The lesson I learnt about water

Winner:

Trring, tring, trrring! Oh! How I hate it when my alarm clock goes off. I drag my feet to the washroom, turn on the tap and place my hands under it.... “There is a water cut, till 2 p.m. today,” says dad. What a bad start to my day.

I come down for breakfast only to find my mum lamenting. “How am I supposed to wash the clothes, pots and pans? Who is going to water the plants?”

I never knew how much damage a water cut could do.

That afternoon we have our school football tournament. Sweat starts pouring down my body. The heat is terrible. After the match, I grab a bottle of cool water. It taste so good even though it is said that water is tasteless. I could drink a gallon.

I come home and go straight to the washroom to have a cool wash. It feels so heavenly. How relaxing!

I sprawl on the sofa and watch news on the television and “Dehydration killed 40 people in Somalia” makes me sit up. This isn’t something new to Somalia, but today I am concerned to see it. Children drinking unclean water to quench their thirst, while we use clean water to wash our cars, doesn’t seem fair at all.

At bedtime, I thank God for blessing us with water. I prayed for the people in the African region to find a way to get water.

“Save water, save lives”!

Imjaz Kamal,

Grade 11A,

Hejaaz International School,

Mt. Lavinia.

Don’t blame the darkness, be the light

Winner:

These days most people in our country are talking about the high prices of coconuts and vegetables. They have sky rocketed. Some grocers are having large stocks but they never put the prices down. This is ridiculous. They are very unjust. They must not think of only making profits but also about the innocent consumers. My home is situated in a 20 perch land. But we already have five coconut trees. We seldom buy coconuts. I am going to plant another five coconut saplings in the garden. In another five years time, our family will be self-sufficient in coconuts.

We also grow vegetables, yams, green leaves, herbal plants, fruit plants and flowers in our garden. We never blame the weather, the government, or the ruling party. It’s a bad habbit. We must inculcate good habbits instead of blaming the weather or anybody else. We should think and act with love towards our environment. Then only Mother Nature will be happy and make our motherland ‘The Granary of the East and Dhaham Deepa of Asia’ once again.

Kavishka Dilki Ranaweera,

Grade 8,

Lindsay Girls’ School,

Colombo 4.

My sister

My sister’s name is Imaya Kawithmi. She is four years old. She can dance. She is very beautiful. She is short and fair, and has short hair. She likes ice-cream.She gets up early in the morning because she goes to preschool. She can’t swim.

My sister has lots of frocks, skirts, blouses and hats. She is good. Her pet is a cat. Her favourite drink is Necto. I love my sister and she loves me too.

R. H. M. Nethmi Thilona,

Grade 6-A,

NK/Jayanthi Central College.

A poem just for you

Aththami you make the day brighter by smiling

I realised how lucky. I am to have you in my life.

Your loving and caring makes me love you even more

You change everything by caring for other people

You are as nice as anybody could be

You always do things with us when we want you to

The shining sun spotlights on you

You make the world a better place for all of us

The things in your heart are love and kindness

You are a super star

Enaara Amodha Pussegoda,

Year 4G,

Bangkok Patana School, Thailand.

Rain, where are you ?

Rain water

Why can’t you be with us

Even for a moment?

My grandpa said

That you were with us

More often in his childhood

But...

In my childhood

You came very rarely

You flowed through the rivers

Fast

Dear rain water

Why can’t you be with us?

S. A. Ayomi Iresha,

Grade 11, MR/Beralapanathara

N.S., Beralapanathara.

Endangered animals need our help

Winner:

There are many different species of animals in the world. Some animals have become extinct and others are threatened with extinction. Most animals are endangered today. Because their natural habitats are destroyed, the death rate of endangered animals is higher than their birth rate.

Many endangered animals are facing a very high risk of extinction in the near future. The Aleution Canada goose, the African and Asian elephant, grizzly bear and Okapi are just a few of them.

Human beings expedite the extinction of many animals by clearing the jungles and destroying their natural habitats. Poaching, pollution and the introduction of foreign species too are responsible for such extinctions.

It is important to have national parks for animals to stop such animals from becoming extinct. Some national parks in Sri Lanka are Yala, Wilpattu, Boondala and Udawalawe.

We can do many things to save our animal friends; place advertisements, hold exhibitions, draw posters, display banners, educate through articles in the print and electronic media and hold awareness programmes.

We must protect these animals because they are very important to maintain the ecological balance of our planet.

W.K. Nirmalie Melonica Fernando,

Grade 10 - 'Olu',

St. Joseph's Balika Maha Vidyalaya.

Rainforests are our friends

Winner:

Nature is God's precious gift to mankind. We are totally dependent on nature; we cannot live without it.

We must realise the value of nature. There are many things that make up nature and rainforests are one of them.

Sinharaja is the only undisturbed rainforest left in Sri Lanka. It is a world heritage site and a pride to us.

The Amazon rainforest is also a marvellous world heritage site. It is situated in South America.

We can get many advantages from rainforests. Trees in rainforests play an important role in the water cycle. The water evaporation from trees and plants in it provide rain. Rain is very necessary to do agriculture and various other work. We get water when rain fills rivers and streams. Water is useful not only to drink but also to do our day-to-day activities such as bathing, cooking and cleaning.

Rainforests are a rich source of many types of food and medicinal herbs. Rainforests also help to maintain a favourable weather condition.

The trees protect the moisture in the environment.

The trees in rainforests help stop soil erosion; during a heavy rainy season, which results in floods, trees reduce the damage from floods. We can get lots of benefits from rainforests.

I think all of us must live close to nature and not go against it. People get economic advantages by destroying valuable trees in these forests.

It is a national crime. People have to be more careful and act to protect rainforests. It is a way to show our gratitude to rainforests for what they give us.

M. Shashikala Wijesinghe,

Grade 10,

Ku/Holy Family Convent,

Kurunegala.

Importance of saving

Winner:

"Put by something for a rainy day". This proverb emphasises the need of saving money which is an important component in our life.

All of us have money, but it is the management of it that helps us save it. As students we get pocket money which we spend to buy things such as snacks, stationery, books and computer games. But we should also make it a habit not to spend all our pocket money. We can save some of it in a till or even in a bank account.

After some time we could collect a fair amount of money which can be used for various other purposes. We should be thrifty and not spend money on buying unnecessary things.

This will help ease the pressure on parents. Saving is a great habit. Let's save a portion of our pocket money for our future.

Fathima Shahani Razzak,

Grade 8 S,

Ilma Intrnational Girls' School,

Obeysekerapura,

Rajagiriya.