I arrived on Lesvos with a suitcase, some legal training and a strong idea of what I could offer. I spoke English, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, and I imagined interpretation would be central to my placement with European Lawyers in Lesvos. I also expected the main challenge of living abroad to be learning my way around a Greek island. Six weeks later, my most important lessons about cultural competence came from discovering how partial those expectations were.

My work followed a rhythm: mornings at the Protection Legal Aid Hub in the camp on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and office interviews, case notes and research during the rest of the week. Each transition made me aware that I occupied several different positions at once. I was a visiting scholar from the University of Toronto, an Indian woman with experience in a Canadian court, a trainee in a legal organisation, and a temporary resident on an island where some of the people I met could not simply leave. Those positions affected what I noticed and what I might mistakenly assume I understood.

The physical setting exposed that gap immediately. At the camp I saw security checks and border personnel, white structures in the June heat and an impossibly blue sea. It was tempting to frame that view as a stark symbol. But the people I met had ordinary questions requiring practical answers, and my role was to attend to them. The setting mattered without becoming a substitute for listening to an individual.

My first encounter with someone who spoke Pulaar reinforced that point. Communication moved from Pulaar through a friend into French and then through our interpreter. I had not even heard of the language before. I had prepared a glossary for my own languages, but his needs could not be made to fit my preparation. Cultural competence began with recognizing a gap in my knowledge and allowing the team to find an appropriate way to communicate.