10,000 school children surround Parliament - Peace and Harmony.

Video from the day.

This one team's English language report. See also Hungarian language Report with some different pictures.

On Friday, May 20, as many of Budapest’s citizens were preparing to go to work on a warm late spring morning 10,000 Hungarian school children, from as far as 300 km away, were preparing to surround their nation’s parliament in a human chain of peace and harmony.

Largest Human Chain - Inspired by the World Harmony Run, founded by Sri Chinmoy, these children were going to be part of the largest human chain ever assembled in Hungary.

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Includes English interview Budapest, Hungary 2011

10000 School Children hold hands around the Hungarian Parliament. Joined by President Pal Schmitt together it created a new Hungarian record. Includes short english interview with smiling organizer and some youth performances - great skip rope ending and final quote "hope everyone was happy"...

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World Harmony Run organizers, who last year hosted 7,000 children who joined together to create “Art for Harmony”, enlisted the cooperation of Hungary’s national rail to provide free travel for all the participating children to come to Budapest this year.

The children, from more than 150 participating schools, were also given a free tour of the parliament as well as a heavily discounted visit to the Budapest Zoo.

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Vice President of Hungary’s Parliament

Balczo Zoltan the Vice President of Hungary’s Parliament welcomed the children with a heartfelt speech and quoted World Harmony Run founder Sri Chinmoy saying, "The fullness of life lies in dreaming and manifesting the impossible dreams."

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Hungarian President 

Hungarian President Pal Schmitt addressed the assembled children, thanking them for their participation in this ground-breaking event and assured them the nation’s political leaders were aware of, and very much in support of, their efforts today.

Collectively the children offered a Peace Tree to the President adorned with messages and aphorisms the children had compiled from famous Hungarian poets.

President Pal Schmitt made a promise that he would read each one.

The Peace Tree presented by young people to the president complemented the two international years highlighted on the World Harmony Run banner this year. The International Year of Youth (IYY) and International Year of Forests (IYF) were proclaimed by the UN General Assembly and are supported by UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and many others around the world.

Silence and Sound of Peace and Harmony

As part of the World Harmony Run team’s presentation the children observed 30 seconds of silence as well as three resounding cheers of the team’s motto “Harmony begins with me!”

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The Media Reports Live!

Most of Budapest's media were on hand to report about the event, some were even reporting live as it unfolded.

"Human Chain" encircles Parliament 

The children then encircled Hungary’s Parliament, an impressive building.

A human chain of over 10,000 children covering a distance of about 1 km then waited patiently, hand in hand for the chain to become complete.

President Pal Schmitt joins with some of the younger children as part of the human chain.

Parliamentary Vice-President Balczo Zoltan joined hands with the children to form part of the chain.

The chain, comprised of children, their accompanying teachers and a few volunteer parents were joined by the Nation’s President and the Parliaments Vice President and for 1 minute the chain stood unbroken.

Simultaneous Cheer of Celebration

Air horn’s were sounded to celebrate the successful completion of the effort. A huge simultaneous cheer went up from the entire gathering.

High fives and handshakes were given and received, new friends made and hopefully a message sent to the nations leaders, perhaps best captured by Sri Chinmoy, the run’s founder, who had previously said “World Peace, World Harmony these are not mere dictionary words, these are realities, divine realities, supreme realities.”

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Youth's cultural expressions of peace and harmony.

Children's performances, on a special stage erected for the day in an adjacent park, continued well into the afternoon – as many of the visiting schools had prepared cultural expressions of peace and harmony.

And Special Appreciation

President Pal Schmitt thanks organizer Makaranda for all her work to create this important event.

World Harmony Run Executive Director, Salil Wilson, thanks the President for his presence at the event.

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Joy and Suprise of Magic!

Magician Tulasi from Austria travelled to Budapest for the day,as he did last year  to share some of his magical spirit.

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 Capable Hosts and Inspiring Performers

Our capable hosts for the day made sure everything ran smoothly.

Many of the attending students offered harmony themed performances during the day.

The audience really enjoyed the entertainment.

This was Europe's award winning jump-rope team.

Some of the teachers and volunteers looked after all the luggage.

 A symbol as inspring reminder

A nearby statue was even seen carry a torch. It serves to remind us of the flame of Peace and Harmony felt inside our hearts on this inspirational day, as we return to schools and local communities or on to the other parts of the world.. 

Thank you to all who made this possible...

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The World Harmony Run proudly supports the International Year of Youth (IYY) and the International Year of Forests (IYF) proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly.

See the recent Youtube video which illustrates IYY slogan "Our Year Our Voice" International Year of Youth - Zambia World Harmony

See also the UNESCO World Heritage (WH) Centre support for IY of Forests.  ... Convention for conservation of forest biodiversity. (more)

 

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Distance: 2 km

Team Members:
10,000 School Children joined by specail dignitaries, teachers, parents, local and international runners

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

Gallery: See more images!

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Hungary 20 May