Hello!
I first want to apologize for my absence and thank the other mods for their help keeping this place going, and this post will explain the reasons why.
Some of you who’ve been following this blog for a while may remember the work I did with a woman named Maria (if you search far enough back through our ‘fundraiser’ tag, you’ll find lots on her case). As a quick recap, Maria (not her real name) is someone I met during my time in Japan. To add some context, she is not Japanese, so she is not well protected or supported by the law. When I met her, she was stuck in an abusive relationship and tied to her ex by a pregnancy that this community helped her terminate. Once this was done, we were also able to raise enough money for us to essentially spring her in the middle of the night and move her into her own place away from him. She’s been living and working on her own successfully up until recently.
About three months ago, Maria contacted me to say that she had received an email from who she is now very sure is her ex. She had originally thought it might be a troll, perhaps someone who had heard about her fundraiser and had somehow gotten a hold of her contact information somehow and was trying to scare her, but after a number of emails revealing personal details about her, she’s now confident that it is her ex. In the emails, he threatens her safety and life. In the latest email, he claims to know where she’s living now.
She went to the police with her concerns, but as some in this community might know, Japan has a notoriously bad track record when it comes to domestic violence and stalking, even for nationals. They essentially told her to come back when he showed up at her door, but by the time that happens, both her and I are afraid it will be too late. While I never met him personally, from my communication with her and from reading his emails, he is clearly willing to commit violence and is obsessed with her.
As a result of this, we have decided that we need to move her again. We have been working for a few months on finding a charity or NGO that might help her, but everywhere we’ve contacted has been a dead end. While she does have a job, her hours have recently been cut to the point that she isn’t making much at all and what she does make is largely sent back to her family in her own country to support them. This is where the majority of my free time has been going, hence my absence from this community. At this point, we’re both exhausted and very afraid of what might happen in the near future.
So, in this holiday season, we are turning back to you guys. This is the last course of action that Maria wanted to pursue because she was so overwhelmed by the community’s generosity and selflessness that she did not want to ask anything else of those here, but unfortunately, it really looks like we have no other choice. If you have anything you can donate at all, please consider helping Maria out. We are skipping the websites like GoFundMe as they take a cut and ban abortion fundraisers, so we’ve set up a Paypal.me link which you can find below.
Thank you for reading this long post, and for any help you can offer, even if it’s just a reblog. The further this campaign spreads, the more likely it is that we can get Maria moved quickly and ensure her safety.
PAYPAL LINK
Thank you so much again.
-V
turnnoffyourmind
origamiaround
pixelskylines
stormborns
gummygunk
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