«My bank card has been blocked, and no one wants to hire me. I am an old man.» Exiled photographer Henadz Veratsinski asks for help

The 67-year-old Belaru­sian pho­tog­ra­ph­er Henadz Ver­atsin­s­ki is in a crit­i­cal sit­u­a­tion in Poland and is ask­ing for help. The man has the means to stay afloat for two months at most.

Henadz Ver­atsin­s­ki. Self-por­trait

Henadz Ver­atsin­s­ki has a sec­ond-degree hand­i­cap. He has sev­er­al ill­ness­es, includ­ing the absence of one kid­ney. The pho­tog­ra­ph­er left Belarus in 2023 due to polit­i­cal per­se­cu­tion. He then received a one-time finan­cial aid pay­ment of 3,000 euros.

He used to receive his pen­sion pay­ments on a Belaru­sian bank card, which was blocked in May 2024. The mon­ey the state is oblig­ed to pay to pen­sion­ers is no longer avail­able.

«I am enti­tled to a Pol­ish pen­sion of $4 a month: I only paid tax­es for three months in that coun­try. I also received a one-time pay­ment of $500 from the state, and that’s it,» says Henadz.

The pho­tog­ra­ph­er lives in a hos­tel near War­saw.

«I live alone in a small room with a shared toi­let and show­er. I spend about 800 euros a month on food and accom­mo­da­tion. I don’t have any mon­ey com­ing in any­more,» says the pho­tog­ra­ph­er.

The man has no oth­er means of sup­port. Get­ting a job is almost impos­si­ble.

«I have a sec­ond-degree dis­abil­i­ty and have dif­fi­cul­ty walk­ing and breath­ing. That’s one of the rea­sons they won’t hire me. Anoth­er is I am 67 years old. I tried to go to the employ­ment office, and they told me: you’re too old, no one would hire you,» he says.

In the sec­ond half of the 1990s and ear­ly 2000s, Henadz Ver­atsin­s­ki worked for the legal pub­li­ca­tion Femi­da Nova, the web­site of the Unit­ed Civic Par­ty, and a few oth­er pub­li­ca­tions. He still takes pho­tos, but «while every­one needs pho­tos, few are will­ing to pay for them.» Last year, he received only 25 euros for pho­tos.

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