Assistance to the family of writer and social activist Valyaryna Kustavai

Good after­noon, my name is Val­yary­na Kus­ta­va. Many peo­ple know me as a poet, TV pre­sen­ter, men­tor, author of media projects. All my life I have been writ­ing books, pop­u­lar­iz­ing Belaru­sian cul­ture, help­ing peo­ple in trou­ble. But now I have to ask for help myself, although it was not an easy deci­sion.

Vale­ri­na Kus­to­va. Pho­to: from Face­book page

In 2020, I cre­at­ed the project “Belarus to Belarus, through which I told about repres­sions and helped more than 120 fam­i­lies of polit­i­cal pris­on­ers and repressed. But in June 2021, because of my coop­er­a­tion with “Bel­sat” and sup­port of peo­ple, a black bus came to pick me up, crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings were ini­ti­at­ed alleged­ly on the fact of “financ­ing and orga­niz­ing protests”, sev­er­al search­es took place at my home, as well as at my par­ents. The real estate was sealed.

So, with no mon­ey and only one back­pack, I evac­u­at­ed to Poland, where I con­tin­ued to work and vol­un­teer. Mirac­u­lous­ly, my daugh­ter, who was only two years old at the time, was also evac­u­at­ed. My elder­ly mom and dad also still depend on me. In addi­tion, I am a solo mom.

Not long after I moved out, my dad was diag­nosed with can­cer. The doc­tors only gave him two months to live, but I have been fight­ing for his life for over a year now: com­pli­cat­ed surgery, 12 cycles of chemother­a­py, throm­bo­sis, check­ups while wait­ing for the next surgery. For the first months I was with him in the hos­pi­tal 24 hours a day, then I made dress­ings, injec­tions, took him to pro­ce­dures. Then my daugh­ter need­ed treat­ment too. I was forced to par­ent both my child and my mom and dad. 

Of course, I also need­ed med­ical help: fatigue, stress, depres­sion and emo­tion­al burnout sig­nif­i­cant­ly wors­ened my health, I even had to have surgery. The lat­est x‑rays, tests and doc­tors’ con­clu­sions say that I need urgent treat­ment and reha­bil­i­ta­tion. And although I con­tin­ue to work, as there is no oth­er way out, every­thing described above could not but dri­ve me into debt. It is because of them that I am turn­ing to you.

If I sur­vive this most dif­fi­cult time, I will return to sup­port­ing oth­ers, sav­ing Belaru­sians and Belaru­sians and inspir­ing to live. To live again myself and to cre­ate for our Belarus, because my heart is con­vinced that Belarus to Belaru­sians is love, sup­port and vic­to­ry. And where we are togeth­er, there is the Moth­er­land. 

That is why I ask for your help. The sum I ask will not cov­er all the needs and will not solve all the prob­lems that have arisen in my life, but it will be of great impor­tance for the begin­ning of the strug­gle, and, of course, I will be grate­ful for every dona­tion. 
If a mir­a­cle hap­pens and more than the min­i­mum amount need­ed is raised, I will be able to spend that mon­ey on my dad’s rehab and the treat­ment and reha­bil­i­ta­tion of me and my daugh­ter.

How much is need­ed?

€8700