Urgent - Survival Risk
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I never thought I would be writing something like this, but I have nowhere else to turn and I am asking for your prayers.
I am a queer person from the most homophobic region in the Caucasus. My family has threatened honour killing, and if I go back I also face forced military conscription where queer men are regularly sexually abused. I lost my mom to cancer when I was 15. She was my only support. I have struggled with severe depression and self harm for years.
The one thing I had was my studies. I worked harder than I thought possible. I graduated as faculty first with a 3.76 GPA, did funded research, exchange programs, internships. I was accepted to multiple master's programmes abroad and even got a merit scholarship from a university in Italy, full tuition waiver plus a yearly stipend.
But to get my student visa, I still need to show a specific amount of money in my bank account. I have contacted over 100 organisations, human rights groups, refugee support, LGBTQ+ funds. Only one helped with a small part, but I am still far from. I have exhausted every possible option.
I graduated recently. I had hoped that would be a new beginning, but instead I feel like it is an end. In the past days I have had many self harm episodes. If I do not find a solution soon, that will most likely end my life. I do not want to die. I want to live, become an academic, build a future. But I feel completely trapped.
I am writing here because I still have a tiny sliver of hope left. I am asking for your prayers, for a miracle, for a breakthrough, for some door to open that I have not seen. Pray that the right person sees this, that some organisation steps in, that the visa requirement is waived, that anything changes before it is too late.
I have done everything I could. Now I am placing this in God's hands and in the hands of anyone who feels moved to pray for me.
With gratitude,
Francis