🧡 Meet Our Volunteers

Ani­KA — Arriv­ing in Karl­sruhe would not be pos­si­ble with­out the amaz­ing sup­port of our volunteers!

Whether it’s trans­lat­ing con­tent, spread­ing the word at events, or cre­at­ing posts for social media, our team of ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­teers helps keep Ani­KA active, acces­si­ble, and multilingual.

They bring their tal­ents, lan­guages, and per­son­al expe­ri­ences to make Karl­sruhe more wel­com­ing for new­com­ers from all over the world.

We’re proud to intro­duce some of the peo­ple behind Ani­KA – each with their own sto­ry and moti­va­tion to help oth­ers feel at home.

Ale­jan­dra Acero

Sup­port Volunteer

My name is Ale­jan­dra Acero, I’m 18 years old. I was born in Colom­bia and moved here when I was nine.

Dur­ing a school intern­ship, I had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to work with new­com­ers in Karl­sruhe. Now, I occa­sion­al­ly help out wher­ev­er I’m need­ed — whether it’s hand­ing out fly­ers, check­ing the web­site, or sup­port­ing events.

I think Ani­KA is a great ini­tia­tive that tru­ly sup­ports new­com­ers in Karl­sruhe. The peo­ple at Ani­KA are always kind and wel­com­ing, and I’m real­ly hap­py to be part of it.

Aida Ayani

Per­sian Lan­guage Sec­tion | Event section

My name is Aida Ayani and I come from Iran. Even back in school, I loved tak­ing part in vol­un­teer projects — and that joy of being involved has stayed with me here in Ger­many.

At “Ani­KA – Arriv­ing in Karl­sruhe”, I’m respon­si­ble for the Per­sian-lan­guage sec­tion of our web­site, help­ing Far­si-speak­ing new­com­ers find their way more eas­i­ly.

For me, Ani­KA is a won­der­ful way to make a pos­i­tive con­tri­bu­tion and con­nect with peo­ple who believe in sol­i­dar­i­ty and com­mu­ni­ty.

Yan­i­na Berra

Visu­al and graph­ic designer

Hel­lo, I am a visu­al and graph­ic design­er orig­i­nal­ly from Buenos Aires, Argenti­na. My back­ground in design, my inter­est in user expe­ri­ence (UX/UI), and my nat­ur­al curios­i­ty have led me to become part of Ani­KA — an offi­cial plat­form of the City of Karl­sruhe with a strong social focus.

It means a lot to me to be part of such a ded­i­cat­ed team and to work in a flex­i­ble and col­lab­o­ra­tive envi­ron­ment. At Ani­KA, I con­tribute to the devel­op­ment of the visu­al iden­ti­ty and work on improv­ing the user expe­ri­ence across both the web plat­form and Insta­gram.

When I first arrived in Ger­many, I was faced with an over­whelm­ing amount of infor­ma­tion. This per­son­al expe­ri­ence helps me empathize with peo­ple who are new to the city. That is why I am espe­cial­ly hap­py to be part of Ani­KA — a bridge between infor­ma­tion and peo­ple, pro­vid­ing ori­en­ta­tion and sup­port­ing inte­gra­tion in Karlsruhe.

Alexan­dra Demian

Roman­ian and Russ­ian Lan­guage Section

My name is Alexan­dra Demi­an and I’m from the Repub­lic of Moldo­va. At “Ani­KA – Arriv­ing to Karl­sruhe,” I’m respon­si­ble for trans­la­tions into Roman­ian and Russ­ian.

I vol­un­teer with Ani­KA because com­mu­ni­ty spir­it and mutu­al sup­port are very impor­tant to me.
It brings me joy to help oth­ers and to cre­ate some­thing pos­i­tive togeth­er.

With Ani­KA, I’ve found not only a mean­ing­ful role but also a warm and wel­com­ing envi­ron­ment, along with many valu­able connections.

Can­su Gündogdu

Turk­ish Lan­guage Section

My name is Can­su Gün­dog­du, and I’m orig­i­nal­ly from Turkey. Since 2008 , I’ve been active­ly involved in a vari­ety of vol­un­teer projects — a com­mit­ment that con­tin­ues to inspire me.

At Ani­KA – Arriv­ing to Karl­sruhe, I’m respon­si­ble for the Turk­ish-lan­guage sec­tion of our web­site. I aim to help Turk­ish-speak­ing new­com­ers nav­i­gate their new sur­round­ings and feel more at home in Karl­sruhe.

To me, Ani­KA is more than just a vol­un­teer project — it’s a mean­ing­ful way to pro­mote sol­i­dar­i­ty, strength­en com­mu­ni­ty ties, and con­nect with peo­ple who share the same values.

Kiana Kalan­tari

Per­sian Lan­guage Section

At Ani­KA, I have the won­der­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty to share my pas­sion for lan­guage and com­mu­ni­ca­tion.

As a trans­la­tor, I care­ful­ly and whole­heart­ed­ly trans­late the con­tent of our web­site from Ger­man into Per­sian. Since there are often no direct equiv­a­lents in our lan­guage and machine trans­la­tions often miss the sub­tleties, it’s very impor­tant to me to make the texts clear, wel­com­ing, and easy to under­stand for our Per­sian-speak­ing new­com­ers from the very begin­ning.

