My name is Lumala. I was born in Japan. My date of birth is March 10, 1996. I have no father or mother, but I was well maintained by the company owner in Japan who was responsible for my birth.

One day my owner decided to send me to another country. I heard that I was being sold to a person who came from Sri Lanka.

The new owner transported me with many of my friends to Sri Lanka, by ship.

I am now in Sri Lanka. I help the person who bought me. When he goes anywhere I help him to transport various things. Due to my heavy work, I now need to be repaired.

P. Anushan, Grade 7,Colombo Hindu College.

One of the best methods to utilise our leisure hours effectively is to cultivate a hobby. A hobby makes life lively without letting it become dull. It gives us pleasure.

I have many hobbies, but my favourite hobby is reading books. I started this hobby when I was very little. My parents, relations and friends give me books on my birthday.I enjoyed looking at the lovely pictures and later on reading the stories in them when I was small. As I grew older, I began to collect books and reading became my favourite hobby.

I read papers, magazines and books. I read all kinds of books; adventure stories, autobiographies of famous people and fairytales. I like to read bedtime stories before I fall asleep.Books should be read both for pleasure and for knowledge. Reading is a good hobby because we can learn so much from it. Leisure time can be spent happily in the company of books.

When I am ill and I have to stay in bed, I don't feel unhappy as I pass the time reading. I never feel dull when I have a good book to read.

When we read good books, we improve our knowledge. Books help me in my studies too. I have a small library at home and I spend my leisure time there. I am proud of my hobby.

Reeshman Zehana Ziard, Grade 4 A, Royal English School, Matale.
 

Many people employ poor children as labourers or domestic aides.

They don't care about these poor children who work as servants in their houses or in other places. Everybody knows that every child has a right to an education which is free in Sri Lanka.

There are schools in various parts of the country, so any child can easily attend school.

Education makes no difference between the rich or poor child.

Therefore, we must make good use of this opportunity given to educate freely the children of our country.

If anybody employs children, it would be considered a crime by the Courts of law. As it is a serious matter, tough measures should be taken against any one who flouts the law.

Sometimes, many poor people depend on their children to earn an income for the survival of the family. But it is important to understand that we should never encourage child labour.

Unfortunately, despite all the laws, there have been many reported incidents of children being employed as domestics, and being treated badly; some have been burnt, beaten and bruised for life. Such incidents are disgraceful and should not be tolerated at all.

We must remember that every child, whether rich or poor, enjoys doing simple things like drawing, playing, painting and many other fun activities. A child's world is very precious.

Children who are employed as servants or in any other form of labour miss out on all these wonderful things that are a part and parcel of childhood. Let us love and respect every child. Society must reject all forms of child labour and unite to protect innocent children.

Hiruni K. Jayasinghe, Grade 9, Lyceum International School.
 

Do you know who my best friend is? He is always with me and he is 75 years old. He is the actor in our house. He can sing songs very well. When he sings, every member in our family joins him. At that time our house becomes a musical stage. My little brother dances and claps.My best friend always has a smile on his face. He is very kind, speaks pleasant words and never gets angry. He shows me the correct way to be successful in life.

Until I return from school, he waits for me. Then he helps me with my homework. When I do my homework, he discusses the lessons with me and points out my mistakes. He always tells me the correct things to do. He wants to see my progress.

He is happy when he sees my talents. He guides me and the rest of my family to go forward in life.He has a different bedtime story for each night. In the lamp-lit room, his voice seems to contain some magic. He is a fine story teller. When he relates stories all the characters come alive.

The sounds, the action; there is so much to learn. Sometimes he is a teacher, sometimes he is a fine storyteller, at other times he is an actor, and sometimes he is a doctor or a guide.

He has all these talents. I can not believe it.He tells me how smart he looked when he was young.He is my shadow and my hero. Now, can you guess who my best friend is? He is my ever loving grandpa!

W. Chalya Sureni Warnakula, Grade 10 A, Holy Family Girls' College, Wennappuwa.
 

My home garden is big and beautiful. It has many pretty flowers such as roses, jasmines and shoe flowers growing in it. Japanese roses also grow in my garden, adding a lot of beauty to the place.

Jasmines are night-blooming flowers. When jasmines bloom in the night they give out a sweet fragrance.

There are big trees such as coconuts, mangoes and neem growing in the garden. They provide shade to the garden.

There are many vegetables too growing in my garden and we have fresh vegetables for our meals. We have planted ginger and curry leaves which are very useful to us.

Birds, butterflies, bees and squirrels are some of the daily visitors to my home garden. I don't like animals which harm the plants, such as rats, snails and caterpillars.

Gardening is the favourite hobby of my entire family. So we water the plants everyday, remove the weeds every weekend and work as a team to maintain a beautiful home garden. It helps us save money, add beauty to the environment and also stay healthy. I take a walk in my garden every morning to see newly blossomed flowers.

I really like keeping my home garden neat, tidy and beautiful.

Fathima Zulfa Affan, Grade 5, Al-sharia Muslim Girls International School, Dematagoda.
 

An ideal teacher is someone who kindles an interest in the subject. He/she is teaching the students. He/she does not encourage them to learn by just memorising, but always encourages them to understand and think for themselves, and do original work.

A good teacher enforces discipline in the class, but is not rude to the children.

If the children have any problem, he/she listens carefully to them and tries to help them out. He/she pays extra attention to the students who are not very bright and gives extra coaching for the bright students, so that they could aim for higher grades.

A dedicated and talented teacher handles a subject in such a way, that the students grasp the facts easily.

He/ she makes use of various charts and pictures to help them understand the subjects better and points out books that should be read to understand the subject better.A teacher must remember that students can comprehend a subject only if the facts are presented clearly to them. She/he must not use complicated terms, to begin with. If a concept is difficult, the teacher must lead up to it gradually.

If a subject is taught properly children will like learning the subject. However, when a teacher handles the class and the subject of study badly, children will begin to hate the subject.An ideal teacher will be on time to class, be committed to his/her work, understand the students and subjects well and be able to communicate his/her ideas to the students.

Teaching is a noble profession.

Rusietha Balachanthiran, Grade 9 - Science, Belvoir College International.
 

My best friend is Sajani Sewwandi. She is thirteen years old. She studies at Ratnapura Banagoda Vidyalaya in Grade nine. Her favourite subject is maths.Her mother's name is Dammika. She is a housewife. Her father's name is Upali Sisil. He is a farmer. She has two brothers.

They are both soldiers. Their village is Banagoda.She is tall, thin and fair. She has short hair.She likes to eat chocolates. She also likes to wear pink coloured dresses. Her favourite flower is jasmine. Her leisure time activities are reading storybooks and writing stories. Her favourite country is India.

I love her very much.

N. Chathurika Roshini, Grade 9, Ratnapura Banagoda Vidyalaya.
 

Superman is strong
And never goes wrong
He gets sick
Because his chest is thick

Batmans' a genius
When he has seniors
Robin is his son
Who keeps a big gun

Spiderman is cool
When he is in the pool
He loves to play with Harry
Who has red spots when in Italy

Yusuf Shabbir Sadikot,Primary 4,Burhani Serendib School,Colombo 4
 

Smooth and soft
Warm to the touch
A baby squirrel
Held tight
In the cup of the hand
Dark blinking eyes
Small heart racing
With fear
Better let go
After stroking lovingly
Once.

Nillasi Liyanage, Grade 9 D,Musaeus College,Colombo 7.