In over 20 years of international aid work, I've never before been in an organization that not only does amazingly impactful work; but also has the potential to do so much more.  

I got my first international job largely because I spoke Russian.  I went to Kyrgyzstan, on the Uzbek border, to work with women in rural areas.  Very quickly, I learned that, if I ever wanted to really understand the hopes and dreams and desires of those women, I really needed to speak Kyrgyz or Uzbek.  

To support the work I was doing, we hired interpreters and translators - some of whom are still friends!  They really struggled; they were English students, not interpreters.  The complex ideas and jargon-y terminology was difficult to interpret in a way that the women could understand.  But, they managed - they were awesome.  

Very rarely did I have the opportunity to work with interpreters after that - it wasn't prioritized, there wasn't money, the national staff spoke the languages (they often didn't), there were no interpreters or translators in those languages.  

It bothered me.  I worried that the people whom we were trying to help weren't understanding why we were there, had no say in what we did, couldn't really communicate with us - and couldn't really hold us to account.  

More than that, though, in my daily life, I had neighbors, colleagues, and acquaintances that wanted information from me - I had access to information because I speak English.  Simple things: did women have abusive husbands everywhere; did young men in my country carry guns; is Sana'a as big as Paris?  

I'm now Executive Director of an organization that addresses this problem, using our experience from around the world, our knowledge of language and communication, and leveraging cutting-edge language technology to overcome these issues.  

My colleagues are, honestly, amazing. Our incredibly talented and dedicated team, the volunteers, Board members, and supporters from across the industry are what really make TWB special.  

Help us to reach that potential.  Support us through our holiday campaign.  Help us to give a voice to the most marginalized.

Translators without Borders (TWB) envisions a world where knowledge knows no language barriers. Its aim is to give people access to vital information in their language by connecting nonprofit organizations with a professional community of volunteer translators, building local language translation capacity, and raising awareness of language barriers. TWB is a US-based 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit and it works with 28,000 volunteer translators, supporting 200 partners with translations in 190 world languages.