Help Shani Elena Gaft Survive This

My name is Shani Elena Gaft, in 2016 I moved to Israel from Moscow, Russia, because of Putin’s criminal regime. I found myself trapped in an absurd and horrifying situation that has been destroying my physical and mental health. I am asking for your help today as my life depends on it.

after its walls around the whole perimeter were covered with black mold. This triggered my asthma. I immediately informed the apartment owner – but she refused to remove the mold, although she is obliged to do so immediately by law. She didn’t want to spend the money.

I asked her to give me back my monthly rent checks and security deposit so that I could rent another apartment and move out immediately – she refused. I could not rent another apartment without getting my money back from her – it involves a big sum of money that I had just spent moving in (1^st month’s rent, realtor’s commission, and movers) –and that’s in addition to the monthly rent amount she was getting from me by cashing my checks every month.

I contacted lawyers. In any normal country, a lawyer would write a letter to the owner demanding that she gives me my money back and threaten with legal action, but every lawyer I spoke to (6 or 7) told me that because she has my 12 monthly checks and a big sum of the security deposit, I had to move out first so that she gives it back to me, and then legally force her to pay for charging me rent for an apartment with conditions that endanger health.

This whole time I am living in an apartment infested with black mold and suffocating from asthma, running around from lawyer to lawyer, and doing everything humanly possible to earn more money so that I can escape. (I spray the walls with an anti-mold spray, which only works for a short time as the underlying causes of mold have not been eliminated).

I am a small business owner (I do Search Engine Optimization for websites) which means I do not have a fixed salary. For this reason, and because I have only lived in this country for 6 years, banks I have asked for credit refused me.

In an attempt to break free I wrote a letter to the owner telling her that if she doesn’t fix the situation, I will complain to the municipality (it is responsible for ensuring that apartments rented out for residential purposes have conditions that comply with the legal and sanitary norms).

Instead of coming to her senses like I hoped she would, she started harassing me. Knowing that I am a single woman, alone in this country, and do not have any close family members to stand up for me, she has been terrorizing me with incessant phone calls and text messages with insults and threats.

My health has deteriorated greatly – from living in an apartment covered with mold and from the incredible stress the owner of the apartment has put me through. My ability to work – and to function – has diminished greatly. To name just a few things, in addition to having breathing difficulties, I am struggling with extreme fatigue, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, constant stomach pain, and nausea. The state of fear and panic has become a base state for me in the past 3.5 months. I have not been able to generate any amount of money beyond my monthly living expenses.

A few days ago I found out that the owner filed a lawsuit against me. I can no longer defer the expense of hiring a lawyer, but have to do so immediately – to fight her in court.

I am one of the top 10% freelancers on Upwork (it’s an elite and extremely competitive marketplace where top companies hire the best independent professionals). I am not and never have been a victim. I am a strong woman, I have always been independent, I always had my own business and supported myself. I have always been able to handle anything life threw my way. I could have never imagined being in a situation I cannot get out of. I have been fighting like crazy to get out of this – going to lawyers, banks, trying to win more contracts so I have money to escape – while being terrorized in my own home and getting more and more sick. I am asking for your help today as a last resort: please help me escape. Please help me survive.

The amount raised by this campaign will make it possible for me to pay for the 1 ^st month’s rent in a studio apartment and move there immediately, and to hire a lawyer and pay for the legal fees so that I can defend myself in court. I will be eternally grateful to you for a contribution of absolutely any amount.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Shani

UPDATE: I have received a considerable amount of donations outside of GoGetFunding! They are included in the total sum of "Raised offline" above the "Donate Now" button and are also shown in "Updates" - you can see the updates in the tab above or receive them by email. Please press the "heart" button under "Donate Now" to follow this Campaign and to receive updates by email. Thank you for your interest and help.

P.S. If you would like to make a contribution by BIT or Bitcoin, please message me here or on Facebook and I will get back to you right away. I will then add your contribution amount to this campaign manually.