Help Bella and Polina

Help Bella and Polina

UPDATE 09/29/2023

Dear all! The campaign is now back on to support Bella and Polina as they have made incredible progress on their quest of getting out of Turkey and into a safe European country where they can seek asylum. After an exhausting year of waiting, they finally have their visa interview in just a few days!



Many of you have rallied around them in their time of need and it did wonders in getting them where they are now but unfortunately they are not out of the woods just yet. You can look at the breakdown of their expenses so far below. What we can do now is help them with the new expenses that are going to be inevitable in the upcoming weeks, all the while there is still no way for the girls to resume work safely.



First, they need to secure temporary accommodation in Istanbul while waiting for the results of the interview. Secondly, they would need flight tickets from Istanbul to Europe as soon as the visa comes through. Then, they're going to need temporary accommodation and food once they arrive. And finally, they will be expenses on some urgent medical care. 



We need one more push to help bridge this waiting time until they are in Europe and can finally resume work, get back on their feet and move on with their lives, safe and free. 



Bella and Polina are so much closer to safety now than a few months ago and your support means the world to them. Any amount helps and if you can't donate, just share the link.

Breakdown of the costs so far, described by Bella:

Total donations (excluding transaction fees) were ~4400€

✅ 2400€ was for our rent contract of 6 months

✅ My medication and hospital bill was 400€

✅ 600€ we spend for bills and groceries in 3 months

✅ 400€ on the vet costs and travel document needed for our cat

✅ ~200€ is for the stay in a hotel for 4 days (the interview day) and for travelling to Istanbul from Antalya

✅ It’s gonna be 50-100$ for our food in these 4 days in the hotel

Original text:

Dear friends,

we are Polina and Bella, a lesbian couple that is facing a life-threatening emergency in Turkey.

We have been here for two long years, stuck in an illegal status and enduring lots of hardships on the way to safety. For one of us (Bella, an LGBT activist from Iran), deportation literally means facing a death penalty for being an openly gay Iranian woman.

The process of obtaining a European humanitarian visa is near completion. However, our apartment lease is about to expire, leaving us without a roof over our heads on Monday, June 5.

Due to our current status, we urgently need financial assistance to secure shelter and buy us some time— those couple of months we desperately need to lay low in Turkey while our visa is coming through.

Any contribution, no matter how small, can make a life-saving difference. Time is running out, and our safety hangs in the balance.