KYIV, Ukraine — In only one year 11 volumes of the Ukrainian Braille New Testament and Psalms were produced: a task which normally takes much longer. Now the Ukrainian Bible Society (UkBS) has received 5,500 Portions of the Ukrainian Braille Bible Portions, and since the second half of last year when the Portions started to arrive, they have been distributing these Scriptures across Ukraine.
Mrs Benedikovich visited several places where the Braille Scriptures had been distributed, and met with blind people who had received copies. She found that everyone was happy to receive these first editions of the Ukrainian Braille Scriptures. There are more than 60,000 blind people in Ukraine, and this project began with a desperate need for Braille Scriptures.
In 1995 the Christian organisation Licht Im Osten (Light in the East) worked on transcribing the text of the Ukrainian Bible into Braille which then had to be proof-read and checked. Someone who had the ability and the qualifications had to be found to do this work; someone who was a fluent Braille reader.
“I instinctively knew he was the right man for the job, and although we interviewed several others, it was his devoted Christian witness which impressed us and convinced me he was the right man for the job,” she said.
In the outcome she was proved right because Mr Savchenko has worked beyond all expectations to achieve the proofreading of the 11 volumes completed so far. “His wife told me he tries to do far more than the recommended 20 pages, finishing 40 pages in a day sometimes. His wife said, ‘He doesn’t simply work at it: he puts his heart into his work, all his heart’,” Mrs Benedikovitch added.
He was not always a Christian. “When I grew up I had a strong desire to learn to know God,” he said. “But I did not know how because I did not have a Bible. Then I started listening to the Christian programmes broadcast by Radio Monte Carlo. I became a regular listener and then I started going to church. 19 years ago I was baptised.”
The Braille Portions are being distributed to libraries throughout the country via the Association for the Blind library. Also, the School for the Blind in Lviv has been supplied with copies, and there the teachers and students are very happy. Mrs Sophia Voytkiv, who teaches the junior forms at the school, and Ukrainian teacher, Helena Kutnia, were delighted that the children now had the Scriptures in Ukrainian Braille.
Blind people are visiting Bible House in Kyiv and the branch in Lviv to ask for the Braille Portions. “They come accompanied by their relatives or friends, and they are so happy leaving the Bible House with their volumes of Braille Portions, their faces are shining,” Mrs Benedikovitch said.
The Braille Portions are distributed free of charge, although each volume is expensive. Thanks to the support of national Societies and donors, the UBS is able to coordinate projects like this for the blind in countries around the world. The Ukrainian Braille Bible Portions were printed in the Netherlands and delivered post-free to Kyiv.
