BUMP! A special Merry Christmas to all FReepers who helped bring joy to our wounded soldiers.
I was especially moved to meet Mischa, a coalition trooper from the former Soviet nation of Georgia. He speaks a Georgian language, not Russian, as he was emphatic in telling me. He spoke almost no English and, like many of the foreign coalition wounded who are treated by the U.S. at Walter Reed, he is lonely for someone to talk to. I was concerned by the anxious expression on his face as we searched for some words and gestures in common.
We managed a pidgin conversation focused mainly on the food items he wanted from the donation table, which I was honored and humbled to place in the backpack of his wheelchair (he is now missing an eye and the use of both legs and one arm). Please send those FReeper prayers for this brave warrior so far from home.
If Mishcha is still there, please put me in touch with him. I speak some Russian, so we may be able to help him communicate a bit better.
How would we find someone to converse with him?
How about an activism, vanity thread? You might find someone or a spouse that way.
Someone might know a place to get a program or language aids too.
I wonder if we write, is there a translator connected to the Red Cross?