Good day! My name is Svetlana Prokopchuk.
I have a family — a husband and two children.
On August 19, 2020 at 7 a.m. law enforcers came to our house and arrested my husband and my eldest son for participation in the marches that took place in Brest. I was left alone with my ten-year-old daughter. I had to take care of the whole family: I searched for lawyers for my husband and son, got visits, went to the courts… and then I collected transfers to the penal colony and waited for my relatives for four long years.
To make it all work, I took several jobs. I am an accountant, and several firms agreed to take me on. But it was still very difficult because I had so much responsibility.
In January 2024, our house was stitched up again. Again there were searches, seizure of property, fines and interrogations. The thing is, I received food aid from INeedHelp from time to time, and when everyone associated with the initiative was criminally prosecuted, we were also affected. But I couldn't go anywhere because I was waiting for my child and my husband from the colony.
After 3 months, in April 2024, my relatives were finally released. I was so happy! But we quickly realized that we would not be able to live as before. For one thing, I was a suspect in the INeedHelp case and was constantly being called in for interviews and interrogations. But most importantly, my husband and son were under police surveillance, which made our life in Belarus unbearable. So we decided to leave.
Police supervision is a system of control established by internal affairs bodies over persons released after political arrests. This measure includes regular appearances before the police, restrictions on movement and other conditions aimed at preventing people from engaging in political activities.
BYSOL Note.
We are now in Poland. Thank you so much to the BYSOL evacuation team for helping us get out. But we need support. We will be filing for international protection as a family here, so none of us have a chance to find a normal job anytime soon, and we are a family of 4.
We are asking for help to rent a place to live for a few months and provide the essentials while we recover and learn to live safely and in a new country.
How much is needed?
€6000
€2800 — accommodation for 3 months for our family + one month's deposit,
€1500 — basic Polish language courses for all four people,
€1700 — “support money” for the next 2-4 months while we look for a source of income.