As you walk into the Catherine McAuley Center, one of the first things you’ll notice is our “Welcome Wall”; a space in our entryway with welcome painted in 25 different languages. With an estimated 80 primary written languages (out of more than 6,000 “living languages”) in the world, we still have a ways to go!
Mu Ruo, a student from Burma (also known as Myanmar) who speaks Burmese and Karen (pronounced kuh ren) fluently, has been studying English at Catherine McAuley Center for nearly two years. Recently, she noticed that the “welcome wall” was missing both of her native languages. She mentioned this to her tutor, who then approached staff about her interest in adding these languages to the wall. Recently, Mu Ruo came in to paint ‘welcome’ on the wall in Burmese. She was very excited to do this and is interested in adding ‘welcome’ in Karen soon. Mu Ruo was happy to share her language with all of us at CMC because she was able to reciprocate the gift of language.
After seeing Mu Ruo’s addition to the wall, Sara Elahi, the Center’s new mental health counseling intern in the Transitional Housing Program, was inspired to make a contribution of her own. She recently painted ‘welcome’ in her native language, Farsi, on the wall. Sarah pointed out that Farsi, like many non latin-based languages, is written and read from right to left.
Our welcome wall is a visual representation of our effort to be welcoming to all. Just one example of one of our guiding values to embrace our community by opening our doors and hearts to all, and offer an unconditional welcome and smile. We encourage our friends to add to the Welcome Wall, and look forward to continuing the tradition of shared culture at CMC.
Compiled by Michala Price and Beth Wallace