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21:21 GMT
UNITED NATIONS, June 15 (KUNA) -- Students from UNRWA school in Gaza put
together from recycled parts a Formula 1-style car to enter the Formula
Student auto race in the UK in "a demonstration of determination and
creativity" despite the four-year old Israeli blockade on the Strip, it was
announced here on Wednesday.
After weeks of moulding, sanding, and painting, a group of students in the
Khan Younis Training Centre (KYTC), run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and their teacher ran an official
test drive of their car earlier today.
Their aim is to travel to the Silverstone circuit in the UK next month to
participate in this year's Formula Student contest, which challenges
youngsters from around the world to design, build and race a single-seat
racing car from scratch.
The contest, to be held from 14-17 July, serves as a talent-nurturing and
recruitment event for companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz and
Shell.
The team, however, is urgently seeking funding to ship their car and travel
to the UK.
Osama Al Othmani, the students' team leader, was quoted as saying "we are
challenging all the pressures here, and the blockade. We want to prove to the
world that even if we are living on nothing, we can still create something
from it! The last thing we will do is to stick the label 'made in Gaza'". (end)
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