Twelve-year-old Hemin Dafia spoke quickly, alternately gesturing with his left or right hand. He was flanked by a young Beninese woman who mumbled questions through the gauze that filled her mouth, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Zara Ortiz, a dental technician who didn't understand a word of the local language, Bariba.

The Beninese preteen was one of several young volunteer translators working in the free health care clinics set up by U.S.-Benin forces in the village of Wanrarou, Benin on June 13, 2009.

Personnel working in the dental clinic said that they would be lost without Dafia and the other translators.

"He's the bridge between us and the villagers," said Dental Officer Lieutenant Commander Joon Lee, of the 4th Dental Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group. "He tells us what's wrong with the people."

U.S. service members who set up the health care services as part of the U.S.-Benin Exercise SHARED ACCORD anticipated the French-English language barrier and provided translators. However, it was up to the local youths of Wanrarou to cross the Bariba-French barrier and help the bilateral forces to help the people of their village.

The clinics were part of a six-day Medical Assistance Program coordinated by the Air Force's 459th Expeditionary Air Medical Squadron and three Benin Army doctors; the team provided free primary medical care, optometry and pharmaceutical services.

Local people like Dafia were scattered throughout the middle school turned medical camp; most arrived after Beninese forces asked for help, but some just wandered in, noticed the confusion, and got to work.

They translated Bariba into French for the Beninese soldiers, who in turn translated for the American service members providing care.

"I was impressed by what the Americans were doing for my village," said Dafia. "I wanted to help."

In Wanrarou, few other than the young and schooled spoke French, a handful amongst the hundreds of Barabi speaking villagers who sought medical care at the camp, said Army Staff Sergeant Heather N. White of the 300th Military Intelligence Brigade based in Draper, Utah.

"Bariba is very much a tribal language," she said, "It is nothing like French."

Dafia worked hard, darting from patient to patient, providing vital post-operation information and translating complaints

"Some of these people have never seen care," said Petty Officer 1st Class AnnMarie Wilson of the 4th Dental Battalion.

"We want to see as many people as possible, until we run out of supplies or drop dead,"

Dafia's dedication may help Wilson do just that.

"His friends are outside the front door, calling for him to come play," said San Antonio native Ortiz of the 4th Dental Battalion. "He looked like he was stuck in the middle - being pulled two ways, but he stayed and helped us all day."

And he wasn't the only one volunteering to translate the ailments of wave after wave of patients seeking aid.

Magourath Ibrahim, 15, sat at the entrance to the optometry section, helping Technical Sergeant David Hauser understand his patients.

"I help you because you are doing good things for my people," she said in between bites of a cookie. "It makes me happy to help."

If she felt happy, Hauser was ecstatic.

He'd expected French-speaking patients and an easy time topping the language barrier.

"This would be impossible without her help," Hauser said of the large number of patients who were quickly getting treatment. "We asked if she was going to stay and come back, and she stuck around and continued to help, and help and help."

In the primary medical care center, across the middle school courtyard and beyond the throngs of villagers, teenagers took turns translating complaints of fever and skin irritations.

"Some of us speak French, some of us speak a little French, but none of us speak the native language," said Air Force Major Ari Fisher, a physician's assistant providing primary care. The nature of the native language creates difficulties in translating western words, especially when it comes to medical terminology.

Accurately translating technical medical terms from French into Bariba was Ibrahim's biggest challenge throughout the two days she worked at the clinic, she said.

"Aside from the basic communication translation, you're trying to simplify our medical lingo into simpler English," said Fisher.

When it comes to communicating medical concerns, health care workers can't tolerate any ambiguity, he said, and thanks to local youth, they didn't have to.

Wanrarou, however, was only the first stop.

The same service members who saw unending streams of patients over their two-day stay at the Wanrarou middle school still have two other Beninese villages to visit as they continue their mission of humanitarian aid. More than likely, they'll run into more difficulties deciphering local dialects and languages.

Still, after seeing smiles of relief and understanding on their patients' faces after local youth helped to bridge the language gap, some service members will approach these next villages with a newfound confidence in the people they help.

"He gives me hope, this kid stepping up and helping, that the Beninese will be able to provide all their own services in the future," Petty Officer 3rd Class Froilan Farinas of the 4th Dental Battalion said about the young boy he watched work from open to close at his dental clinic. "Maybe one day he can do this kind of work for his people."

SHARED ACCORD is a scheduled, combined U.S.-Benin exercise designed to improve interoperability and mutual understanding of each nation's military tactics, techniques and procedures. Humanitarian and civil affairs events run concurrent with the military training. The exercise is scheduled to conclude June 25.