Hi! We are Valentine and Diane. Last year, we decided to leave the United States after my husband was almost killed in a racially motivated attack. With the current state of American politics, things didn’t look like it would improve any time soon. Added to that is that I was an immigrant in the U.S. and, as you might imagine, we felt quite uncomfortable. So, we decided the best thing for our family was to find a safer life somewhere else.

We both work remotely and had a plan to navigate a digital nomad lifestyle. Our original plan was to move to Greece. My husband is an oil painter and I build websites, do marketing, and write. We've been able to live a much less stressful life hopping around Europe so far, but the constant moving around was getting difficult.

Recently, we’ve been staying in Albania and, as soon as we arrived in a town called Saranda, we made friends and discovered an amazing art opportunity for my husband. He's been invited to work out of an art gallery, sell his work, and tutor art students. As an American, he can stay in Albania for a year with his passport, but I'm a British citizen and can only stay for 90 days…unless we apply for a business residency.

This is where we need help. While our incomes have sustained us so far, we don't have quite enough available for the business residency visa requirement and time is running out. I’m looking to raise the remaining funds to use alongside our current freelance projects to apply for business residency before I have to leave Albania at the end of April. Once we have enough, we can file the paperwork and our lawyer says I'll be able to stay while that's being processed. We don't want to split up our family, but if needed I'd rather my husband stay here to cultivate new connections and art students, seeding our new business venture.

If we reach our funding goal, I'll offer free branding/marketing consultations and, time permitting, will work pro bono to help others get their websites up and running. If you'd rather hire me for projects directly, please reach out and I’ll send you my portfolio. Valentine is also available to hire for artwork commissions. We are willing to work for this opportunity, it's just the time crunch that's made all this so tricky.

Thank you for reading this far! This obviously wasn't our original plan, but when life throws you this kind of opportunity, you have to take it! Sharing this campaign and words of encouragement are deeply appreciated!

-Valentine and Diane.