Early this year I went with my grandparents on a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca. On this day I got up early in the morning, had a bath and wore a new shalwar which my mother stitched for me. We left home around 7.00 p.m. to go to the Bandaranaike International Airport.

On the way we stopped to buy something to eat. When we reached the airport I was very sad to part from my parents and my sister, but I made up my mind because this is a rare privilege which one gets.

The Custom officials checked our luggage, tickets and also us. When we got inside the plane, a security check was done on us again. Then they directed us to our seats. After a while the flight took off on schedule. It was a six-hour journey. I was getting bored so I read a storybook which I had brought along with me from home.

After some time the flight crew served food. I ate and continued reading my storybook. We landed in Riyadh International Airport on transit.

Then, the plane took off to Jeddah. After some time we landed in Jeddah and from the airport we took a taxi to Medina, where our Holy Prophet Muhammed lived during the last part of his life. It was a five- hour journey.

We reached Medina Hotel where we had planned to stay, by midnight. I prayed and slept. The next day we woke up early in the morning and went to Masjid-ul-Nabavi which was named after the Holy Prophet.

We prayed there. We also visited the place where our Holy Prophet is buried. We prayed there too and I conveyed my salaams to the Holy Prophet, and also those of everyone who asked me to do so. We stayed in Medina for four days. While I was there I went shopping with my grandma.

From there we went to the Holy City of Mecca by taxi, to perform umra. We visited the Masjid-ul-Haram where the Holy kabah is. After performing umra we went back to the hotel. The next morning our travel agent took us round Mecca and we went to Muzdalifa Mina and Arafa. Arafa is the place where Prophet Muhammed delivered his last sermon.

We stayed in Mecca for four days. Then it was time for us to get back to Sri Lanka. When we landed in Sri Lanka, I was impatiently waiting to see my parents and my loving sister. We gave each other salaams and went back home, ending a wonderful pilgrimage which I would never forget.

Amani Gaffoor, Grade 4 (Local), Royal Institute, Havelock Town.
 

My hobby is watching birds. I have a big garden behind my home. There are many kinds of trees, a small pond and a swamp in my garden. Many birds visit my garden.

They are parrots, crows, woodpeckers, kingfishers, cuckoos, storks, mynahs and sparrows. They live on nuts, grains, fruits, crabs, lizards, small mammals and fish.Some of the birds live in my garden while others live in jungles and marshes. When the birds are feeding their young, I always watch them with enthusiasm.

Every year lots of butterflies come to my garden; some butterflies live in my garden because they get plenty of food and it’s a safe place for them to fly about.

An adjutant stork too comes to my garden every month. It is a water bird. The adjutant stork is bigger than the other storks. It has a long beak, neck and legs.

The birds’ voices are sweet. I listen to the voices of birds every morning and evening. In the month of April I am happy because the cuckoo birds sing songs.

There is a long lagoon behind my garden and a lot of fish, frogs and ducks live in it. The kingfishers live on these fish. Everyday I watch the kingfishers catch fish.

Bird-watching is an interesting and useful activity in my life. I spend my free time doing this.

F. Fathima Hizrath, Grade 8B, BT/Rahmaniya M.V., Eravur.
 

Many of the food we buy have a “best before” label giving dates on them. This is because even with the best preserved or most fresh foods, the rotting process is already under way.

Substances known as enzymes are naturally present in foods. These enzymes speed up the chemical changes so that the taste and texture of food are altered making food go bad. But the rotting is mainly caused by microbes which digest the food by releasing more enzymes.

However, not all the microbes are harmful. Everyday, we take in millions of microbes with our food which have no effect on us at all. Indeed, some microbes are actually useful.

For example, it is the action of microbes which help turn milk into cheese and yoghurt. But there are plenty of microbes which make food go bad or be labelled as ‘spoilt’.

If the conditions are right, microbes reproduce and multiply quickly and within a very short period, a few microbes becomes several millions. Microbes like warm conditions, ideally the same temperature as humans have.

There are many ways of preserving various types of foods. They are drying, salting, canning, refrigerating, pasteurizing, pickling and irradiating them with gammarays. But despite all these methods, plenty of food go bad and are thrown away.

Ahalya Ravendran, Grade 10, Co/Ramanathan Hindu Ladies’ College.
 

John Loggie Baird introduced the television to us. He was an engineer born on August 13, 1888, in a village called Hellansburg, England.

Television can have either a good or bad impact on our lives. We should learn to select only good things; it is our duty to do so as children.

A huge responsibility lies with the elders to produce and also select suitable programmes for children. Let us check out some of the good things we could learn from watching television.

We can gain a lot of knowledge from television programmes such as quiz competitions, Discovery programmes and documentaries etc.

We can see programmes showing certain events held in other countries ‘LIVE’ such as the Olympic Games, ICC World Cup and so on. We can also get news of incidents that take place in our country or other countries via “NEWS” telecasts.

In recent times, television has become the best mode of communication. About 90 per cent of the people have television sets in their houses.

Some of the teledramas which are being telecast currently are not suitable for children and such programmes will destroy the minds of the younger generation.But, I think television does more good than bad.

Hasara Chani Kasturi Arachchi, Grade 9-4, Bandaranayake Central College, Veyangoda.
 

The world is now much warmer than it had been about 1,000 years ago. During the last century alone, the world temperatures have increased by one degree Celsius. The heating up of the atmosphere is called global warming and it has caused, and will continue to cause, many serious problems.

Global warming is due to the greenhouse effect. As a result of the ozone layer surrounding the Earth being damaged it allows more heat into the Earth, but does not allow it to escape. The gases act like a glass in a greenhouse.

Many scientists believe that over the next century, temperatures will rise by 2 to 4 degrees Celsius causing problems such as the melting of ice caps, rising of sea levels, changing climates and increasing of viruses and pests. But, nobody knows exactly what the effects of global warming will be.

Some of the effects will no doubt be harmful, but others such as changing weather may bring benefits, especially when the amount of rain increases in dry zone areas and farmers are able to cultivate in these dry areas.

Due to the seriousness of the problem, many countries around the world have formed international bodies to suppress this danger. It is the duty of all human beings living on Earth to join the efforts made by them to reduce global warming and save our planet.

Pasindu Ransika, Grade 7, Leeds International School, Panadura.