A Belarusian woman and her son ended up in exile to avoid imprisonment. She now lives in Poland, but because her child was very young, she was unable to find a job. Now she is able to work, but urgently needs support to pay for housing and childcare.
My name is Nina*. I am a former political prisoner from Belarus. I had to go through arrest, a temporary detention centre, prison, court hearings, a sentence, and forced departure from the country. When all this was happening, I was pregnant. The system knew I was carrying a child, but that stopped no one. On the contrary, my pregnancy became another way to put pressure on me. After the horrific conditions in the temporary detention centre, I spent more than three months in one of the most notorious prisons in Belarus. This is not something you can simply forget and erase from your life. I was sentenced to “home confinement.” I appealed, but I understood that there was no room for illusions.
With the help of the BYSOL team, I was able to escape. It was difficult, frightening, and nerve-racking. I was pregnant, under constant stress, with no idea what tomorrow would bring. But we made it. Now my son and I are in Poland. We have international protection, and my son has also received refugee status. Formally, we are safe. But that does not mean life has become normal or peaceful. I am alone with my two-year-old son in exile. My family members stayed in Belarus and cannot help; everything depends on me.
Later, after I had already escaped, I was sentenced in absentia in Belarus to a correctional facility and put on a wanted list. Even after I left, the state did not leave me alone. They could not reach me directly, so they began putting pressure on my family members.
My parents cannot see their grandson or be there for me, and the worst thing is that they are not being left alone either: they receive calls, are summoned, asked about me, and pressured to say where I am, whether I have given birth, and where I live.
I am terribly afraid for them, especially after what has already happened in our family. A close relative of mine was travelling to visit me. She was detained at the border: she was interrogated for several hours, then arrested, and later released, but told that she would be summoned again and threatened with criminal charges for “helping extremists.”
After she was released, she told me: “Now I understand what you went through when you were in prison and how they treated you.” Then she was summoned again. After the interrogations, threats, and arrest, she suffered a stroke. She was taken to hospital and died a few days later without regaining consciousness. A young, healthy woman — I believe she was killed by the interrogations, threats, arrest, and pressure. They drove her to the breaking point. They broke her because of me. Because I survived, left, and gave birth to a child outside their reach.
Now my main problem is very simple and everyday: I need to keep our life here in Poland going. Not a beautiful, comfortable, or peaceful life — just a normal life for me and my child. While my son was very young, I could not take a full-time job. I could not simply leave him alone. There was no childcare, no help nearby, and no family around. It became a vicious circle: to work, I need to send my child to childcare; to pay for childcare, I need to work.
Now I have an opportunity to send my son to childcare, but it has to be paid for. In September, I need to pay around 1,500 zlotys, and then roughly the same amount again in October. I am being told that some of the benefits may depend on whether I start working. But in order to start working, I first need to pay for childcare.
I need to pay for our apartment and buy food; my child needs clothes and shoes. I need to prepare him for childcare: spare clothes, shoes, seasonal clothing, hygiene products — all the ordinary things without which a child simply cannot properly join a group. I am already deeply in debt. I really want to work, and I am not asking for money so that I can stay at home and do nothing. I will be able to start working at least part-time, and if possible, work more. I am ready to work even one and a half full-time positions if that is what it takes to get out of this situation and support my son and myself.
I am asking for your help during this most difficult period: to pay for housing, childcare, food, hygiene products, and clothes for my child. This support will give me the opportunity not to fall even deeper into debt, pay for childcare, and start working.
Please help us!
*This is an anonymous story. For security purposes, we have changed the hero's name. The image is generated using AI.
Fundraising goal
€3000
€1850 — rent and utility expenses for three months
€1150 — childcare / nursery fees for three months