My name is Elena Vasilevskaya. I am the wife of a political prisoner, mother and grandmother of three grandchildren who are forced to live and grow up far from their homeland, because there is no room left for dissidents in Belarus. Until the fall of 2024, I lived in Minsk, but after my husband's arrest, I realized that it was no longer safe to stay, and in November I left for Poland.
My husband Anatoly and I have been participating in protests since August 2020. We went to marches, I stood in the square, like thousands of other Belarusians, hoping for change. Our daughter Liza was called in for interrogations, and psychological pressure was exerted. Now she is participating in the “Write a List of Polities” initiative and sends letters to prisoners every week with her daughter.
Anatoly was detained on February 20, 2024, right at work. In October, the court sentenced him to four years in a maximum-security prison. The main “evidence” was a photo with a white-red-white flag from a march in Minsk.
Our daughters left for Poland in 2021. Now I live with my youngest daughter and her three children. She has been living separately from her husband for almost a year and is raising the children alone. Since her residence card expires in June, she applied for international protection. Along with the documents, her child support payments will also stop. She cannot officially work — just like me. I work part-time cleaning, waiting for a decision on granting status, and all this time, the two of us have barely managed to pay for a small apartment in the old district of Warsaw.
Now the situation has worsened: my daughter is left without a job, and I can’t cope on my own. We would like to move to a city with more affordable housing, but without the permission of the children's father, changing our place of residence is impossible.
I have never asked for help before. In Belarus, we had a small business, but it was arrested and confiscated. Here, we were left with nothing. I am asking for support only because now is a critical moment. We need to hold out for at least these three months, so as not to lose our apartment and not to aggravate the stress of the children, who have already had too many trials.
I will be grateful to everyone who responds. I believe that difficulties are temporary — and good will definitely return.
How much is needed?
€3000
€2550 — rent for 3 months
€300 — food
€150 — essentials (household chemicals, hygiene, medicines)