Awakening faith through Ukrainian translation work 

Angelina Grytsaienko came to the UK in the summer of 2022 to escape the war in Ukraine. She met Joanne Gilchrist, the creator of the God for Kids app, through her host family while she was looking for full time work. Joanne needed someone to translate her app into Ukrainian and Angelina had studied interpretation at college in Kiev. It was the perfect fit.

Growing up in Desna in Ukraine, church was only part of Angelina’s life at Easter and Christmas. However, since the start of the war and the separation of her family, she has noticed her father, especially, begin to take his faith more seriously.

'The war has shown him that there is so much that he can’t trust, like the media or his past military experience. Now I am here and my mother and sister are in Germany, he is alone without his family and he wants to be closer to something higher than himself.'

While translating the God for Kids app, Angelina had a lot to think about, with regard to her own faith.

'Some of the sentences I translated were very short, but they describe great things,' she says. 'It’s been lovely to have opportunity to learn about God. It’s just an app but it’s bigger than just an app. It’s not like Intsa or TikTok. It’s useful for children to think about and find an answer or ask their parents.'

Joanne, of Beauchief Baptist Church in Sheffield, hopes that Ukrainian will be the first of many languages soon to be available in her app, including Portuguese, German, Serbian, Hungarian, Spanish and Russian.

'I’ll translate into any language for which I can find a translator and voiceover artist,' says Joanne. 'My hope is that God for Kids app will be a helpful resource, not just for parents overseas but for churches in the UK that welcome children who can’t speak English. They could use the devotions and games to help children feel included and seen.'

Angelina now has a full time job in graphic design and prays for peace in Ukraine and  better end for her family.
 

God for Kids app is a part of the charity Ruach Resources and can be downloaded from the App Store or GooglePlay.

To support this work, a crowdfunding campaign to fund translation work is running on from 1-28th Feb here.