Lana: “I keep moving forward, and my city breathes with me”

Lana is a queer person from Zaporizhzhia, a city close to the front line. In her video, she describes what it’s like to live under a daily shelling, and what gives her the strength to carry on: It’s literature!

Autumn leaves on the paving stones, a narrow lane between garden fences. Lana is on her way to work, and her eyes keep turning to the sky. Is that an FPV drone? Is a glide bomb about to hit her street? For Lana, this is everyday life.

We continue collecting stories from queer people in Ukraine who tell us how they live with the war. The world, it seems, has forgotten about Ukraine. We haven’t. This time, our correspondent Iryna Hanenkova asked Lana from Zaporizhzhia to tell us about her life.

Zaporizhzhia lies close to the front line and is shelled every day. Of course, going to work like this frightens Lana. But leaving the city isn’t an option for her. So she tries to live one day at a time. She’s grateful for every morning coffee and for being able to keep working.

Literature as a lifeline

What keeps her going above all is literature. Lana is a writer and book blogger. She hosts events, signs copies of her books and simply tries to live her life. It helps take her mind off the war.

She refuses to give up. “Despite all the hardships, I keep moving forward,” Lana says. “And my city breathes with me.”

Many queer people in Ukraine have lost their jobs, homes, families or friends because of the war. We support them, with your help.

This is how you can donate

INDIVIDUAL HELP Munich Kyiv Queer has its own fundraising campaign via https://www.paypal.me/ConradBreyer to support queer people in Ukraine who are in need or on the run. Why? Because not all LGBTIQ* are organised in the local LGBTIQ*-groups. This help is direct, fast and free of charge if you choose the option “For friends and family” on PayPal. If you don’t have PayPal, you can alternatively send money to the private account of Conrad Breyer, speaker of Munich Kyiv Queer, IBAN: DE427015000021121454.

All requests from the community are meticulously checked in cooperation with our partner organisations in Ukraine. If they can help themselves, they take over. If the demands for help exceed their (financial and/or material) possibilities, we will step in.

HELP FOR LGBTIQ* ORGANISATIONS To support LGBTIQ* in Ukraine we have helped set up the Alliance Queer Emergency Aid Ukraine, in which around 40 German LGBTIQ* Human Rights organisations are involved. All these groups have access to very different Human Rights organisations in Ukraine and use funds for urgently needed care or evacuation of queer people. Every donation helps and is used 100 percent to benefit queer people in Ukraine. Donate here

VULNERABLE GROUP And here you can find out why queer people in war need our support.

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