I spent my working life as a university professor.  Like many others when I was considering volunteer work after retirement I wanted to “help”, but I also wanted to step outside the academic environment and learn something new as well as to feel part of a team working together towards a common goal. I heard about IWSO through my daughter who attended a Volunteer Fair, I contacted Noushin and was introduced to LIS, the Language interpretation and Translation Services division of IWSO.

I came to Canada from England to enroll in graduate school. There was no language barrier for me, and I had a readymade circle in which to work and socialize and still I felt out of place and alone. I cannot imagine what it must be like to arrive in a new culture coping with a what maybe a hostile environment and unable to speak the language. Imagine being ill and not being able to communicate with the doctor, or to explain your child’s special needs at school. LIS provides interpreters for all these types of situations. Government funding allows LIS to provide these services free to victims of domestic abuse, sexual abuse and human trafficking.

LIS offers services in over 70 languages to service providers and individuals over most of Eastern Ontario, 24h/day 7 days a week. More than 450 service providers including our own crisis and settlement counsellors use our services and nearly 200 interpreters are on our roster. Each of the interpreters needs to be a qualified interpreter and to also undertake specialized training given by IWSO. Much of the work within LIS comprises matching service providers and their clients’ requirements with interpreters. This sounds rather simple until one considers the volume of requests received, that emergency requests may come in with an hour’s notice and that each assignment involves at least three people and sometimes entire families so cancellations can and do happen quite frequently. We also provide translation services, process invoices and bills, ensure that funding agencies receive accurate accounting of our activities and recruiting and training new interpreters.

What have I been doing in LIS? I’m a unilingual anglophone so I haven’t been interpreting! Instead, I have sometimes worked on intake which means answering the email and phone requests from service providers and contacting interpreters to set up assignments. Much of my work has entailed record keeping and updating data bases. Basically, I do anything that is required to help other members of the team and help the system run smoothly.  As with all organizations like IWSO, there are never enough funds to pay for all the work that needs to be done. Any hour of work that I do as a volunteer is akin to donating an hour’s pay.

What I have received from this volunteer experience has far outweighed the efforts that I have put in. I believe strongly in the IWSO mission. Helping immigrant women integrate into society is essential for building a strong community.  I see everyday how enabling communication through language services facilitates this by directly aiding women in distress. On a more personal level volunteering at IWSO has been a huge learning experience – who knew there were so many different languages spoken in Ottawa? That whereas Canadians argue over two official languages, India has 22!  Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of mv volunteer work has been the people that I work with. The “Oh, Hello Barbara, how are you?” when I call an interpreter, the thanks I receive when we manage to pull off an emergency assignment for a crisis worker. Above all is the LIS team itself. They welcomed me as a member and taught me how the system works but more than that we have shared recipes, talked of our families, shared the ups and downs of daily life and have become friends.  Who knew that volunteer work could provide such rich rewards. It is a community that I am proud to be part of. There are always volunteer opportunities at IWSO – try it. Or if you have no time available please donate – there are always more things to do than there are funds for.