Zmitser Dashkevich: You have no right to prioritize the interests of Belarus over your family

Zmitser recalled an incident he learned about from a letter written to him by his wife, Nasta. According to him, this incident "simply knocked him off his feet" and forced him to re-evaluate his life.

In her letter, Nasta recounted a chance encounter with a neighbor who sympathized with how difficult it was for her to cope with the children alone while her husband was behind bars. Nasta agreed that it was easier with Zmitser. But their son David, who was about 7 years old at the time, contradicted his mother: "That's not true, when Dad was with us, he was always writing letters."

"That hit me so hard in the cell. You see, that's what the child remembered, how he experienced it. You think it's a sacred cause, you need to write to people, support them, but you neglected your child. And he remembers a year later: 'Dad was writing letters.' He probably wanted to play somewhere or for me to dedicate time to him, but I spent all my free time after work sitting and writing. (...)

This understanding came to me over the years, how much more important family is than any activism. If you've neglected your family for your activism — it's all in vain, it might be a wrong investment.

Even though you think you're doing a sacred and important thing. And it truly is sacred and important. But you have no right, you cannot do it at the expense of your family. Unfortunately, I often sinned in this. At the expense of my family, I fought for Belarus and dedicated myself to the fighters."

According to Zmitser, the main lesson of recent years has been the understanding: "You have no right to prioritize the interests of Belarus and Belarus above your family. The first thing you must do, and the first thing you must sacrifice for, is your family. And only after that can you do something for Belarus."

Павялічыць

The Dashkevich family. Photo: zmitser_dashkevich / Instagram

Dashkevich admits: after the verdict in 2022, he still thought that he could simply serve his term and return home, that the terror would end on its own. However, during several years of imprisonment, there were many days he called "the most horrible day of my life." And these days were when he was re-arrested at the moment he was supposed to be released.

"So I was supposed to be released, my wife and children were waiting for me at home. They put handcuffs on me at the checkpoint. 'Children, your dad isn't coming home today.' The children burst into tears: 'And tomorrow?' — 'Not tomorrow either.' — 'When will he come?' Those were terrible, terrible days. Well, we went through it all, thank God.

And thank you to every person who supported us, prayed, fed our family, helped. These are many, many people who carried this cross with me, who raised my children, supporting and staying in Belarus, and being in exile," says the former political prisoner.

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