-       Foundation for Literacy and Education Breaks the record for the most People to Write a Story in 24 Hours

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Monday, November 23^rd 2009 – Port Vila, Vanuatu: The Digicel sponsored YouMe (Yumi) foundation broke the Guinness World Records by beating the existing figure for the most people to write a story in 24 hours on Friday November 19^th.

The Guinness World Record attempt was held in order to raise awareness of the crucial need of literacy and education in Vanuatu and 820 Ni-Vanuatu children were involved in the attempt. Digicel’s sponsorship of the event allowed for the Yumi foundation to bring a judicator to Vanuatu to witness the record challenge. As additional support, Digicel assisted in gathering the children on the Digicel bus to take them to the challenge locations in order to take part.

Digicel Vanuatu CEO Roy Gillingham said, “Digicel is committed to the ongoing development of Vanuatu and children’s education is an integral part of that. We are for that reason very proud of our association with the Yumi foundation and their work in Vanuatu”.

“Vanuatu’s new Guinness World Record is testament to the Ni-Vanuatu school children and we hope this will raise awareness on the critical need for education for all children,” he said.

In Vanuatu, only 56% of children can afford to go to school and of those, only 25% go to high school, with less than 2% can afford tertiary education. The record attempt saw the 820 students add a sentence to the story, every 30 seconds, in English.

For more information on Digicel Vanuatu, please call the dedicated customer care team from any Digicel mobile on 123 or please visit www.digicelvanuatu.com

ENDS

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Since its launch in the South Pacific in November 2006, Digicel has become the fastest-growing mobile operator in the Pacific, with current operations in Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Fiji.

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