“How did you manage to get 838 participants, mainly school students, to write a proper story in the Guinness World Record challenge, of ‘How Many People to Write a Story in 24 Hours’?” Dr Wendy Stenberg-Tendys was asked, during a recent radio interview
“It was a matter of organization, from Melanesian Tours busing in the students from school, to Guy Deroin having drawn 35 marvelous cartoons to illustrate the story, to student teachers from Malapoa Training College assisting the students. On the day it needed to flow like a factory assembly line, with a sentence being completed and written down every 39 seconds.”
On 19th November, in Port Vila, on the tropical island of Vanuatu, in the South Pacific, YouMe Support Foundation staged a successful Guinness World challenge.
“We started at 7.30 in the morning and by 10.00 o’clock it looked as if the challenge was going to fail. We were already 100 students down on our schedule. This was when everyone began pulling together,” said Stenberg-Tendys when asked if there were any hitches.
Passing public were literally coerced off the street to add their sentence to the continuous scroll. Everyone was determined not to be beaten after three months of hard work.
The challenge was successfully finished at 5.30 p.m., just 10 hours after starting. The only Asian Pacific Guinness World Record adjudicator, Chris Sheedy, had estimated to go the full 24 hours to see the completion of the attempt. In his declaration of success, he complemented YouMe Support on their efficiency in organization.
The challenge embraced and emphasized the rich and strongly diversified Melanesian, Polynesian and Micronesian cultures, which have been strongly influenced by both French and English culture. This is what makes Vanuatu absolutely unique.
The accomplishment was made even more remarkable in that many of the students were not only writing in their second or third language, but they live in a culture that is very strong in its oral traditions.
The tale of two children and a giant tortoise was brilliantly illustrated by Guy Deroin, a local Ni-Vanuatu artist. Deroin, though French speaking has spent all his life in Vanuatu, apart from the time he went to Noumea for education. His father was French, his mother from the Vanuatu island of Ambae. He is planning a tourist attraction based around his cartoon characters. It is hoped the three characters of the Guinness World Record attempt will find a place in the Cultural Museum, to mark this red letter day.
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
