As the war started in Ukraine in February 2022, Tatsiana Hatsura-Yavorskaya left Belarus to join her family in Kyiv. While living there, she helps to build dialogue between the Belarusian diaspora and Ukrainians, which is vital due to the Lukashenka’s cooperation in Russia’s attack. Here Tatsiana is telling her story.

As Lukashenka has been «rewriting» the true history of Belarus and «forbidding» horrors of soviet repressions for decades, in 2020 it became almost impossible for historians to continue their work inside the country. In the interview for FemMoz, Iryna Kashtalian shares the challenges of living in exile and how Belarusian specialists in history always have issues to explore.

During hard times of the political crisis in Belarus 2020, Galina Kazimirouskayas creative work became a strong civil statement. And the regime of Lukashenka got scared of… songs, and Galina and her choir became victims of persecutions. Now she continues her artistic missions in exile in Poland, together with the «Free Choir» uniting Belarusians and reminding the importance on preserving one’s culture and cultural indentity, especially far from home. In this interview Galina reports on her experiences and her work.

While leaving her homeland Belarus in February 2022, director and photographer Kseniya Halubovich knew that her departure was happening until democratic changes. More on her story in Kseniya’s interview for FemMoz.

As an experienced human rights defender in Belarus, Viktoryia Fiodarava was behind the launch of the International Committee for Investigation of Torture in Belarus in August 2020. In her interview, Viktoryia shares her experience of political migration to Ukraine and then fleeing from the war in 2022, the challenges of building a new life in exile in Lithuania, and continuing her important work there for the democratic future of Belarus.

Sviatlana Ushchapouskaya has a big experience as a professional trade union representative, including with the independent trade union of miners in the largest Belarusian state company, Belaruskali. In her interview for FemMoz, Sviatlana shares her experience of standing up for basic rights of workers and how she had to flee Belarus because of her activism.

Elvira Karaliova defines herself as a “committed citizen of her country”. While working in social entrepreneurship and leading a project for disabled people and youth, she found herself unable to continue her activities in 2020 – due to the civil and political crisis in Belarus. In her interview, Elvira Karaliova shares how much growth and creativity her social projects gathered in peaceful and free environment.

Volha Ivashyna has been civilly and politically active in Belarus for many years. In 2020, she assisted her husband Dzianis Ivashyn with his journalistic investigations into crimes of Lukashenka’s regime and the Russian Federation. Now in exile, Volha shares what it’s like – being a target of an undemocratic regime because of journalistic work.