The Solidarity Postcards Atelier Volunteer Initiative has been active since the first activist's detentions in 2020. Since then, thousands of postcards have been designed and printed, several thousand messages have been sent to prisons, a hundred solidarity meetings have been held in Belarus and in the countries of emigration, and a volunteer movement has been formed. To this day the volunteers handwrite wishes and messages by people from the online form and send postcards and letters to prisons.
Our online form is the only one that allows you to send handwritten wishes to prisoners from any place in the world, and you can even receive the scanned answers by e-mail. We are always ready to help you with writing messages, with starting or continuing writing letters to prisoners.
What differentiates us from other services for sending letters to prisoners?
First, we are a volunteer initiative. It is important for us to create and maintain a volunteer community around the movement of solidarity with political prisoners because we believe that “Belarusians are for Belarusians”.
Secondly, we rewrite all the wishes by hand and send them by Belarusian post. According to our information, handwritten letters and postcards are most likely to pass censorship and the prisoner feels more attention and care. Our volunteers also add perfume to postcards, put stickers, and use other methods to decorate the letters.
Why is it important to write to political prisoners?
“Tireless writing cards, letters, and telegrams to political prisoners, congratulating them on their birthdays, the New Year, other holidays, March 25 — these are very important moments that really support prisoners and strengthen their psyche, make them stronger in these difficult circumstances. I hope that people will not leave and will not forget the political prisoners” — Ales Bialiatski, a political prisoner and a human rights defender of the “Viasna” Human Rights Centre, five-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
How much is needed?
6180 € — fundraising is open for the following needs: printing postcards to send to prisoners; buying envelopes and stamps; supporting volunteer meetings to write letters and solidarity cards to prisoners; supporting social media coverage of the topic.