Every Tongue

Before I came to Togo, I tried to learn a little bit of French. I diligently spent 10 minutes a day on Duolingo and spent some time reading Harry Potter in French on my Kindle. But it turns out that 10 minutes a day doesn't make you fluent or teach great pronunciation, and knowing the French word for magic wand or cauldron doesn't do you a lot of good in Togo....  It would have been so helpful to go to a language school and take some intensive courses, but it cost a lot, and the timing didn't really work out with my time table.

Since I've been here, I've picked up more and more, but still can only track 30-60% of a conversation and can speak much less. Turns out, there are many people who come through the hospital who don't speak French at all. They come from remote villages or even other countries in order to get better care. Even if I were a fluent French speaker, I wouldn't be able to communicate with them. You have to find a hospital employee who speaks that language (or in some cases, two people to do a four way translation), and hope that at least a portion of your message gets across.

Something else I've discovered is that gestures are not universal. Not everyone rocks a baby like I do. Not everyone physically expresses pain, so acting out pain doesn't always translate. Drinking from a cup is something I take for granted, but might be a foreign concept to someone from a remote village. Even things like telling time or counting seem like simple concepts but can still cause more confusion than clarity.

To further complicate things, there may be next to nothing in terms of health literacy.  I've heard doctors have to explain that if a person is not breathing, it means they have died. There's a big misconception that malaria is caused from too much sun because the person may feel hot (with fever). Teaching patients sometimes feels futile.

If you can't tell, language is a huge barrier to communication. It can be so frustrating- especially in an urgent situation where there isn't time to figure out the proper communication. If I can't even tell someone that they are going to have surgery in an hour, how can I possibly have a meaningful conversation? How can there be any sort of relationship?

Some of the best and most relational things in life transcend language.

Celebrating a good save in volleyball doesn't require words. Turns out that even trash talking can cross that barrier. Team bonding occurs even if you can't pronounce the names of your teammates.

No one gets confused if you admire their baby. Cuddling and cooing over tiny fingers and toes is something everyone understands.

Everyone laughs.

This morning, my roommate invited some of our Togolese neighbors over for a late breakfast. We sat on the floor for our meal. We drank coffee with ridiculous amounts of sugar and ate breakfast sandwiches made from bread that was baked this morning. One of them started playing music, and we got up and danced. We ate and we laughed and we communicated both our words and our actions.

So. I'm going to keep studying French. I'm going to keep attempting to communicate and educate as much as I can. I'm going to figure out alternative gestures. I'm not giving up.

But even more so, I am going to play games and cuddle babies and laugh and open my home and eat with my neighbors and sing and dance and love these people whenever I can. I have 6-7 more months here. There are so many more things connecting us than barriers separating us. My relationships are not dependent on my fluency in French.

And then, when I come home and can relax into my own culture and language, I'm not going to change a thing.

"God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2: 9-11