Vladislav worked on a construction site for three months to save up for his studies, but his employer never paid him. Now the young family of political emigrants is already in Warsaw and could lose their place in the Kalinowski Programme.
My wife and I have just moved to Warsaw to study under the Kalinowski Programme. It took us a long time to get here. Now we face a choice: stay and continue our studies, or return to Lithuania, take any work we can find again and most likely give up on the programme.
My name is Vladislav Ostapenko-Kramchanin. I have been in exile for six years now, and throughout this time I have felt as though I have simply been surviving. I still haven’t been able to get a proper education or acquire a profession that would allow me to build a future. My wife and I met in Lithuania; she is also a political refugee. We applied to the Kalinowski Programme together, passed the selection process and came to Poland. The first year is preparatory: Polish language and specialist subjects, followed by admission to a degree programme in our chosen field.
I prepared for the move in advance: I got a job on a construction site in Lithuania to save some money. The work was hard, but they promised a good salary, and I knew what I was doing it for. In the end, the employer cheated us and didn’t pay us for three months of work. There were about twenty of us in the crew. Officially, we were registered as earning the minimum wage, but the rest of our salaries were simply withheld. It was a serious blow, but we went ahead and moved anyway because we didn’t want to miss this opportunity.
Under the new rules in Poland, you cannot start working straight away until your documents have been processed. The scholarship under the programme is around 1,500 zlotys, which isn’t enough for two people in Warsaw. So we have a chance to study, but no money to get through the first few months.
I’m from Mahiliou. In 2020, I was 18 and studying in Minsk. After the election, I took to the streets, like thousands of other Belarusians. I was detained on the night of August 9. At Okrestina, I saw beaten and bloodied people who could barely stand. There were more than thirty of us in a cell meant for four. Then came the trial, an administrative conviction, and the threat of a criminal case. In 2021, I had to leave the country.
I was granted refugee status in Lithuania. The first few years were difficult: I worked illegally and looked for any way to establish myself. After going through all the circles of bureaucracy myself, I began helping other Belarusians figure out where to go and which documents to collect. I also volunteered: sorting clothes, delivering food and taking part in community life.
Now we are the ones who need support. We need just the bare essentials to get through the first two months, continue our studies and avoid losing this opportunity. I really want our life in exile to finally stop being an endless struggle just to survive.
Fundraising goal
€2000
€1400 – rent and utility bills for the first three months
€600 – food and other expenses