My injury is two years old, and before this I had only ever been to various sanatoriums — and everyone knows perfectly well what goes on there. When I got to this camp, my first thought was that we had been driven to the wrong place, because I had never been to the Carpathians before. The sight of the camp itself, and simply the view around it, takes your breath away! When we were unloaded from the bus — and that, by the way, deserved top marks: quick, precise, careful and technically well equipped — I saw that the entire camp staff had come out to meet us, without exception, together with the participants who had arrived earlier. And most importantly, everyone was wearing a name badge, which later even started to annoy me, but never mind. Everyone came up at once to ask how the journey had been, whether we needed help, or simply to get acquainted.

When we were shown to our rooms, I was surprised at how cosy it was, and that there was a separate bathroom with everything adapted so you can manage without help. Three of us shared a room — two participants and a volunteer who can help you at any moment. Further along was the canteen, where I was surprised again to see how spacious and large it was. And the food we were given throughout the camp was, in my opinion, so good that you do not always eat that well in a café.

In the evening we were all gathered to get to know each other and to have it explained what awaited us at the camp. When we started introducing ourselves and everyone spoke about themselves in turn, the thought flashed through my mind that I was sitting in some kind of AA circle — although that is not the case at all! After the introductions and the briefing I was stunned and slightly shocked, wondering where I had ended up… At first the daily schedule we all had to follow seemed wildly unfamiliar, almost like the army. But let me stress the word «seemed», so as not to frighten you! That is only at first glance: breakfast, lunch, dinner, three training sessions in between, and then an evening lecture on top, lights out at 23:00 — surely impossible! But very soon I realised it was more than possible. After the second day I fell into the rhythm, and I even began to enjoy it.

Wheelchair skills

A very important part of our life! Here you are taught to get over the various obstacles that come your way, and so to manage without outside help whenever possible. But there is a second, philosophical side to it: you are taught not to give up whatever happens, and not to think that if your abilities are limited in some way then you can do nothing and life is over. This training gives you confidence and a sea of new skills and knowledge. And when you look at the instructors who show you all this, you realise: if they can do anything, so can you!

Here is a personal example. Before the camp I had no idea how to go down and up a flight of stairs in a wheelchair on my own. After the camp I do not merely understand it — I do it every single time I leave the house! My friends, who had always helped me, carrying me down and up whenever I needed to go somewhere, spent the first days after my return in shock that I now go down and up the stairs myself and can manage without their help.

General physical training

Put simply, the gym is another very important part of our life, because we need strong arms, a strong back and so on. This training is very good for your health, and the instructors who work with you show by their own example what physical training is and what it is for. I learned a great deal that was new and interesting — new exercises for the back, the abs, the arms — and felt for myself how my physical condition changed after those sessions. I do train at home as well, but there no one pushes you: you can stop and relax at any moment, you can cut a session short. Here they make you work, and at the same time they watch your load and your health so that you do everything correctly, without harming yourself.

Aerobics

Another necessary and important part of our life, because we lead a less mobile life and we need all our organs and body parts to work properly. Here they show you how and teach you! The instructors charge you with positive energy from the start: when you arrive in the morning still half asleep, they get you moving, wake you up, make you smile — showing that the morning should always begin with a smile and a good mood. The session itself is movement to music that makes your muscles work not at random, but in specific groups. My conclusion was that what I had been doing at home was not quite right, and that movement is life.

Table tennis

A wonderful sport that trains your muscles along with your reaction and coordination. In this session the instructors teach you to play, tell you about the sport and why it matters, and above all show by their own example that you can take up all sorts of sports, whatever has happened to you.

Lectures

This is knowledge, skills and experience about our bodies: what to do and how, in one situation or another, in our present condition. These people did an incredible amount of work to gather all this material, which they then present to us, drawing on their own lives to show how a problem can be solved — knowing that the human body is neither perfect nor eternal, all the more so with our kind of injury. I gained a lot of new knowledge, skills and experience.

I would also like to note something very important: the work with a person’s psychology. The injury knocked every one of us down, physically and mentally. Some are more resilient, some less. And this is where these people do the most important work: they do not simply talk to you like a psychologist, they tell you everything from their own experience — how they themselves overcame those psychological barriers and fears. For that they deserve special RESPECT!

Volunteers

These are a breed apart! These are people who have their own lives, their own jobs, families and children — and yet they find the time to come to the camp and work there completely free of charge, from the heart, to help others. When you look at them you are amazed that our world still holds people for whom other people, not money, come first — who simply want to help someone else and make this world a little kinder. They deserve a separate THANK YOU for everything they do: they risk their own health for our well-being, sometimes carrying us on their backs and helping at every discipline… They are wonderful people — cheerful, positive, kind, interesting; you are never bored with them, there is always something to talk about and to laugh at. May everyone have friends like these! You can be 200% sure of these people: they will always help and will never leave you in a difficult moment! Thank you very much for everything, YOU ARE THE BEST! =)

Instructors

They are another kind of people altogether, who also work from the heart rather than for money, but with a different motivation: having been through all of it themselves, they now try to help others. So that everyone in a similar situation knows how to find a way out. They show that when you have been broken, it is not the end of life: life goes on, and it can be lived even better and more brightly than the lives of ordinary people. When you talk to them, you talk as with friends, not as pupil to teacher — you do not feel that distance. They are very cheerful, positive, kind, interesting and wise! They will teach you a great deal, show you much that is new, and some of them will even suggest what to do with your life next. I want to say a very big thank you to them too, for everything they try to make better not only for themselves, but for everyone else! YOU ARE THE BEST! =)

In closing…

I would like to add that the camp was not only training: there was a lot of fun too — contests, games, small trips into the mountains and so on. It was particularly something to wake up on the fourth day feeling that you simply cannot lift your arms because of the muscle ache, and then to learn that you still have to climb a mountain in your wheelchair — and that, by the way, was arranged for us on the rest day… But it was great all the same; we really did have a wonderful time.

This camp is, I would say, a big house with a big family inside. Everyone really is like family: it is always cheerful, every day there are jokes and pranks. I liked very much that everyone trusts each other and you never worry that someone will come into your room and steal something! The most that can happen is someone coming in at night to take your wheelchair for repairs — or to paint your roommate’s nails.)))

All in all, it is better to go once than to read and hear about it a hundred times! You simply cannot put it into words!

Finally, I would like to say an enormous thank you to the organisers of this camp for all the work they do, and for everything they do in general. I simply cannot find the words to describe what kind of people they are… THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING: without you none of this would exist! YOU ARE THE BEST!

Denys Mazurov, Poltava
participant of the AR camp, 5–14 June 2015