I’m Elena, and I’m raising funds for my incredible friends Cristina and Mo. I've known Cristina since 2018 or so from both working in the New York City dance community, and I built a powerful friendship with both Cristina and Mo when we all found ourselves living in Berlin.

Mo and Cristina moved to Berlin in 2022 to try to build economic stability for themselves as the radical performing arts duo that they are (Cristina is a dancer and doula and Mo is a hip hop artist and nonprofit leader). They had attempted to buy a home in their shared hometown of Richmond, VA, but after putting in offers on many houses with no success, they decided to try something else.

In Berlin, they found their stride, with Cristina working at a local kindergarten and Mo continuing his music career. In 2024, after many years of planning, they decided to expand their family, and in November 2024 Cristina got pregnant. In that same month, Cristina was offered a full-time position at the kindergarten she had been working at for two years as a freelancer. The kindergarten presented her with a contract in January 2025, and she signed it, excited to take on a fuller role and gain the salary, benefits, and visa status that it offered.

In March 2025, after visa and processing delays on their end, the kindergarten suddenly terminated Cristina’s contract with no warning and no clear reason.

Cristina consulted a lawyer, and was advised to immediately alert the kindergarten that she was pregnant, as it is illegal to fire pregnant people under German law, even if the company did not know the employee was pregnant. Soon, Cristina filed to sue the kindergarten and was given a court date in May 2025. This is when the real financial challenges started, and when this tale starts to sound like the winding bureaucratic nightmare it is.

Cristina’s TK public health insurance was a huge part of why she took the job. As a pregnant person, she needed the more robust TK insurance that she could not qualify for as a non-EU freelancer. At first, TK said they would continue covering her until the first court date, but when that date did not resolve the contract dispute and they were given a second court date in November 2025, TK said they would no longer cover her, even as a self-payer.

In May 2025, at 7.5 months pregnant, Cristina was suddenly left without health insurance. As a person in an active employment dispute, on parental leave, and still technically a non-EU freelancer, she was also ineligible for other forms of insurance. This meant Cristina gave birth in July 2025 without health insurance.

The birth came with its own challenges: Cristina and Mo had planned for a home birth and worked out a payment plan with a midwife (which they still owe), but when Orí stayed cooking until 42 weeks, Cristina was forced to give birth via Cesarean at the hospital—which was double the cost and rife with medical trauma. To make matters worse, the medical staff were actively disrespectful to Mo and Cristina due to their uninsured status.

One positive note in all this: Orí arrived perfectly healthy and full of vitality! Yay!!!

But then, more bureaucracy: the day the new family came back from the hospital, they had a letter saying their court date had been pushed back to June 2026. Now TK is charging them retroactively for all healthcare expenses incurred as of March 2025.

Meanwhile, an additional bureaucratic issue arose, causing baby Orí to also be without health insurance. In short, there was a name discrepancy with Mo’s documents that led to delays in producing a birth certificate for Orí. This has been resolved as of late February, but led to Mo and Cristina having to pay out of pocket for Orí’s infant healthcare appointments.

As of March 1, 2026, Cristina and Mo continue to struggle to find the financial stability that they had planned and worked towards. Awaiting her delayed court date, Cristina remains uninsured and is actively looking for work for when Orí is eligible for daycare in late summer.

As their community, we have the power to shoulder some of these expenses and give some stability to this family we love after such rocky beginnings. Let’s show Mo, Cristina, and Orí the power of community care!

Below is a breakdown of the money we’re trying to raise to support them:

This breakdown covers all of their active debts while also providing some cushion to help them regain stability after having been without a second salary for the past year.

Please consider donating to keep this beautiful family afloat and thriving!

With love,

Elena