Last year God for Kids app had a make-over. It's the same great content but now we can give people the a choice of languages to play and learn... as soon as we have done the hard work of translating and recording voiceovers.
This takes people - lots of people!
Translating the app into another language takes about 100 hours of work for two people (one to translate, another to check and edit).
Another 60 hours is spent recording and editing voiceovers.
And that's just for one language.
Some people are able to volunteer their time, but that's not always possible, especially in languages like Ukrainian...
This is Angelina's Story...
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 Keiv. 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.”
Angelina now has a full time job in Graphic Design and prays for peace in Ukraine and better end for her family.
Joanne's Story
In 2015, when developing God for Kids, I chose to create an app, instead of a book and to use children's voices because I want children to feel that God speaks their language.
I know many people have used it to help their children learn English but there are so many resources already in English. How much better would it be for children to learn about Father God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in their own language?
I hope that Ukrainian will be the first of many languages soon to be available. We have the most amazing software that makes it really easy to translate and record directly into the app from anywhere online. So I have friends all over the world who have started work on the Portuguese, German, Serbian, Hungarian, Spanish and Russian versions.
We just need the funds to keep going, finish the languages we have started and then start some more.
I’ll translate into any language for which I can find a translator but it's not easy. We need two translators per language, one to translate and another to check and edit. Ideally, they must be translating into their native language.
And we need voiceovers artists who are young or who have young sounding voices. It's a big operation for which we need people, time and funds.
“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.”
I am confident it's going to be amazing!