It brings me great joy to be part of this inspir­ing project that sup­ports peo­ple on their new jour­ney and shows them that they are not alone.

Sil­via Magnabosco

Ital­ian Lan­guage Section

My name is Sil­via Magna­bosco and I’m from Italy. Vol­un­teer­ing is a valu­able expe­ri­ence for me: I’m not only help­ing oth­ers, but also con­stant­ly learn­ing new things and feel­ing like part of some­thing pos­i­tive and mean­ing­ful.

I’m hap­py to sup­port “Ani­KA – Arriv­ing to Karl­sruhe” by review­ing trans­la­tions and pro­vid­ing lan­guage sup­port for our web­site.

Since I know from expe­ri­ence the chal­lenges that come with mov­ing to a new place, I want to be the kind of help I once wished for – because a clear and under­stand­able trans­la­tion can tru­ly make a difference.

Nikoli­na Markan

Croa­t­ian Lan­guage Sec­tion / Cre­at­ing Con­tent Instagram

Hi, I’m Nikoli­na, and I’m orig­i­nal­ly from Croa­t­ia. Since the Covid pan­dem­ic, I’ve come to tru­ly appre­ci­ate the impor­tance of vol­un­teer­ing and sup­port­ing your com­mu­ni­ty.

At Ani­KA – Arriv­ing to Karl­sruhe, I’m respon­si­ble for the Croa­t­ian-lan­guage sec­tion of our web­site, as well as cre­at­ing con­tent for our Insta­gram page.

To me, Ani­KA is an invalu­able plat­form. In a time where there’s so much information—and often mis­in­for­ma­tion—it’s essen­tial to have a reli­able place peo­ple can turn to for sup­port and guid­ance.

Abdi­rashid Mohamed

Soma­li Lan­guage Section

My name is Abdi­rashid Mohamed, and I come from Soma­lia. I vol­un­teer at Ani­KA, where I trans­late and review texts in Soma­li. Many of the website’s con­tents were ini­tial­ly trans­lat­ed using AI, but these trans­la­tions are often inac­cu­rate or dif­fi­cult to under­stand. I revise them to make sure they are clear, cor­rect, and easy to under­stand.

It is an hon­or for me to be part of this project and to work with peo­ple who have tak­en the ini­tia­tive to cre­ate such an impor­tant plat­form. Many peo­ple—espe­cial­ly Soma­li speak­ers—strug­gle to find reli­able infor­ma­tion on how to inte­grate into soci­ety. Although many ser­vices and pro­grams exist, they are often not acces­si­ble due to lan­guage bar­ri­ers or poor trans­la­tions.

Through my work, I aim to help close this gap. I want peo­ple to tru­ly under­stand the infor­ma­tion and be able to ben­e­fit from the sup­port avail­able to them.

Valenti­na Patterson

Sup­port Vol­un­teer | Event Section

Hi every­one! My name is Valenti­na. I am from Chile and I am a busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion pro­fes­sion­al with expe­ri­ence in edu­ca­tion­al man­age­ment. Dur­ing my stud­ies, I spent one semes­ter in Ger­many as an exchange stu­dent, and six years lat­er I returned to build a per­ma­nent life here with my family.

As a migrant myself, I under­stand how chal­leng­ing it can be to adapt to a new cul­ture and start a new life abroad. That is why I am very hap­py to be part of Ani­KA, a project that has been very help­ful to me personally.

Today, from the oth­er side, I feel moti­vat­ed to con­tribute to mak­ing the arrival in Karl­sruhe and the first steps in this city a lit­tle eas­i­er and more wel­com­ing for oth­er migrants.

Maria Von­hausen

Pol­ish Lan­guage Section

Hel­lo, my name is Maria and I come from Poland. At ani­KA, I am respon­si­ble for the Pol­ish con­tent on the web­site.
I revise the texts to make them clear­er and more acces­si­ble.
I con­sid­er the ani­KA to be par­tic­u­lar­ly impor­tant because it helps new­com­ers quick­ly find rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion on how to shape their new life in Karl­sruhe and what kind of sup­port is avail­able.
Clear and well-struc­tured infor­ma­tion is, for me per­son­al­ly, the foun­da­tion for find­ing one’s way in a new envi­ron­ment and feel­ing set­tled.
It is impor­tant to me to con­tribute to a pos­i­tive and mean­ing­ful ini­tia­tive that helps oth­ers – and that is why I am part of aniKA.

Symon Yem­chenko

Ukrain­ian Lan­guage Section

My name is Symon Yem­chenko, and I’m from Ukraine. When my fam­i­ly and I moved to Ger­many, we were pos­i­tive­ly sur­prised by how much val­ue is placed on vol­un­teer­ing here.

I also decid­ed to get involved and sup­port oth­er migrants and refugees in find­ing their way in Ger­many. At ani­KA, I help cre­ate the Ukrain­ian ver­sion of the web­site.

It’s impor­tant to me that peo­ple com­ing from oth­er coun­tries have access to the infor­ma­tion they need to feel com­fort­able and safe here – no mat­ter what lan­guage they speak. ani­KA does a great job mak­ing that possible.