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Huri Translations
Tel. +689 89 205 483
info@huri-translations.pf
PO BOX 365 Maharepa
98728 Mo'orea
French Polynesia
N°TAHITI 876649

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But as our ancestors taught us, we Pacific Islanders are a resilient people, our Vaʻa sturdy after voyaging vast oceans. We would not let this pandemic claim us without a fight. Grassroots and government, Samoan and Tongan, i-Taukei and Kanaka Māoli, Micronesians and Polynesians - our island nations banded together. Task forces formed, bolstered by valliant leaders emerging from our communities. We mobilized to support each other with food, resources, contact tracing, our cultural values of compassion and unity that guide us.

However, the complex and crucial information to keep our ʻĀiga safe - how to prevent spread, when to get tested or vaccinated, how to access financial relief - remained frustratingly out of reach for many. While we Pacific Islanders make up a modest diversity of over 25 distinct minority languages spoken in the US, the public health guidance came primarily in English. Even those healthcare agencies trying their best would lack the cultural context to convey the messages in a way that truly spoke to our communities.

And so it was the translation companies like Huri Translations that became the bridge, the vital link between the western medical establishment and our Pacific peoples. Our laptop-packing language warriors equipped with specialized, domain-specific Translation Memories and dictionaries worked around the clock with our own community organisations, adapting each carefully-worded sentence of CDC advice to fit our own tongues and worldviews into the context. We helped craft the social media posts, the infographics, the radio spots that empowered us with knowledge.

The translation process itself became a cultural exchange, a two-way voyage. In Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Marshallese, Chuukese, Chamorro, our Pacific Island language translators, with our thorough understanding of protocols and historiesguided the well-intended but unfamiliar officials. Don't just tell us to stay home, tell us how isolation protects our revered Mei mwukeno and Aramas mei teriter: Frame masking policies as a show of love for the whole community, vaccination guidance as our ocean-bonding immunity. Explain the financial support in ways that make sense for our large families.

At the same time, our people gladly shared our values with the wider world. How we rely on our traditional leaders, our churches, our Marae halls as the center of knowledge. That messaging must come from those we trust. That for us, health is not just the individual, but the whole community. We may have about 25 mother tongues in Uncle Samʻs backyard, but we speak with one voice - the voice of a people that have survived cyclones, tsunamis, volcanoes, atomic testing, now determined to weather this viral wave together.

So as we mourn those taken too soon by COVID-19, let us also honor the quiet champions, our translation teams. For every infographic shared, every terminology team work on Zoom, every bilingual vaccination poster, they were there. When this pandemic storm finally passed, when our Vaka are caulked and set upright again, we will remember how the power of language steered us through. How bridging worlds with words saved precious lives and kept our Pacific cultures intact. Our translators are the lighthouse, our stars to navigate by, their Atanijo a reminder that in a world of many tongues, we are still one voyaging family after all. Māuruuru roa. Mālō ʻAupito. Faʻafetai Tele Lava. Mahalo Nui Loa. Vinaka Vakalevu. Kinisou Chapur. Koṃṃooltata. Dångkulu na si Yuʻus maʻåse. Ke Kmal Mesaul.

As COVID-19 swept across the planet like a fearsome Taniwha, the Pacific Islander communities of the United States found themselves ensnared in its powerful claws. The devastating beast of the pandemic sunk its teeth deepest into those already vulnerable - the ʻOlomatua and Toeaʻina, those living often crowded together in the Fale, struggling to make ends meet in essential jobs that put them at risk: Bus drivers, cashiers, plumbers, etc.

"Our laptop-packing language warriors equipped with specialized, domain-specific Translation Memories and dictionaries"

In fact, our Pacific peoples faced the highest COVID-19 infection and death rates in all of the US. In some states, nearly 1 in 4 Pacific Islanders tested positive. We suffered job losses, couldn't hold proper funeral rites - God knows how important they are in Oceania - for our loved ones lost to this monstrous plague. Our close-knit families and communal lifestyles, usually our greatest strength, now left us exposed to this sudden and invisible enemy.

Pandemic Voyagers: Pacific Islanders Fight COVID-19 with Translations