DUBAI // Students from Dubai and Milan have teamed up to walk the distance between their cities – more than 6,000 kilometres – to promote a healthy lifestyle.
Pupils from Dubai Gems Wellington Primary School and Al Ittihad Private School, 189 of them, joined about 190 from Milan to walk 115 million steps this month.
They succeeded and took 2 million additional steps. The grade-two pupils, aged between seven and eight, were taking part in the Joy of Moving kidstepcount initiative launched by chocolate company Kinder’s sport division.
Their steps were counted using tracking bracelets which were swiped against a scanner every day to calculate their total number of steps.
“The children in Milan challenged the children at our school to walk 115 million steps, the equivalent steps it would take for our kids to reach Milan Expo,” said Juliana Abdel Samad, headmistress of the primary section at Al Ittihad Private School.
“We joined with Gems Primary School and schools in Milan to help us reach the goal.
“The students were so excited about the campaign.”
Ms Abdel Samad said she heard students telling their parents to ask them to do things around the house so that they would walk more. The students said their family members were walking, cycling or doing some activity with them to help achieve their target.
Khateera Al Ghandi, an eight-year-old second-grader at Al Ittihad Private School, said: “We played sports and walked and run to help to move.
“I had a bracelet to count my steps. Every day I swiped my bracelet so it would tell me how many steps I made. I really enjoyed it because three of my friends were doing the challenge with me and we helped to finish the steps together.
Emanuele Taccini, senior brand manager at Kinder Teens, said the initiative was to support positive lifestyle changes among young people.
“In UAE, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle for the younger generation is very important, as 20 per cent of the population is under 14 years of age. The children had to learn to move together and work towards the common goal,” she said.
arizvi2@thenational.ae
