Twofer: February & March Interpreters of the Month

We are a little behind in posting our Interpreters of the Month.  If you haven't heard through other channels, we have a new website and as of a few weeks ago we also have a new office location in Portland.  Through all the changes, the interpreters have continued to be as awesome as ever, and it's time to celebrate two more of our hard-working staff.

Eva Chen: Queen Bee of Brevity

February Interpreter of the Month: Eva Chen

We've lovingly nominated her the "Queen-Bee of Brevity."  Eva is forever straight-forward and concise in her interactions.  We all agree that her cell phone message is probably the shortest we've ever heard.  She's quick and to-the-point.  Eva's insight is likewise reknowned.  She's quick to capture what needs to be done, and wastes no time in getting to it.  She's flexible, promptly calls back, and is amazingly reliable.  Eva also is amazing linguistically, approved to interpret in three languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, and her native Fujian.  There are some interpreters that we honor because they go above and beyond the call of duty one particular day.  In February we deicded to honor Eva because she consistently exceeds expectations every day and in all ways works to provide excellent service to our clients. Thanks Eva!





Halima doesn't care for her ID photo;
instead she shared this beautiful one
from a few years back.



March Interpreter of the Month: Halima Hersi

Halima is probably one of our most senior interpreters.  Over the years her interpreting earnings have put all her kids through college (she has 5--!).  She is incredibly hard-working, and sometimes will point to open days in her calendar with the question--"I'm not busy Tuesday; can you fix this??"  She's the person that we know we can call in the middle of the night when a baby is being born or an emergency happens.  She has worked with our Refugee & Immigration Services case managers at the airports to the wee hours of the morning, waiting for delayed flights bearing new arrivals.  More recently she has also been working hard on keeping track of her timesheets (not an easy thing to do after a 4am airport arrival or a last-minute visit with a case manager to a client's home) and getting that impressive stack to us more regularly.  We nominated Halima in March for being the most improved, and also for coming through for us with a last-minute urgent request more times than we could count.  Thanks Halima!

Trying to fade into the background

Interpreter of the Month: Hamideh Elhaei

This isn't Hamideh's ID photo. 

It is one of the many failed attempts at capturing Hamideh in an ID photo.  This is how Hamideh is most days--shy and quick to laugh.  Hamideh never, ever wants to be in the spotlight (in fact, she's probably going to kill me for posting this).   And like many good interpreters, she's happiest when she can do her job and people never notice that she's there.

Hamideh works the night shift, and more than once she has juggled two and three jobs come interpret for someone who needed her assistance.  No assignment is too large or too small for Hamideh.  "If they need me, I can go," she always says.

Most importantly, her compassionate heart is tempered with a fiery love of what is right.  While shy and reluctant to face confrontation, she also is brave and more than once has overcome her shyness to stand her ground ensure that someone got the care they needed. 

This month was a tough one for Hamideh, and she had many hard appointments that asked her to balance the interpreter Code of Ethics with pressures from the community.  She did well, but we know it wasn't easy.  We nominated her our Interpreter of the Month because we wanted to say "thank you" for all that she does and the heart that she puts into her work.  Thank you Hamideh; we see you!

"Neither snow nor rain nor..."



Walaa Al Dabbagh



On December 27th, Maine was struck with a fierce blizzard. Some offices even began issuing cancellation notices the day before. The morning of the blizzard, while the rest of the state was still sleeping soundly, blanketed with over a foot of snow, Walaa Al Dabbagh went above and beyond the call of duty. She awoke early and began digging out her car. Scheduled to interpret for a surgery at 6:30am that morning, she called Malvina at 6:35am to tell her that she was very very sorry, she was going to be a few minutes late to her appointment. She arrived only 10 minutes late and then when she got there interpreted for not one, but two patients who needed interpreters that morning. A gold medal for reliability!

Thank you Walaa! On that snowy morning and every day, you are always a paragon of responsibility and dedication to the field. We thank you for all your hard work.

Walaa has earned herself a chance to win a registration for the IMIA Annual Conference this fall, and a Catholic Charities Maine messenger bag to carry her planner, dictionaries, and timesheets!

And a thank you to all of you who venture out in these snowy months, second only to the U.S. Postal Service are the Catholic Charities Interpreters! :)