It all started with a scared little boy who spoke no English, crying on his first day of school.

Norbert Rennert was six years old. His parents, who were refugees from World War II in Eastern Europe, had just moved to Canada by way of Paraguay. “I remember that experience quite vividly,” Norbert says, “So I know what it’s like going to school and being confronted with a language you don’t understand.”

It was a key moment that would lead him, eventually, to create a language program called “SynPhony,” which is currently alleviating the fears of children all over the world. The next key moment came with his daughter…

When William Kamkwamba was fourteen years old, famine came to his corner of Malawi. The famine dragged his family into poverty so desperate that his parents were no longer able to pay his fees for school and he was forced to drop out. This was devastating for William, who has said that when his friend Gilbert would pass his house each day on the way home from school, William would ask him about the day’s lessons…

What if someone you love was sick, but no one in your community spoke the language of the only doctor in town? What would you do? How would you communicate your loved one’s symptoms? How would the doctor communicate what was needed for her care? Far too often, medical providers and their patients are unable to communicate effectively due to language barriers. And that can lead to tragic results…

Have you ever felt misunderstood… and then judged for it?

Most of us have had this happen to us. But a great many people in the world experience regular, systemic prejudice of all kinds, and it is easy for them to come to the false belief that they have in fact been understood perfectly well—and that is why they are being mistreated. Whether it’s for the color of their skin, their language, their economic status, or some other aspect of their identity, many oppressed and marginalized people must fight a herculean, uphill battle against people’s perceptions if they want to be understood and treated as equals…