Support a single student looking for place in life.

Hello dear backers, hope you all doing great in these hard times.

My name is Vladimir Manaenkov and I was born in Russia in 1995. In 2014 due to political and financial situation in the country my mother her husband and I have moved to Israel. We both became strictly religious and traditionally boys my age are sent to religious seminaries, where we spend days studying old religious texts.

My life was supposed to be predetermined. I study old scriptures until I am 21 years old, then I would marry in a fixed marriage, by the age of 25 I should have children and live a comfortable life supported by brides parents. That is the custom in my community.

I always had doubts about religion and this way of life. I wanted to know more about the vast world outside the doors of the seminary. At the same time I had to battle with my sexuality which is not accepted in my community. Eventually, after a lot of hard thoughts I decided to leave start the life fresh. I finished the army, and then moved to a small coastal town where I started saving money to pursue studies in programming.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 arrived, I lost my job, I struggle to pay bills and situation is really dire. I wanted to battle and explore the world myself but the world struck back a crushing blow. I spent weeks looking for a new job to try and stay afloat but all for nothing.

My biggest fear would be going back to my parents. Not because they wouldn't accept me back but because I would have to go back to the old way of life. It would mean to accept defeat and give up on the dream of starting my own life. It would mean to deny who I am.

This is my last resort and I would be forever grateful to all of you. Thank you very much and stay safe during this hard time for all of us.