UNRWA Organises four Guinness World record busters as part of 5th Summer Games – UNRWA article

Gaza Kids Reach for World Record Glory

UNRWA Organises Four Guinness World Record Busters as Part of 5th Summer Games

29 June 2011, Gaza City — More than three thousand UNRWA students in Gaza are expected tomorrow to smash the first of four world records as part of the Fifth Summer Games organised by the UN’s Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNRWA. The record, for the highest number of people flying large parachutes from the ground was previously set at 1,547. The event will take place at 5pm at the Khan Younis Stadium.

 “We intend to double the previous record”, said UNRWA spokesman, Chris Gunness. “If kids in Gaza are given half the chance, free from the constraints of this counter-productive blockade, they would show their full potential and be number one in the world. These records will put the spotlight on the world’s only community of hundreds of thousands of fenced in and locked up children. The message is simple: give Gaza kids their freedom to be children. We need to end this blockade, which has become a blockade against childhood itself.”

 As part of UNRWA’s Summer Games, a six week recreational programme for a quarter of a million kids, Gaza children will also attempt world records in football dribbling and hand print painting. The Summer Games will culminate at the end of July in an attempt by up to ten thousand children to smash their own record set last year for kite flying.

“These world records will produce iconic images which show another side of what is happening in Gaza”, said Chris Gunness. “More than half of the Gaza Strip is under 18, children too young to have expressed a political opinion at the ballot box. Why should they pay such a high price and lose their childhood? Each one is an Ambassador for the next generation, an example to all of what is possible under the most appalling circumstances”, said Gunness

Fun and Games, in Spite of Blockade

Initiated at the request of the local community, the games give Gazan children a chance to have fun and a sense of normality, in an environment which is anything but normal. The season provides a diverse set of fun activities for children in the beleaguered coastal area, including sports, swimming, arts, and drama.

Background Information

UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, provides assistance, protection and advocacy for some 4.8 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory, pending a solution to their plight. The Agency’s services encompass education, health care, social safety-net, camp infrastructure and improvement, community support, microfinance and emergency response, including in times of armed conflict.

Throughout the games, UNRWA will be supplying compelling stories and extensive opportunities for media coverage about the events, including four Guinness world record attempts by the children of Gaza.

Previous attempts have produced breathtaking iconic images, and this year will not disappoint journalists or their audiences.

A comprehensive fact sheet about Summer Games, and all planned activities, is attached. A shorter schedule for the world record attempts is below.

For daily updates of photos, videos and stories on UNRWA and the Summer Games, join us on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/unrwa 

Wire footage available here: http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/d/17847.html 

For more information, interview requests, details of video images and stills, please contact:

Christopher Gunness

UNRWA Spokesperson

Mobile: +972 (0)54 240 2659

Office: +972 (0)2 589 0267

c.gunness@unrwa.org 

Adnan Abu Hasna

UNRWA Media Advisor, Gaza

Gaza Mobile: +97(0)59 942 8061

Office: +97(0)8 288 7531

a.abu-hasna@unrwa.org

Jamal H. Hamad

UNRWA Public Information Officer, Gaza  

Mobile: 059 9416877

Office: 08 2887457 / 2887213

j.hamad@unrwa.org