Carli Fogel

Communication without the use of spoken language. Nonverbal communication includes gestures, facial expressions, and body positions (known collectively as “body language”), as well as unspoken understandings and presuppositions, and cultural and environmental conditions that may affect any encounter between people. This is the definition of Nonverbal communication. The SACH home not only survives, but also thrives on this type of interaction. Those who reside in the home all come from different places with different cultures and different languges. There are children, mothers, nurses, doctors, and volunteers, and administration and there is no one language that all of these people speak. That’s why nonverbal communication is so crucial for the success of this incredible organization. There are many types of nonverbal communication that happens on a daily basis in the SACH home and I will describe a few for you all to get a sense of what the SACH home represents…

 Types of Nonverbal communication:

• The look you receive from the mothers and children as you enter the home for the first time was my first communication experience. I got a fair amount of smiles and waves but also exhausted looks from mothers silently showing me the inevitable stresses of the situation I was entering.
• My personal favorite, playtime communication. This is a subset of nonverbal cues that I will divide accordingly
• Dancing! This beautiful thing happens everyday! The personal favorite is Waka Waka, but we are sure to hear ethnic music from all countries the current SACH children represent. We learn about each other through music and dance. The mothers would even have fun with it and let loose.
• Puzzles and Play dough are also great tools for communicating. Any person with any race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or health condition can take part in puzzles and play dough with another person. This taught the children to play together and allowed me to slowly get to know the mothers. Play dough on the other hand was a fun activity that we used to excite the kids and bring everyone together.
• Not all-nonverbal communication is amicable. There is the pouting and crying and screaming that would happen when children wouldn’t share or they were too tired to play. This was a form of communication that wasn’t as joyful, but nonetheless present at SACH.
• Another frequent NVC (nonverbal communication) was when the groups came. This was always interesting to see. It starts with verbal communication when they would be explain what SACH was then quickly shifts from explanation to experience when they all must learn how to play with the kids.
• When the mothers offered me their food for dinner with an outreached hand grasping a plate of delicious ethnic food, I fully understood their appreciation for volunteers. When I was offered to eat with the families, I was grateful for their generosity.
• I had the opportunity to take a few children to the outlet shop to get them gifts before they went back home. I had the task of finding them numerous articles of clothing that would fit them without being able to simply ask for their size. This turned out to be a super fun adventure for all of us and taught me that anything can be done with NVC.
• The expression on the faces of the children who are leaving is the most emotional NVC of them all. Some kids smile because they get to see their families again and others cry as they became so comfortable at the SACH home and they are sad to leave. Needless to say, they are going home with happy healthy hearts that will last them a lifetime.
• The “going too” and “coming from” the hospital NVC occur frequently in the SACH house as well. There are some smiles and laughs as the children go to surgery and of course frowns and cries when they come home, realizing it’s more than one surgery that is needed. Regardless, everyone in the house respects what each child and mother are going through and offer support in every situation.
• The last type of NVC I will share is when I exited the SACH house. The kids were in kulala time (nap time) and only a couple mothers and nurses were downstairs. I hugged them all and held back my tears. I was the one speechless this time. Not able to process the incredible experience I had until weeks later writing this blog.

 Don’t get me wrong, NVC isn’t always easy. There were times I would just yell in English out of frustration for the children to stop fighting and to clean up and I am sure of times where the children would speak about me and make jokes to each other in their own language fully knowing I don’t understand them. But despite these minor comical hiccups, NVC not only got me through SACH but also made it one of the best experiences of my life where not only did I give back but I also gained exponentially.