Well, I guess this is for me to do...

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

... considering that I'm the reason she's here, and given that she won't be able to introduce herself for a while yet. We have a new student at the school, as of today; we brought her back from Afghanistan last night under somewhat unusual circumstances. When I stop slamming my head into the desk at my own stupidity I may just share the story.

Her name is Sooraya Qadir. She speaks Dari and Pashtun, and not a word of English, hence her not being able to introduce herself just yet. (She and I are going to be spending a lot of time working on her English, however, so hopefully that will change soon.) Obviously, she's coming from a very different culture than ours, and it's liable to take her some considerable amount of time and effort to adjust.

I won't get into details, but she's not been treated all that well. So if everyone could please aim for 'kind and nonthreatening', I'd very much appreciate it - and refrain from throwing anyone in the lake.

Comments

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

Considering I don't speak either of those two languages, not sure how much help I can be, but let me know if you can think of anything for me to do. Where is she going to be staying right now? And since this wasn't a planned pick up...does she need any of the essentials? I may not speak many languages but I am a fantastic shopper.

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

... the essentials are going to be tricky. I get the sense she'd prefer to stick to traditional clothing as much as possible just now. (For everyone's reference, traditional clothing in her case does not = a burqa. If I catch anyone making jokes based on not knowing anything beyond the stereotypes of Afghan culture, I'm going to force-feed you books to rectify the situation.)

We've got her in a guest room right now, but I think finding her a roommate will be the next step.

[x-traction.livejournal.com]

I'll see what I can do. You'd be surprised at what you can find in town, when you know where to look.

[x-blink.livejournal.com]

are those similar to arabic? 'cause I speak that, a little. you've seen my arabic grades ;)

I'm rusty, but not that bad.

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

I only wish they were - we'd have enough people around for her to talk to, if that was the case. But Dari is a variant of Farsi, and Pashto is from the same basic language family - which is entirely different from Arabic's.

[x-blink.livejournal.com]

*sigh* well, I tried.

does she need clothing made? I saw what you said to Marie above. I don't have patterns for traditional afghani garb, but if she'd let me, I could inspect her clothing? I promise nothing loud, bright or burqua-esque (unless she chooses that, but I have some pretty forest greens and navys I was going to use to make something for Terry) and I do have a pattern for a burqua that might be modifiable. you never know.

[x-crowdofone.livejournal.com]

Lemme know if there's anything I can do to help, while I'm still here? Like, for example, if you can translate a list of her favorite foods for me so I can either take a shot at them myself or leave them lying around where Lorna can jump on a new culinary challenge, maybe?

I swear, as soon as I get to the point where it stops being a guaranteed recipe for brainsplosions, I am so going to send dupes out for language-immersion.

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

That might actually be very helpful - the foods, I mean. One less thing Sooraya would have to adapt to right off the top.

I should actually go down with that list to the infirmary, too. She's not exactly malnourished, but I imagine Amelia would have some helpful things to say about vitamins and the like.

[xp_daytripper]

I seem to remember Doug writing a journal program for Manuel when he was first here, that translated from Spanish to English and back again. Maybe he could knock something like that up for her?

And I don't really want to know how exciting things were, do I? I'll drop tomorrow, see how people are doing.

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

Definitely an option, once we introduce her to what a computer is and how to use it. Doug, if you're reading this, expect me to be knocking on your inbox within a few weeks. Between that and Forge's voice-activated software that we all use when we've banged ourselves up and can't type properly, maybe we can get her on the journals before too long. I think it would help.

[xp_daytripper]

Yeah, the voice thingie was good for Catseye when she first got here too. And Meg.

[x-cypher.livejournal.com]

I think I should still have the translation program lying around. Not that I remember offhand where it is, but since you're saying it's a couple week time frame, at worst I just build it back from scratch.

The voice activation software is definitely still around, since it comes in handy so very often. Who knows what the latest version is, given that Forge and I are always compulsively updating with new bells and whistles. I'll see what he's got and what I've got, and burn the whole lot to a CD for her at some point in the near future.

In the meantime, if you want, I can drop by to do "friendly and nonthreatening person who speaks your language" at the points that I'm at the mansion, and, y'know, not up to my cerebellum in database crap that Pete wants last week.

Moon on a stick still in progress. :)

[x-cable.livejournal.com]

Shoot for the end of the summer, maybe? I don't want to rush her, but I really do think that the sooner she's on the journals, the better. We're going to try and get her ready for a couple of the basic classes this fall.

And if you could drop by in your copious amounts of spare time, it would be much appreciated. For someone who's been through what she's been through, she does seem to like people.