July 1, 2022

Pocketalk donates 1,000+ units to the Ukrainian refugees

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and changed the lives of millions of Ukrainian people. What had once been a beautiful safe haven to call home turned into a territory of war overnight. According to the United Nations on May 16, over 6.2 million citizens have fled the country seeking refuge since February with over half (3.3 million) residing in Poland

Since Pocketalk launched in 2017, our company has been a leader in the handheld translator market. We’ve focused on innovation to break down communication barriers through a dedicated purpose translation device. We’ve connected people of all backgrounds through language translation. When our team put Ukrainian on the list of languages for Pocketalk devices to translate to, we did not realize how impactful that decision one day would be.

Fundacja K.I.D.S. (Klub Innowatorów Dziecięcych Szpitali) delivered 40 Pocketalks to 12 hospitals in Poland to help Polish doctors communicate with Ukrainian children and families. At Pocketalk, we are grateful to be able to help doctors provide the best care possible for these kids as they speak their native language. We were fortunate enough that some of their providers shared testimonies and photos of how Pocketalk has helped the ongoing crisis.

 

“Most of our hospitals are already using translators and they are absolutely delighted, it made the communication with Ukrainian refugees so much easier!”

Aleksandra, Operations Director Fundacja K.I.D.S. 

“Hey –  just wanted to say we received the Pocketalk devices and they are a huge hit. There are Polish only speaking team members who are now interacting with the international team. It has people interested in learning languages and many people now wear them on their necks all the time. We have so many nationalities / languages here. Polish to Hebrew to Chinese etc.”

Mike Zuckerman, Alight 

 

We did not stop at sending aid to Poland, we looked at how our connections in Japan could aid incoming refugees to the country. During his 2019 visit to Japan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended a lunch meeting hosted by the Japan Association of New Economy, in which SourceNext and Pocketalk founder, Nori Matsuda participated as one of its directors. With that connection, Matsuda thought about what he could do to help soon after Russia’s invasion began. The conversations between the Ukrainian Embassy and Matsuda ultimately led to the donation of 1,000 devices to incoming Ukrainian refugees.

We continue to be humbled by the resilience of the Ukrainian people and are grateful to provide services to help.