KRISTY RAMNARINE
Kristy.ramnarine@cnc3.co.tt
Talia Khan is a dedicated language enthusiast and humanitarian. She currently serves as a Spanish interpreter/translator at the Ministry of National Security. She has also contributed to various humanitarian efforts with the Ryu Dan Empowerment Foundation, including but not limited to mentoring and teaching basic English to Venezuelan migrant children.
Khan co-authored the recently launched book Juanita–a bilingual children’s book celebrating the ethnodiversity of T&T.
“The idea for our book came from witnessing first-hand the struggles of migrant children while doing volunteer work with UWI and UNICEF,” she said. “The children, regardless of their ages, were at varying educational levels, and they also lacked knowledge about Trinbagonian culture due to quarantine policies that were in place during the pandemic.
“We wanted to help them learn English and about our country while also being represented in local literature as the protagonist because we know that one day they will represent a very significant portion of our demographic.
“We also wanted Trinbagonians to become more sensitised to the migrant situation because migrants are not the ‘other’.
Khan’s passion is evident. She said, “Trinbago was built by migrants, all of our people are descendants of West Africans, Indians, Syrians, Portuguese, Venezuelans, Chinese and more who settled here for work and other reasons. What we are seeing today is history continuing to repeat itself in the cycle of life and once we embed this into our psyche we can surely become a better society.”
The 22-year-old worked on Juanita alongside three other authors, Muslimah Bilquees Mohammed, Rayne Affonso and Jesse Buendía Ragbir.
“It was one of the most inspiring and empowering experiences of my life,” Khan said.
“I felt so proud that we took the leap together to do something so courageous and impactful. It encourages you to want to do even more and embark on even more projects because you feel reassured that you have support from people who understand your goals and dreams because they want the same things. “We all had very good synergy as well and the process of writing the book was effortless because we all pulled our own weight.”
Khan has loved languages ever since she could remember. She decided to pursue such while in Form 3 where she settled on her career path.
“At the time I was torn between following my classmates or following my dreams,” she said. “Most of my classmates had their eyes set on Medicine or Law and a part of me did not want to be the odd one out. There were talks about Medicine and Law being ‘prestigious,’ ‘stable’, and ‘lucrative.’ It sounded very promising and given my thirst for success I was almost convinced to take that road, but I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to do what I love and trust in the process.
“In that moment I realised that I wanted my future to be about my internal sense of fulfilment rather than the amount of money I make and the reputation I have. Although making money is also very nice too.”
While Khan has never had any negative thoughts about her job in relation to the Islamic religion, she has experienced negative comments about both separately.
“I have been told that there are no careers in languages, especially not in Trinidad and Tobago,” she explained. “I have felt hindered by negative comments. I have seen on social media about successful Muslim women. I thought that if I were to put myself out there I too would be discriminated against, but I’ve realised that I don’t care what anyone says. I am all for Muslim women taking risks and empowering ourselves and following our dreams.” Balancing work with fasting and studies is a challenge she proudly embraces. “The waking up early, travelling from Cunupia to San Fernando and back and the lack of sleep has been taking a toll on me but somehow my willpower hasn’t been rattled,” Khan added.
“The most important thing when balancing fasting and other tasks is knowing your priorities but also knowing your limits and boundaries. One good example is that I am accustomed to exercising every evening. I was worried about being able to balance my workout routine along with my job, time with my loved ones and sleep, but I realised that for this month at least I needed to make the sacrifice and eliminate my workouts from my schedule until after Ramadan. “This helped my body to feel more energised, I was less stressed, and I was also able to spend quality time with loved ones, pray more and sleep enough. This was what worked for me. A small adjustment to my routine.”
Passionate about fitness, Khan is also on a mission to make exercise enjoyable and accessible for women as she works towards becoming a certified fitness trainer.