Help Minka get back on her feet

Minka is a Bulgarian immigrant who has been living in Greece for the last 12 years. She suffers from schizoaffective disorder, which is a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is rare mental disorder affecting 0.2% of the population. She is also homeless, pennyless, with no legal and medical coverage, without a job, and unable to claim her rights in Greece. This is a campaign so that she can find a place to stay, and sort out the things she needs so that she can get back on her feet.

Minka is a Bulgarian immigrant who has been living in Greece for the last 12 years. She suffers from schizoaffective disorder, which is a combination of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is rare mental disorder affecting 0.2% of the population. She is also homeless, pennyless, with no legal and medical coverage, without a job, and unable to claim her rights in Greece. This is a campaign so that she can find a place to stay, and sort out the things she needs so that she can get back on her feet.

Minka comes from a small village in Bulgaria. She used to be a top student until the age of 20. This is Minka in highschool, many years before she was struck by the illness:

She came to Greece 12 years ago by doing a marriage through a newspaper ad to a man in Thessaloniki, and became a mother of 2 children. During her marriage, her husband forced her to be inside the house all the time and only do the housework. She had no friends and no one to talk to. Her husband was also forcing her to listen to church music all the time. Minka was trapped and had no source of income, no way to escape, and most of all, did not know her rights in the country. After her husband started cheating on her as well, she eventually had her first crisis in his house in 2012. Her husband then called the police who took her to hospital. After 2 months when she came out, her husband signed a divorce and let her out in the street.

Minka was originally diagnosed with schizophrenia, and has since been in a mental hospital for 5 times between 2012 and 2015. Whenever she would have a crisis, she would lose her consciousness and together her ID, passport, bank cards and mobile phones, and every time had to pay to get new ones. Having no support and her friends in Greece, she entered a cycle of being sent back to the mental hospital-working as a cleaner-having a crisis and being hospitalized again, leading her to poverty and soon most likely to death.

Sufferers of schizophrenia can normally can receive a disability benefit, as it does not allow them to function properly and be able to work. Minka should not have been working in the first place. However, there are problems sorting out various documents in Greece to do this, including changing her nationality to Greek. Adding to this, as Minka was locked in that house for many years, she never got the chance to learn how the Greek governmential system works and what she has to do to claim her own rights. Although she has worked legally in Greece and is insured, her husband has kept her documents so she cannot directly go to doctors either. The whole process of sorting Minka's documents is itself complicated, and in the meantime she has no medical or legal coverage. She also has no bank account in Greece.

Sufferers of this disorder also have a hard time realizing that they are ill. This is called "anosognosia", and it happens for Minka as well. Also, they often do not take care of themselves. When Minka is in a state of mania - as part of the bipolar disorder - she takes huges risks and makes things even worse for her. Very often Minka also has confused speech, which means she quickly jumps from topic to topic, creating an inconsistent story with no ending.

With support, Minka only recently started taking medication regularly, but it is even hard to receive this at the moment, and she needs more support to just do that. Medication alone does not change things either, as homelessness, poverty, and the various things she has to do in Greece are also in the way.

On 25/08 she had another crisis in Ilioupolis, a suburb of Athens in Greece, while she was outside a shop with electronics. As it usually happens, the owner had to call the police who took her back to hospital where she is now kept again for a few days and will then be left back in the street homeless.

Ideally, she would need to go through a series of collecting documentation in Greece so hopefully - but not definitely - she may get a small disability benefit, which will at least allow her not to live in the street or anywhere she finds, and look after herself more.

This money can buy time for Minka so that for 6 months she can

- Find a place to stay
- Eat and pay for water & electricity
- Issue a new ID card
- Issue a new passport
- Get a mobile phone
- See a specialist doctor and pay for visits and medication
- Consult a lawyer to deal with her ex husband
- Purchase any medication she needs

This will allow her to get back on track and complete all the paperwork she needs so she can get a disability benefit, or otherwise work.

As a person, Minka is friendly, social. She speaks some English, Greek and Bulgarian. You can find her on Facebook here directly.
https://el-gr.facebook.com/people/Minka-Kostako...

Any money raised will go directly to her.

If she goes through a few more cycles of hospitalization and homelessness, it is most likely that she will die in the street. Please help save Minka and get her back on her feet.