This exchange was the third of a series of such activities for young people with MS. The exchanges begun in May 2005 in Bucharest, with the initiative of the Romanian MS Society.

The first two days we had energizers and games that would help us break the invisible wall and make us communicate with each other. Then we split into mixed, multinational teams and had games that made us communicate and work as teams, trying to break the language barrier and make friends.

After this we were all very good friends and in a very good mood. That was the sign that we would be prepared for what was yet to come… discussing about the important and difficult issue that had brought us together: MS.

The next morning we had a meeting in a circle and a member of the executive committee of the National MS Society of Slovakia was there to answer our questions about MS in Slovakia: what is already done, what is to be done and what are the Slovakian plans for the future regarding MS.

After lunch we had our own discussion about MS. We exchanged ideas about our personal experience with the disease, about the situations from our countries, medical system, social protection and legal rights and we put on a piece of paper all our conclusions about MS.

That night we had an intercultural evening with traditional food, music and dances. Every national team presented their country with imagination and originality. The next morning each national team prepared a poster with a message for a very special local MS event that took place later that day - we were invited to be part of the Annual MS Awareness & Fundraising Event in Presov, organised by the local MS Chapter under the name “MS Walk”. So we put on white t-shirts with the “Active life” logo and walked to the center of the city, where we hung the posters so that everybody could see our messages. We had a great time being involved in the MS Walk Event, as we sang national songs, listened to the bands singing at the concert and seeing our posters watched with curiosity by the passing Slovakians.

The next day we took a trip to discover the historical and the tourist region, Spis Castle and Pieniny mountains.

The theme for the next day was “Journalism on the street” – Workshop on European Policy for Disabled People. We were divided again in mixed multinational teams and we interviewed people in the street regarding MS. In the evening we prepared statistics based on our interviews and we presented the conclusions to the other teams.

For the final party that night we had a surprise from the organisers: candles, a big cake and traditional drinks. That was the moment when we realised that it will soon be all over and most of us had tears in our eyes. We looked back at the moments spent together and we had such a great time and did so many things, that we forgot about the sorrow that MS had brought to our lives. Nobody had time to feel ill! We were too busy having fun! The final conclusion we all agreed on with a big smile on our faces was that we found the cure for MS through games, activities, understanding and support.

Also, we agreed that Poland and Romania will host exchanges next year. We encourage all MS organisations to participate in such an event and the Romanian MS Society would be happy to provide all the information needed.

The Slovakian exchange was – in my opinion – better than the ones we had before because we had better information, we succeeded in having better self-esteem, more active involvement in the MS movement, better communication on MS issues, better capability of adapting to the conditions of living and traveling together, better capability of being independent (the participants learned how to live more independent and became more courageous), and – very important – more friendship.

The organisers had done a splendid job and we know that it had been hard work and a very limited budget. I thank you, Juliana, Peter, Gabika, Martin and Monika, on behalf of the Romanian team, for being such great hosts!