Stephanie Cruz-Lopez double majors in English and Spanish at Baruch College. As a first generation Mexican American, she understands the fear and hardships her family experienced when making a new life here and is driven to help others who are undergoing the same process. Stephanie used her language skills to make the space more inclusive to Spanish-speakers, while also working with volunteer interpreters to assist speakers of other languages. “I especially enjoyed helping clients create resumes and apply for jobs. I felt proud to be able to help them take that next step toward finding work. My time at RTP and Cafewal has further solidified my desire to work with and advocate for immigrant and refugee communities.”

Impact report created by intern Moheeb Kaied.

Update from a Partner on the Immigration Frontlines

RTP continues to support our refugee communities through these difficult times. When checking in with our partners on the ground, Caféwal, a resource center in Manhattan, had this to say:

“Countless times we at Caféwal have been approached by community members with upcoming court dates, desperate to have their evidence translated with imminent deadlines. Again and again RTP translators have responded with sensitivity and alacrity, completing the translations with professionalism, accuracy and astonishingly rapid turnaround. I can’t express the relief and gratitude that every single person expresses when they are able to bring the certified translations to their attorney and meet their legal deadlines. We too, as intermediaries supporting our friends, share that sense of immense relief that we are helping to give folks a fighting chance at winning asylum in an unforgiving and continuously eroding system.

“When our community members, many of whom have experienced untold trauma, are accompanied by an RTP-trained interpreter to a legal or medical appointment, they have the support of someone who is not only trained in the ethics of interpretation, but who is able to speak both the language and shared culture of the patient/client and who can act as a community liaison. The deep cultural understanding that informs the experience provides invaluable support and comfort…Every accompaniment that promotes accurate communication with compassion and humanity, every translation that provides proof of why a person had to flee their country of origin, is itself a compelling win in a landscape of unfettered brutality…in this very hellscape, the work of RTP has provided a rare beacon of hope.”

With the support of our donors, we continue to provide these vital services to the community at Caféwal. Thank you to everyone who has supported us for your commitment to dignity and justice! You are literally saving lives.

Keep our work going!

Translation Stops Deportation!

In June, ICE had just boarded Maria (name has been changed) onto a deportation flight bound for her home country when her flight was suddenly halted. Illinois senator Tammy Duckworth’s office had intervened because of the petitions of Maria’s friends and advocates, who had reached out to the senator when she went missing from immigration detention. Maria’s advocates used the documents Refugee Translation Project translated to mobilize the senator’s office and to grant Maria a credible fear interview. This interview gives Maria the opportunity to make her case that the horrific gender-based violence she endured, and would face again if she returned, is reason enough to allow her to stay in the USA. Maria’s advocate told us, “I don’t think this would have been possible without the massive amounts of translated evidence we had to support our Maria’s case.” 

Translation plays a crucial role in supporting asylum cases.  Applicants would not be able to tell their story of persecution and prove it without a sufficient amount of translated evidence. RTP’s translations compliments the amazing work done by pro bono law firms and legal aid organizations to help immigrants and asylum seekers like Maria win their cases. 

Maria had fled her country with her young daughters after members of organized crime perpetrated years of gender-based violence against her and threatened her daughters. Our team of translators translated over 60 pages of testimonials by friends and neighbors, as well as dozens of pages of forensic reports, screenshots of violent text messages against her and her children, and police files documenting her abuse. Thankfully Maria was returned to have her day in court before she faced violent repercussions in her home country.

RTP receives dozens of cases like this every month and we are struggling to keep up, as demand is still outpacing funding. Our clients cannot afford the exorbitant costs of translation during this vulnerable time in their lives. Our Translation Stops Deportation campaign seeks to raise funds to support people like Maria, who have fled gender-based violence, as well as others who have fled political and ethnic violence.