Note No. 5732

                                                            5 June 2002

Note to Correspondents

TOY EXHIBIT –- ‘NOT SOLD IN STORES’ -– TO OPEN AT HEADQUARTERS 6 JUNE

Kul Gautum, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), representing Executive Director Carol Bellamy, John Schultz, President of the Christian Children’s Fund and Shashi Tharoor, Under-Secretary-General for Public Information will open a toy exhibit, “Not Sold in Stores”, at 6 p.m. Thursday, 6 June 2002, in the Visitor’s Lobby at United Nations Headquarters.

The exhibit has been put together by the Christian Children’s Fund and is made up of over 100 toys made by children from discarded material and trash in some of the poorest countries of the world.  Encouraged by the Christian Children’s Fund as part of an assistance programme, children in Africa, Asia and Latin America collect every conceivable scrap to make toys.  On display in the exhibit are trucks made out of pesticide cans; toy cars, motorbikes and aeroplanes made from wood scraps and discarded wire from construction sites; dolls made from scraps of cloth and household items; musical instruments made out of oil cans and bottle caps; and soccer balls and baseballs made from dried fruit and plastic bags.  

The imagination and inventiveness of children displayed through these toys show the spirit of childhood and the role of play.  The purpose of the Christian Children’s Fund in encouraging children to create toys is to aid in building healthy minds and bodies.

Guests are requested to enter from 1^st Avenue and 46^th Street.

For further information about the exhibit, contact: Valerie Hampton-Mason at (212) 963-5150; for media accreditation, contact Sonia Lecca at (212) 963-6394.

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