Stasia Hlinnik: Belarusians Have To Grow Up Very Quickly

No nation has yet passed such a fast path of becoming.

The website Charter97.org continues to sum up the results of the outgoing year. The co-founder of the Belarusian Youth Hub Stasia Hlinnik wrote a text about the challenges the diaspora in Poland had to face, how the Belarusians of Warsaw helped Ukrainian refugees, and why our people will succeed:

“The year was not only difficult. A heartbreaking, desperate year. But it was in the darkest time, when evil finally ceased to pretend to be “ambiguous”, and Belarusians passed the exam for their right to be called people.

On February 24, the neighbors woke up from my scream. That morning was the only moment in the long months to come when both my colleagues and I allowed ourselves to get emotional. By noon, the entire Hub team was on the zoom with Belarusian organizations in Poland. By this time, we had already launched questionnaires for those who were ready to host refugees, and volunteers began to come to the Hub.

That same night, we settled the first refugees who still had time to cross the border without slamming. Round-the-clock work began. For several months of the infoline's operation, we have accepted and processed about five thousand applications for help. Here I would also like to note the work of the Humanosh, Żyvi, Free Belarus Center foundations and the ByHelp and Partyzanka initiatives. Only thanks to joint efforts and division of responsibilities, we were able to cope with the influx of requests.

I remember how the medical training courses were held in the Hub. It seemed that our hall had turned into a military headquarters. Mostly men came to the classes, there was some kind of atmosphere of determination and confidence. Now I recognize these guys in the footage of the Kalinouski regiment.

Belarusians this year had to lay down white flowers at the feet of those killed in Ukraine and take up arms. The realization that no one will give us freedom becomes the core that forms us as a nation. We have to grow up very quickly.

This year my grandfather, Stanislau Shushkevich, passed away. And I couldn't be at the funeral, be with my family at that time. But I am grateful to every person who, despite what is happening in Belarus, came to bid farewell to him. He was buried under a white-red-white flag, and fresh flowers appear on the grave every day until now.

This year, the repression has hit my friends and family very hard. I had to realize that the responsibility of the diaspora is also to prevent the emergence of new political prisoners. I urge everyone not to shift the responsibility for themselves and their loved ones to someone else. If you are abroad and correspond with those who are in Belarus, take care to clear it of unnecessary information, because it is not only about your safety.

In the coming year, I wish everyone to keep their minds healthy, and gain confidence in their abilities. There is a difficult path lying ahead, that we will have to go through. I believe in our strength, because not a single nation has yet gone through such a rapid path of development as we have. It is important to remember who we are and where we come from, and to know where we are going. And everything will work out. Long Live Belarus!