Arabic interpreter leaves translator job in Saint John school district

The only Arabic interpreter for some 200 Syrian students in the Greater Saint John area last year chose not to return to the job in September because she found it overwhelming.

"It was an amazing experience but at the same time, a huge responsibility," said 27-year-old Sarah Shuhait, who is originallyfrom the United Arab Emirates.

• Moncton school's softball team celebrates playing, not winning
• : Popularity of Arabic classes soars at UNB
• Syrian youth in New Brunswick cities struggle to make friends
• Syrian children happy to start first full year of school in Canada

Shuhait said she travelled among as many as a dozen schools in the Anglophone South School District but was mainly needed at Hazen White-St. Francis School and St. Malachy'sMemorial High School.

As a translator, her duties included translating school documents, mediating conflicts between students and assisting teachers in and out of the classroom.

No formal training

But she admits when it comes to interpreting, she had no formal training.

"It's not my field, you know. I didn't get a degree in translation or English even."

Shuhait said she was hired by the Anglophone South School District in September 2016, after working at minimum wage as an interpreter for the YMCA.

It was a good opportunitythat paidwell and Shuhait saidthe school district and her co-workers were very good to her.

But she saidit was also exhausting and not her chosen career.

With a degree in management from the Ajman University of Science and Technology in the UAE, shehopes to find work in that field.

"If I stay in this job, I may lose myself in the end, you know?"

Shuhait said the job became more demanding in the winter, when the driving was difficult.

She saidshe was also asked to work for several months doing interpretation for Syrian students taking carpentry at NBCC.

Personal connection

Shuhait said she developed a personal connection with students and their families that sometimes made the job even more difficult.

"The students felt so comfortable talking to me about anything in life. And that's good," she said."But ... it's hard for me to say no to them."

The Anglophone South School District said it has already hired a replacement interpreter and that there's only one on staff.

Superintendent Zo Watsonconfirmed by email that the new hire will serve all schools where there are Syrian newcomers.

There are 21schools in all but only five of them have the majority of Syrian newcomers.