Anna is 50 years old. She was an associate professor, headed a university department, and worked on projects aimed at making Belarusian cities better. But in 2023, she was arrested when she returned home to visit her mother.
Today, Anna lives in Poland once again. She has managed to return to her profession and now works as an environmental specialist. But she admits that after prison, she had to learn how to live all over again.
“I had to accept that prison divided everything into ‘before’ and ‘after.’ I forbade myself from thinking about what my life could have been if none of this had happened. The first months after my release were the hardest. There was a period I simply call ‘I was lying down.’ It was incredibly difficult to find a reason to get out of bed, go outside, or even cook myself a meal. It felt like I had no strength left at all.”
Gradually, Anna began to recover. Her daughter, psychotherapy, and the feeling that life was still moving forward helped her. But she had to start almost everything from scratch: finding a place to live, arranging documents, learning the language, and looking for work again.
“The job search turned out to be very long and painful. Especially after prison, when every new setback feels much more devastating. There were moments when I understood that it wasn’t about my qualifications. I was simply an immigrant. But I wanted so much to return to my profession. At some point, I felt the desire to do research again, to write, to work in environmental science. That’s when I realized I was finding my way back to myself.”
Today, Anna works for a Polish company that helps businesses comply with European environmental regulations. She says that, for the first time in a long while, she has started making plans for the future again.
“I laugh and joke a lot again. For me, that’s the clearest sign that life is coming back. And freedom… it smells like blooming linden trees. It tastes like the pizza my daughter and I ate in Warsaw after my release. That was the first time I truly felt that you could simply sit beside someone you love without fearing that someone would come and take it all away.”
Anna has already begun building a new life, but she still needs time to establish herself fully in her new country. Your support will help her keep her housing, continue her professional development, improve her Polish, and get through the adaptation period that, for former political prisoners, is often no less difficult than being released from prison itself.
Fundraiser Goal
€2700
€1100 – Housing costs during the adaptation period while securing stable employment.
€800 – Professional training and development required for Anna to continue working as an environmental specialist in Poland.
€400 – Polish language classes and recognition of professional qualifications.
€400 – Psychological support and recovery after detention.