Bob Kerr: Interpreter from Rhode Island in the middle of a very long war

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, January 16, 2011

That block of college campus in Providence is filled with stories of long journeys, new beginnings and treasured second chances. The problem is, the students at the downtown campus of the University of Rhode Island seem far too intent on fitting an education into very full lives to stop and share the details of where they’ve been and what they’ve done to get here.

But sometimes the stories come out in the course of things. There is, for example, the story of Hassadullah Amini, who removes his baseball cap to reveal the scar across the back of his head. It is a reminder of the wound inflicted when the armored vehicle in which he was riding was blown up by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

He was back in the country of his birth last year to work as an interpreter. He speaks fluent Pashto and flawless English, a language mastered in part with multiple viewings of the movie “Home Alone.” He has talent that is very much in demand.

He has sat in the middle — Afghan officials on one side, American officers on the other — and connected the two in his bilingual way. At times, he has talked with Afghans as American snipers stayed out of sight nearby, just in case. At other times, he has gone native, dressing up local and just listening.

He has interpreted for doctors treating frightened and badly wounded civilians.

Amini would love to get together with relatives still living there, but he says he can’t. He is a native Afghan working for the Americans.

“Their lives could be in jeopardy if they’re seen with me,” he said as we talked in a conference room at URI.

He goes to Afghanistan this week for the fourth time. That means putting a few things on hold — the pursuit of his political science degree at URI, his job as day manager at his family’s restaurant, Crown Fried Chicken, on Broad Street.

His story came out little by little in Prof. Bill Molloy’s Fundamentals of Education class last year. The class, like so many around it, has a strong international flavor. Molloy recalls the day when a student from Colombia, a student from the Philippines and Amini made presentations to the class, beginning in their native languages and then moving into English. It was, says Molloy, a chance for other students in the class to learn things not in the course catalog.

Molloy talked more with Amini, learning of this amazing connection the 23-year-old man continues to maintain with the country he left when he was 5 years old.

Amini, his six brothers and sisters and his parents left their home in Kandahar in 1992, moving first to Reading, Pa., then to New York City. They moved to Rhode Island five years ago because they saw a good business opportunity in a restaurant on Broad Street.

Amini says there are all kinds of good, basic chow at Crown Fried Chicken, and you can leave well filled for $4 or $5.

So he works, he goes to school and he goes to Afghanistan. He thinks he could be gone for a year this time.

He started putting his language skills to work when he told a friend that he was considering joining the Marines. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen. The friend told him he might want to consider instead working for one of the companies that places interpreters where they need to be.

“I wanted to help people. My mother thought I was crazy.”

And the money is good — six figures, he says.

In January of last year, he was off to Fort Benning, Ga., for training, then off to the old country that his new country has invaded.

He was with Marines sometimes and with Special Forces. He was in a unique position to watch the quiet war, the hearts and minds part of it. There were discussions about public-health issues, food, education. Would a new school help? Amini helped one side understand the other.

But, of course, the other war would inevitably intrude. He was “blown up” a second time when the vehicle he was in hit yet another roadside bomb. Fortunately, he was only shaken up the second time.

“I fully understand the military point of view,” he says. “And I understand the Afghan point of view.”

He says he will continue to divide his life between countries as long as the Americans stay in Afghanistan and need his particular skills. He will resume classes at URI when he can, put them on hold when he is called back. Eventually, he wants to work in immigration law.

He sees this war as few of us ever can. He can talk to people. He knows history and its lessons. He tries to explain to the Afghans why Americans are there.

He tries to explain the attacks of 9/11, something many Afghans don’t understand.

“But I’m a realist,” says Hassadullah Amini.

And he knows that most Afghans believe the Taliban will be back.

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 17th, 2011 at 6:23 pm and is filed under Translation and Interpretation News, Uncategorized.