Fundraiser for my financial Support

A warm smile to all of you out there

This is Christos,

After much contemplation and finding myself with no other apparent solution, I'm reaching out to share fragments of my personal journey and ask for your support during this extremely challenging chapter of my life.

Expressing these words and seeking help brings a profound sense of being loved and cared for, thanks to those who have encouraged me not to feel ashamed about reaching out and have shown me the safety in doing so.

Growing up, I have been shaped and marked by a tumultuous upbringing in a dysfunctional family, where acceptance and understanding were often elusive. From a young age, I faced the challenges of being true to myself, grappling with my sexuality and identity while shouldering the blame for the mental issues that plagued my parents. The weight of mental abuse, harassment, neglect from both of my parents, and the relentless struggle for self-expression left me battling severe depression from the tender age of 15. It was not until the age of 20 that I finally had the chance to be diagnosed and get treatment for my severe depression. These 5 years I have been blocked of even speaking about it, being stigmatized from my own parents as a dysfunctional kid on my own.

Despite these hardships, I pressed on, determined to carve a meaningful life for myself. At 21, the loss of my mother plunged me into a deeper emotional abyss, further complicating my journey.

By 24, I managed to leave my small hometown for Thessaloniki, albeit with little support, facing financial and mental abuse from my father. Two years passed in a cycle of abuse, and it wasn't until the last two years that I found strength to escape Greece, moving to The Netherlands, breaking free from economic distress, and actively for the first time, had clear space, getting slowly away from constantly being just a healing process in the making or in emotional distressing state, I was able to hold space and energy pursuing my passions, from which I have been blocked over and over again.

I have recently moved to Brussels to continue my educational pursuits in Arts and Choreography and build a career on dance making. This decision, however, has come with its own set of challenges. The struggle to secure housing and employment has left me on the brink of homelessness, and my savings have been depleted after two months of unemployment. With no safety net present in my life, these situations are resulting not only from practically not being able to reverse them with ease by relying on support or in a safe place, and facing their consequences severely, but also, they leave me unprotected on the face of my past developed mental illnesses, with emotional dysregulation, and distress, which is something I can no longer be able to cope on my own without the help of a professional.

Over the course of these past two months, after countless attempts to secure a job in horeca or retail or any kind of work I have done in the past to make ends meet, trying everything on my ability and power, I haven’t been able to secure such a job. I have met with indifferences and dismissiveness or no answers.

The social security systems in both The Netherlands and Belgium currently offer no solace for me.

And neither am I eligible for any financial support for an institution or a bank.

This fund will be utilized for the following purposes:

1. Covering monthly essential needs for food and groceries.

2. Assisting in paying my rent to maintain stable housing.

3. Repaying a loan that became necessary when I found myself without any savings.

4. Restarting essential dance classes that were neglected due to my current situation.

5. Preventing a recurrence of the challenging circumstances I currently face, ensuring I have a financial safety net to avoid being left without the means to navigate through unforeseen financial challenges.

Time is running out for me.

In this challenging situation, I find myself compelled to abandon everything I've built over the past two years and return to the very place I sought refuge from. Unfortunately, this outcome seems irreversible. The prospect of giving up poses significant life-threatening risks to my overall well-being and life.

Your support will help me tremendously to provide a much-needed relief to manage the mental distress and PTSD symptoms I’m currently experiencing, and will in certainty block me for pushing through to reverse this situation I’m into.

Thank you immensely and deeply for taking the time to read my story. I know I’m strong enough to reverse the situation, as I keep fighting to make sure I can provide to myself the safety I need. Your donations and support will hugely impact me in profound ways, to keep doing that.

To the convenience of your means and your ability to support me on this, I hold a warm heart for every act and contribution.

I am deeply thankful and grateful to everyone that read my story.

Love and care,

Christos