My name is Vilena Avaliani and I'm a young doctor from Russia. I've been involved in the IPPNW student movement since 2005 and a lot of amazing and interesting things happened to me during this time. I met many wonderful people full of ideas and inspiration who gave me a chance to change my mind, to believe that someone can really make a difference. I attended conferences and participated in the Baltic Bike Tour, the Overriding Trident Tour and the Faslane Blockade. And for me it was a unique experience to see how people make their own contribution to a common cause. 

When I first took part at a student conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, I was quite sarcastic and skeptical as many of Russian people are. I thought "Take a look at all these guys, what are they doing here? They don't have any personal problems?" At the next conference I thought "Hm, interesting, maybe this is all really has a part of common sense?"

During the Baltic Bike Tour, I met wonderful people from all over the world and facing their openness, joy and care, I realized that I want to be this kind of person, to be something more that a person in the street, full of problems and sorrows. But most of all I was impressed by the Overriding Trident Tour from Dover to London and the Faslane blockade. I saw a lot of people from all over Europe and other countries who weren't too lazy to bike all day long under the rain, to talk to people on the streets, to show them an opportunity of another point of view to their everyday problems, to make them see things from a different perspective. And on our way back to London from Scotland I heard a radio in the car. It was a live broadcast about the events in Faslane, of its importance for achieving a new situation in the UK and in the world. It was a great thing and I'm happy I was a part of it. It gave me an awareness of what I'm doing. Now I know I can do something very important even if it seems to be quite small.

I`m going to participate in the BAN Tour this summer because I believe that nuclear disarmament is now one of the most important goals for humanity and I see real small steps towards it taking place right now. I hope our contribution will be noticed by those who make decisions and will help the Earth to be free from the threat of nuclear war.