It wasn’t until I was much older that I started to wonder how we could possibly have managed to communicate without a common language.

Ces, nyob rau hauv 2008 Kuv travelled los Romania nrog kuv loj ib. Peb xav pom qhov twg peb yawg thiab pog koob yawg koob tuaj ntawm. Neither of us spoke a word of Romanian.

Tsis tau, ib hnub twg thaum twg peb yeej mus tau Lasi nyob Romania north-eastern, Kuv siv li teev nyob rau hauv “sib tham” nrog Romanian ib tug txiv neej uas hais lus Askiv tsis. Cas peb tswj sib txuas lus thiab kuv kawm tias nws tau muaj ib tus poj niam thiab ob tug me nyuam (Nws kuj kuv cov duab) and that he now worked as a security guard.

Lwm hnub txawm peb nyob rau ib daim duab gallery, Kuv tau sib tham nrog ib tug txiv neej uas yeej tsis hais lus Askiv tab sis to taub rau tej kev kawm ntawv. Nws tsis tas hais Romanian, Nws kuj hais Yiddish — and it just so happens that Yiddish was my first language and I still understand it if it is spoken slowly.

Ces nws hais rau Yiddish thiab kuv hais lus Askiv thiab peb kawm tias nws tsev neeg thiab kuv tau los ntawm daim tib shtetl (hauv lub zos me me) north of Iasi.

Tej yaam puab paub tau qhia kuv tias kev sib txuas lus no thiaj ntau ua ntau tshaj li qhov muaj ib hom lus. Los yog qhib rau siv tag nrho peb qee peb sib tham tshaj lus thiab ua tau li, even a brief encounter can be deeply moving.

- Sara hauv dej Powell, BC