Attachment
November 19th, was a red letter day for YouMe Support Foundation, when it hosted a Guinness World Record, for ‘How Many People Can Write a Story in 24 Hours’.
The838 participants taking part were mostly made up of school students from around Port Vila. In 2007. The record previous record was held by Novum Verlag Gmbh in Neckenmarktt, Austria, with 797 participants.
Melanesian Tours gathered the students from their schools. On arriving at the huge marquee, which had been set up as a scene from the story, they were quickly registered.
Student teachers from Malapoa Training Teachers College then aided the participants, in groups of 24, to create a sentence. There was a further registration before the sentence was eventually added to the continuous scroll. Often the students had to wait patiently for up to 1 hour, as only one person was permitted to write at a time, according to the rules set down by the Guinness World Record organization.
The only Asia-Pacific Guinness World Record adjudicator, Chris Sheedy said, “It was the first time I have been invited to a Pacific island to adjudicate an event.” In his speech declaring the attempt successful, he complemented YouMe Support Foundation on the fact that the attempt embraced and enhanced the local culture, as well as being highly organized.
The 35 chapters of ‘Vanuatu Treasure’ were fabulously illustrated by a local Ni-Vanuatu, cartoonist, Guy Deroin. The story-line involved two children and a giant tortoise searching across the entire tropical island archipelago of Vanuatu, (1000kms), for clues to a hidden treasure chest. On their way they discovered all the exciting and interesting things that can actually be found in Vanuatu, from the giant kauri forest in the south, to the largest South Pacific fresh water lake on top of a volcano, to water music in the far north. The story will be published as a book, which the public will be able to purchase.
Vanuatu Prime Minister, Edward Natapei, was present to see the event declared a success, just 10 hours after it had started. He felt that a Guinness World Record is the ideal promotion for Vanuatu abroad, as many people are not sure just where one of the best holiday destinations in the South Pacific, is located.
The Prime Minister also felt that the three life size characters and the scroll have a place in history and could possibly be displayed at the Cultural Museum in Port Vila, for public viewing.
This is the second Guinness World Record for Vanuatu. The only other one is held by the underwater post office at Hideaway Resort.
The Guinness World Record attempt was part of the ongoing promotion of raising funds for high school education grants. Just as Marter Homes and Boy’s Town raise funds in Australia, by raffling expensive homes, so YouMe Support Foundation is raising funds by raffling a prime piece of real estate on the Internet, at Win a Resort.
Dr Wendy Stenberg-Tendys and her husband are CEO's of YouMe Support Foundation (http://youmesupport.org) provide high school education grants for children who are without hope. You can help in this really great project by taking a few minutes to check it the Tropical Island Treasure Chest at Win a Resort (http://winaresort.com) It really will change your life.
Feel free to contact Wendy on admin@youmesupport.org
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
