My name is Elena Ponyakova, I am 60 years old. Now I am retired.
Although I come from Gomel, I met the 2020 elections in Minsk — a few years before I moved there to live with my daughter. I had enough seniority to retire, so I no longer worked and just helped her.
Until 2020, I could still doubt who of the politicians was right and who was wrong. But after the detention of Sergei Tikhanovsky, I immediately realized that there would be no order in the country, something had to change. And I was 100% sure that we would win with our rallies. I remember August 16 — we were crying with joy that so many people came, and I was sure that we were about to throw Lukashenko out. I continued to go to the marches of pensioners, and to the general marches, and put up leaflets.
Of course, it was scary. Once, I remember, the OMON surrounded our group of pensioners. I myself am tall, and next to me stood Nina Baginskaya — small, thin, other women, God's dandelions, they are 80 years old. We were holding hands. The riot police looked straight at us, and Nina and the others said to me: “Don't be afraid, Zenka, look them in the eye and they won't do anything to you. That's how brave they are. Anyway, I couldn't close my mouth and stay at home. I kept thinking that it would be okay for me, but my daughter is young — I would like our children to live normally. I wanted Lukashenka to go away at last — it was impossible to watch how he was lying.
At first they didn't touch me. And then in the spring of 2021 they sent me a summons and called me for a “conversation” in the Zavodskiy police department. But I didn't go. And then I realized that I would go to jail if I didn't keep quiet. I kept quiet for a while — they stopped touching me. So I lived until 2022. And then one day neighbors told me that the police came to my apartment during the day — they were looking for me. From such news I was frightened, went away for the summer to a summer cottage. Then I came back, and one day they came again. Then I realized that they were definitely looking for me and would put me in jail if they found me. And I have diabetes and hypertension — I would not survive in prison. And my daughter would go crazy on her own. So we decided to throw everything away and leave.
In October 2022 we arrived in Poland. I was in the hospital before that, discharged — and on the same day my daughter and I got in the car and drove. We didn't know what to do: we asked the border guards where Bialystok was, they showed us and we went there. We cried and grieved a lot. But I was glad that now we could not be afraid of everything.
During this time we have settled down a bit. My daughter works, but I can't because of my health. I have diabetes, hepatitis C, and other problems. I would even work as a cleaner, but I get tired very quickly — it's hard to go to Polish classes. That's why I live on my Belarusian and Polish pension — 600 rubles and almost 9 zlotys. My daughter helps a lot. And I try not to sit idle, I continue to fight as I can: I go to rallies, give interviews, run social networks. That's how we live with her.
Everything seemed to be fine until about a year ago when I started having problems with my teeth. More precisely, in March last year, my back started to hurt — the doctors started to look into it, and it turned out that because I had no teeth on one side, my jaw had become misaligned. And that affects the spine. And the doctors said to urgently deal with the teeth, otherwise I'll walk completely sick. That's when they began to treat, tear and put new ones. They did part of it (it took almost 15 thousand zlotys), but it was all my savings. I didn't even think that all this would cost so much, I thought that I would slowly put in new ones myself and I would be able to afford the amount.
I did not want to ask for help, I thought I would manage somehow. After all, Belarusians abroad don't have much money as it is, and there are much harder stories when people get out of prison. I help some people myself, either with clothes or something else. But now I also really need support. My upper jaw is left without teeth, and the sooner I can fix it, the better it will be for my health.
How much is needed?
€4000
Four crowns and two dental bridges left to be fitted.