Sviataslau Kisialiou: Belarusian Athletes Changed Their Lives Drastically

The former general manager of the national hockey team of Belarus told how he helps to hold sports events in Poland.

The former general manager of the national hockey team, Sviataslau Kisialiou, now lives in Sopot, Poland and is actively involved in the life of the diaspora. It helps to hold sports events that unite Belarusians in Poland.

Among them is the annual Sport&Fun Children's Camp in Sopot. Also, the Brotherhood of Freedom Music and Sports Festival took place in Wrocław.

Charter97.org spoke with Sviataslau about his participation in these events:

— The visit to the sports and music festival, which took place in Wrocław on September 29, was the fourth for me to this city since my family moved to Poland in the summer of 2023. Previously, I had the opportunity to take part in the celebrations of Ivan Kupala, a cultural event of a more intimate type, and also twice played volleyball with the local diaspora of Belarusians. A year ago, at the end of last September, the guys held a sports event, which, probably, can be said, and became the prototype for the last festival.

I had certain expectations from the trip, and the emotions I received fully met them. I already know many people, we have developed friendly relations, and we have met more than once at sports and other venues for meetings of Belarusians. By the way, the participants of the Sporty Wrocław twice came to Sopot to participate in similar tournaments held as part of the Sport&Fun Children's Summer Camp.

It is pleasant to note that the format of the Sunday event was expanded compared to last year, and not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively — on a national basis. Representatives of the Belarusian and Ukrainian diasporas, as well as the Poles themselves, took part in the sports and musical part. This shows interest in the initiatives organized by Belarusians, the idea of which is to emphasize the common culture and history of our peoples.

As a result, only positive emotions. Although not everyone can win in sports, such events help people communicate, rally and strengthen ties — between Belarusians and other diasporas.

— A meeting with Belarusians took place on the eve of the festival. What worries people today?

— People still have the same pain, they are also concerned about the situation in their home country, and their personal fate in this context: when they will be able to return, how, what the transformation period may be. Plus, the goal was to set up additional horizontal connections among the people who came to this meeting, to learn how Belarusians could further strengthen interaction among themselves and develop some solutions without additional instructions or guidance from anyone.

This is exactly what is meant by civic initiatives. Of course, everyone understands that most issues are solved by politicians, but at this meeting people tried to find a solution to how citizens could influence the processes at a lower, but at the same time very important fundamental level.

— You are actively helping to organize the Sport&Fun Children's Camp in the Baltic. How did the idea for this event come about?

— The idea was appeared from several factors. Firstly, I have quite a lot of experience in managing sports projects, including the organization of specialized children's sports camps. Previously, these were hockey camps in Belarus, Russia and the United States. After 2020, I built a fairly trusting relationship with many "free athletes" from other species that are now forced to live outside Belarus. Among them are such people as Aliaksandra Herasimenia, Stsiapan Popou, Ivan Hanin, Andrei Krauchanka, Arthur Udris and others.

Like all honest and brave Belarusians, these people sacrificed a lot and as a result, were forced to change their lives drastically. At the same time, no one can devalue their sporting achievements, and I believe that it is important to try to preserve them as specialists and leaders in their field.

Well, the third reason is that in the summer of 2023, my family and I moved from the United States to Poland. A year before that, we visited Europe in search of a new place to live – we studied housing conditions, compared the standard of living, professional opportunities for me and my spouse, as well as where there will be optimal conditions for the development of children. They also attended various summer camps, and then I realized that I could do better, given my experience and acquaintance with professionals. Moreover, it was necessary to plan leisure activities for our children for the summer of 2023.

While still in the United States, I formed a concept, estimated the options with the venue and proposed the idea to Stsiapan and Aliaksandra. The main emphasis in the project was on swimming, but I considered comprehensive development an important aspect, for this it was necessary to supplement with activities outside the pool — general physical training, coordination. Stsiapan seemed like an ideal candidate: he was not only a great specialist, but also an incredibly positive person. Later it turned out that he gets along very well with children, and the pupils simply adore him.

In addition to sports, I wanted to add education. Last year, our guests were Dzianis Dudzinski, who shared his experience of traveling and exploring the world, Andrus Takindanh, together with Valeryia Valadzko, presented to the camp participants an interactive musical performance in the Belarusian language. I hope that such things help to preserve the national element.

This year, Tsimafei Akudovich's son took part in our camp, and Tsimafei himself agreed to hold a historical lecture-quiz for children. We continue to develop this direction — there are a lot of ideas, we are always ready to listen to advice. The number of participants this year has almost doubled compared to 2023, it was also pleasant to note that the number of participants in the older age group has increased. We also set ourselves the task of distracting children from consoles and phones, making them interested in sports and an active lifestyle.

The geographical coverage is also inspiring, even children from the United States, Lithuania, and Russia were among the camp participants. Poland was represented by many regions — there were children from Kraków, Wrocław, Warsaw, and, of course, most of Tricity, this is an agglomeration, which includes Gdańsk, Sopot, Gdynia. They all are our Belarusians who are ready to go very far so that their children have the opportunity to learn the secrets of swimming from Aliaksandra. Parents themselves also get to know each other, this year they took part in a volleyball tournament with their team and ask that we continue what we started and involve them even more in the sports program of our project. I confess, this is very inspiring!

— How to unite Belarusians living abroad who left the country, how not to lose touch with our country?

— I do not have such a recipe, because I realize that some of the connections are really lost. Including for me. It is impossible to communicate frankly with relatives and like-minded people who stayed in Belarus, primarily because of fears for their safety.

Of course, household ties are also disrupted — work, education, life are gradually moving here, to a new place. It's obvious. But contact with Belarus can and should be maintained at another level — through culture, language, through initiatives organized by Belarusians abroad. This will continue to connect us emotionally.

For me personally, as for many, the main focus now is the situation with political prisoners. This topic is raised at every meeting, and we all follow it. Harassment, arrests, pressure on people is our common pain. Otherwise, as they say, how many tractors they sell there is far from the real interests of those who were forced to leave the country.

I would very much like the Belarusians of the new wave of emigration to be able to become independent in a new place firstly. When people feel more confident, there will be forces and ideas in order to further support their country, remember it and love it.

I understand what many people have gone through, it's hard, and it's not easy to get rid of it. But you need to focus on arranging a new life. I can say this from my own experience: my family and I lived in the United States for almost two years, actively interacted with the Belarusian diasporas, there are also many of my friends who moved more than 20 years ago. Belarusians in North America — the United States and Canada — have passed the stage of adaptation, have successfully integrated into a new society, now they feel confident and can naturally help more. The most important thing is that for most of them Belarus remains native and beloved.

But here in Europe, the situation is more complicated. I see how hard it is for people. There is competition, constant disagreements that add toxicity and only worsen the situation. This exacerbates the already difficult situation in everyday life.

The question of national reconciliation is often raised, and I am sure that it will be acute when the situation in Belarus changes. Now it is obvious that there are two main camps, and even those who did not take a direct part in the repression, and at least listened to the "Ballad abuot the Dictator" while standing, will still remain difficult for the other side to perceive. But, in my opinion, it is important to understand that, first of all, reconciliation, compromise and the desire to eliminate unreasonable competition are necessary in the ranks of the pro-democratic part of Belarusians.

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