A busy week for the Voices in Refuge Team

A lot has been happening this week!

Of course, our staff and freelance interpreters have been working hard to interpret for clients in drop-in advice sessions and specialist advice appointments at Nottingham Refugee Forum as well as for solicitors, housing providers, and employability support services across Nottingham and the UK. However, there have been other special events and opportunities our team took part in.

MONDAY & TUESDAY

We started our 7^th Community Interpreting training course this year, with 22 participants interpreting across 24 languages. The first two sessions were all about the introduction to the course, defining the role of community interpreter, including responsibilities and limitations, and getting to know each other through ice breakers and role plays.

Our course is taking place at the Nottingham Central Library, which is an accessible and welcoming venue which offers spacious classrooms with the latest technology that makes learning more fun and engaging.

We are grateful to the National Grid Community Matters Fund for the grant which enabled all participants to attend training free of charge. They are also funding our upcoming training course in November, for which we are already receiving applications.

WEDNESDAY

Our experienced Arabic interpreter Samira Bakeer had the opportunity to experience a day in the interpreter’s booth at the University of Leicester. The event, organised in cooperation with the ITI East Midlands Regional Group, offered a unique insight into the life of a conference interpreter. Samira got to learn about and practise simultaneous interpreting in the state-of-the-art booth facilities, using the same technology that is used in large scale meetings such as the UN assembly or within the EU institutions.

Samira in the interpreting booth at Leicester University

Samira thoroughly enjoyed the challenge, which boosted her confidence as an interpreter.

Big thanks to Joanna Dare from the ITI East Midlands Regional Group for inviting Voices in Refuge staff to come along.

THURSDAY

A large team of interpreters and supporting staff attended an event aimed at welcoming refugees and asylum seekers to Nottingham and informing them of the advice and support services available in the city. While Tetiana and Barbara were engaging with the bilingual future interpreters, signing them up for the November course, our interpreters Alan (Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish Kurmanji), Thomas (Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromo), Nawzad (Kurdish Sorani, Farsi), Samira (Arabic), Fatemeh (Arabic, Farsi, Dari) and Daniela (Spanish) were busy interpreting between stall holders and event attendees.

Some of VIR team members at the Welcome Event

FRIDAY

Barbara finally had a quiet afternoon to summarise the events of this week in a blog post, and prepare the role play printouts for the interpreting course next week.

Matt is busy coordinating interpreters for the 69(!) booked appointments next week (with additional ones coming in).

We can confidently call this a successful week! :)