Thread by @ThePublicSquare

"Each day, I summon the words they need to survive this plague, and cling to my dough."

Telephonic Tagalog interpreter @marivisoliven translates conversations between doctors and Filipino patients—while stress baking, she writes in our latest #WhereIGo: zps.la/3azHeL8

In the last year, the uptick of COVID-related calls led Soliven to bake so much that her stand mixer broke down.

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In her essay, Soliven takes us through a conversation she interpreted in July 2020 between a doctor and an elderly Filipino patient suffering from COVID pneumonia.

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The doctor's call came in the middle of Soliven's weekly stress-baking ritual. "I need to give you a heads up," the doctor told Soliven. "Her condition is worsening and we must discuss treatment options. It may be difficult."

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"'Difficult' doesn't faze me," Soliven writes. "I’ve helped Filipinos get through thousands of difficult conversations: 9-1-1 calls, domestic violence reports, court trials, deportation hearings. I find the words they need to get through the ordeal."

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Soliven doesn't like sweets, so delivering her baked goods to quarantined friends became "yet another calming routine." She has baked pineapple upside down cake and conducted contact tracing interviews, made banana bread and read the Lord's Prayer to an ICU patient.

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Now, Soliven finds hope while translating COVID vaccine appointments for Filipino patients. "The miracle is happening," she writes. "I know it will happen for the rest of us, so I remind myself to be patient and wait for my next loaf to rise.

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