(SACA KOSICE) - Slovakia, which adopts the euro in six months, is putting its money where its mouth is with a drive to help its long-neglected gypsy minority with the switch to the official EU currency.

The Slovak Central Bank teamed up with a Roma theatre troupe to devise an upbeat show that took to the stage this week in Saca-Kosice, a suburb of Slovakia's far-flung second city in the country's east.

At 400,000, Slovakia's gypsies or Roma represent seven percent of the population with many living in isolated ghettos, often without roads, running water, sewerage or electricity and where poverty is rampant.

"Most of those of working age are jobless and have a very limited education," said Central Bank spokeswoman Jana Kovacova. They require "special attention because they are at one and the same time a minority and a socially excluded group."

Violins struck up as dancers from the Romathan theatre -- a state-funded group founded in the 1990s to safeguard Roma culture -- swept on stage in a blaze of colour with their main prop, a Slovak crown-to-euro currency converter.

"This show is organised by the Slovak Central Bank, the conversion rate has been fixed at 30.126 koruna/euro," an actress tells the crowd gathered in a hall across from a huge steel plant.

Saca-Kosice is typical of the dilapidated sites where the Roma try to survive racial prejudice and negative stereotypes -- some even from a member of the left-dominated coalition, the xenophobic Slovak National Party whose leader is well-known for his attacks on the Roma community.

But under criticism by human rights groups and other bodies, Slovakia, which joined the European Union in 2004, has promised to reduce inequities and boost education among Roma.

"Many speak Romani better than Slovak: you have to explain the euro in their language, otherwise it will be incomprehensible for them," said Kristina Magdolenova, director of the Roma Press Agency who traveled to Saca to film the show.

One skit has a "mother" breaking down in tears when the postman delivers the family's monthly welfare cheque. "What, 300, it is so little, we will never make ends meet," she cries.

"Don't be so stupid," her "husband" replies, "nothing has changed because a loaf of bread costs a euro," as a friend proudly armed with a currency converter adds: "Yes, 300 euros adds up to 3,000 koruna."

Romathan founder Milan Godla, who scripted the show, said about 40 performances were scheduled for the summer.

Schools and community centres will follow up with practical advice after the summer break. The central bank has also recruited Catholic priests who, after short courses, will help explain the euro in isolated parishes.

The Roma Press Agency, which works in Roma language, has joined the effort, using its community magazine, television broadcasts and Internet site to explain the new currency, first introduced in the EU in 1999.

A song contest has been organised on the euro theme, the best being recorded as video clips to be broadcast on national television during the weekly programme aimed at the Roma population.

One spectator, Mata Gojza, conceded afterwards she liked the show but was still confused. "The euro? No I do not know how it works."

"Songs and dances are good, but you also have to take the time to go on the ground and explain to people, those working with a spade in their hands," said another spectator, Natalie Doncova who "understood" the euro since she had worked in Belgium.

When the switch takes place on January 1, the former communist, Soviet-bloc country will become the eurozone's 16th member but its first in Central Europe since neighbours the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have pushed back euro adoption to an as yet undetermined date.

For many of the newer partners in the 27-member EU, the past 15 years since the collapse of communism has meant non-stop change and reform. They seem happy to do without the euro and keep their national currency in their pockets for a while.

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