“I do not want to live in a bog.”
A story of 69-year old Vera Vasilievna from the famous photo.
“As we were standing on a balcony and waving our hands to the column of demonstrators, we were being greeted! It felt like Brezhnev was taking a parade,” jokes 69-year-old Vera Vasilievna while standing on the same balcony and looking out of the window at Kalvariyskaya Street. Just approximately a week ago, a photograph of her and her friends with the white-red-white armbands around their foreheads and a flag in their hands flew around many publics and media and these three women “woke up famous”.
At first glance, Vera Vasilievna is an ordinary pensioner: she offers self-made soft slippers to the guests, kitchen windowsill is occupied by huge zucchini from her own dacha, and an enormous cat named Shurup slowly walks and floats around the apartment resembling a white iceberg. Vera Vasilievna is completely sure that the presence of the typical “pensioner” attributes does not mean that a person is against the changes. Together with her friends (coincidentally, both Lyudmilas) she participates in the protest walkouts, and when she cannot attend them for some reason, she expresses her support for young people and changes in the country without leaving home.
“I voted for Tikhanovskaya, and, of course, wore a white ribbon during the elections to show my support. I took a photo of the ballot and uploaded it to Voice platform. Of course, there are some people surrounding me who say they would “choke off” the demonstrators with their own hands. But, firstly, there are few of them, and secondly, they simply do not think for themselves. They watch Belarusian television and read state-run newspapers that do not cover the real news and are openly lying. When people were beaten on August 9th and 10th, when this inhuman nightmare was happening, they did not say a word!” she exclaims.
“I watch “Dozhd”, RTVi, Euronews, read NEXTA, “Kuku’s backstage” and other public pages, ’cause I trust them more. I am not a pro Internet user, but I can find the information I need and search for news. My daughter and son-in-law help me if I have some difficulties.”
That Sunday, when the photo was taken, was a completely ordinary day for Vera Vasilievna. She waited for “her girls” to arrive, made some coffee and served sweets. In retirement, they often get together, typically on the weekends, because one of their friends now lives in Zaslavl, as she takes care of her grandchildren and rarely visits Minsk.
“We have known each other for a long time! I worked at a wallpaper factory in Minsk as a designer. I graduated from a school in Kaliningrad, where I met my husband and moved to Minsk. I used to design wallpaper patterns for over 30 years. We met at the factory: one Lyudmila worked in the accounting department, and the other, her friend, at the exchange office in our store. Since then we have been friends. We get together on the weekends, read Telegram channels, while our children phone us from the protest walkouts: “We are here and there, we are fine.” We worry about them a lot, but we support them as much as we can, because one has to do at least something!” the woman waves her hands.
Those same white ribbons are lying on Vera Vasilievna’s kitchen. She prepared them in advance and made the same ones for her friends. She also has a white-red-white flag that she made from a pillowcase.
“I already had ribbons, I have made them before, and of course, we did not know that the column would pass by us,” recalls Vera Vasilievna. “We heard a noise, I looked out of the window and saw that people were coming. I said to my friends: “Come on!”. We quickly went to the balcony — we tied the ribbons around our foreheads and unfurled the flag. People were walking past us for an hour and a half: first densely, and then in small streams. They shouted “Grandmothers with the folks”, “Join!” and “Thank you!”. It was an incredible energy! It seemed to me that it was so important for the young people that they were supported by their elders. My daughter and son-in-law also passed by, they waved at us, but we could not see them.”
Since the photos were published, Vera Vasilievna and her friends began to receive calls from relatives and friends. But only she, one of the “trio”, decided to talk to the media. Vera Vasilievna says that her friends are too shy.
“I received a lot of attention, even an old acquaintance from Israel called, ’cause he saw this photo somewhere. I may say that it feels great that we supported and encouraged someone,” says Vera Vasilievna.
She recalls that as soon as the column became smaller, a police truck and a water cannon appeared near her place. “I ran quickly and opened the entrance door. There was already a group of boys and girls in the yard. I told them, if anything happened they could come upstairs to such-and-such apartment. In general, I adore our youth so much: they are smart, beautiful, with a conscience. They are much better than us. They have my respect!”
The woman brings the white-red-white flag to the kitchen, which was also depicted on the picture. Vera Vasilyevna does not constantly hang it out on the balcony, as she does not want it to be taken away.
“They say on TV that the white-red-white flag is fascist, but I do not pay attention to this nonsense. Why do they then ignore the fact that the SS’s uniform was black? Our OMON works in black uniforms. So why do they wear such uniforms?” asks Vera Vasilievna. “Once I wrote “Bravo” on Whatman paper and hung it up. Someone came and ringed the door. I did not open, ’cause you never know who comes without a warning, maybe some bandits.”
Vera Vasilievna’s husband, a decorator, passed away. Now she lives along with her cat Shurup. She rescued him by her house, fed him and raised him. In her free time she helps street cats to get adopted; thanks to her, 12 cats were rescued from the streets. Sometimes Vera Vsilievna looks after her granddaughter during the day. Before the Coronavirus, she loved to go dancing and swimming, but during the pandemic she had to stop and grew somewhat lazy.
“In addition to the support from the “balcony” I also visit a residential complex Cascade, where a lot of neighborhood events are happening. People became so united! There they are constantly fighting for their white-red-white flags with the authorities who are trying to take them off the buildings. We even have a little joke that with the amount of the police patrolling the Cascade soon the prison will be returned to Kalvariyskaya. All is needed is to enclose the Cascade with the barbed wire and change the status of their tenants,” Vera Vasilievna laughs. (Residential Complex “Cascade” was built on the site of the former prison Uzh-15/1. — TUT.BY).
Why do you support the protests?
“I will give an allegorical answer: if you pour pure, transparent water into a vessel and do not change it, over time it will fade and bloom. Algae, leeches, then toads, then snakes will appear in the vessel. They will feel good and very comfortable in their swamp. I do not want to live in a bog. Perhaps I do not have much time left on earth, nevertheless, I want to live in “clear water”. That is why I support all the protest walkouts and other campaigns, to pour out the rotten water and fill in the clear one.
Surely, my pension is enough to live on, and my daughter will help, in case I need anything. But I want more than just living the remaining of my days as is. I want us to win.”
