It may sound like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, but that’s exactly what happened on the day after Thanksgiving 2009.
The wife of one of our interpreters went into labor with their first child. At the time, she was just learning to speak English, and her mother did not speak any English at all.
You can imagine how a woman about to give birth for the first time in a new country would be very worried because she wouldn’t understand everything that was being said by the midwife or by the worried father-to-be. So, Jeffery called us for help.
He called our emergency line and asked if we could send a Chinese Mandarin interpreter to their home to interpret during the delivery. When Lynn found out what was happening, she asked our dispatcher to find an interpreter who would be willing to help at no charge to the family.
Mae Fang Harman is one of our Chinese Mandarin interpreters. She genuinely cares about the Chinese Mandarin community in Cincinnati, and jumped right in when given the chance to help.
When Mae arrived at the house to interpret for the home delivery, she immediately assumed her role as an interpreter for the soon-to-be new mom and her mother. Mae said, “They were very excited and happy because the young mother was able to understand what was happening. It was a less stressful delivery because it relieved their worries and the moms didn’t feel so isolated.”
Mae was able to reassure both moms that everything was okay and that the baby’s delivery was going to be fine.
That was more then a year ago. Today the family has a beautiful little girl named Maylin!