By Wendy Tokuda, CBS San Francisco
RICHMOND — It’s quiet in Meuy Phan’s kitchen, even when she and her parents are all bustling around. They are both deaf, and Phan is their connection to the outside world. As a family, they communicate in sign but whenever they need something outside the home, Phan is their interpreter, guide and negotiator. She calls herself the “keyholder.”
Meuy Phan. Photo from CBS San Francisco.
“My responsibilities at home are basically being a parent,” Phan said. “I’m like a parent to my parents.”
Angelica Arriaga, Phan’s college counselor says she has to remind herself that Phan is only in high school because she is so mature.
“Whenever something needs to be handled, like a doctor’s appointment, Meuy is the one who handles that,” Arriaga said. “She will call the doctor’s office and set up the appointment and then go along with her parents because she needs to translate for them.” Arriaga knows Phan has sometimes had to miss school to help her parents.
As they get older, Phan says their English skills are slipping. Her father was born in Laos and her mother in Cambodia, and so they face cultural issues as well. Their disabilities and cultural differences marginalize and isolate them.
“The hardest part of taking care of my folks would be trying to translate to them over and over and they still don’t understand,” Phan said. “They don’t know exactly what’s going on and I have to explain it to them so many different ways until they understand it.”
Her mom is mute as well. Phan says “she can’t speak which makes it difficult for her. Sometimes she’s scared to be by herself.”
Her extra responsibilities at home have given Phan a confidence that is evident the first time you meet her. “She’s so bold,” says Arriaga, “she’s just a little firecracker. She speaks her mind, she doesn’t hesitate and she’s not shy.”
But it took confidence for Phan to venture into the College and Career Center at Richmond High. She never expected to go to college until she got to know Arriaga who planted the seed.
“At Richmond High, kids worry about not being able to afford it,” Phan said. “Having to take out loans … But when you walk into that College Career Center, the people that are in there, they change your whole mindset about it.”
Not all of Richmond is poor, but in Central Richmond there are areas of significant poverty–some with rates as high as 59% living below the federal poverty line.
At Phan’s school, 77 percent of the students are eligible for the reduced or free lunch program. And all the kids know the reputation that central Richmond has for crime.
Its violent crime rate is more than double the national average.
Read the full article by Wendy Tokuda from CBS San Francisco.
