Children

Dramatic loss of biodiversity

Dear Children,

Endangered species should be protected. Pic. courtesy: Google

I am sure you all will agree that a clean environment helps sustain life. Our existence depends on our natural habitats and biodiversity. A very important gathering of 8,000 delegates currently meeting in Nagoya, Japan bringing to gether parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

A key task facing the delegates is to hammer out a set of strategic goals to prevent the further loss of species over the next 10 years. The UN says the world has failed to reach the goal, set in 2002, of a ‘significant reduction’ in species losses by 2010 - named as the International Year of Biodiversity.

Unless steps are taken to reverse the loss of biological diversity, scientists warn that natural habitats will be degraded and eventually destroyed, threatening a wide range of benefits such as clean water, pure air, healthy soil, adequate food, fuel and protection from extreme weather conditions.

Saudi Arabia

Al Faisaliah Tower in downtown Riyadh was the first skyscraper built in Saudi Arabia. Pic. courtesy: Google

Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab country of the Middle East. It is bordered by Jordan and Iraq on the North and Northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the East, Oman on the Southeast and Yemen on the South.

The Persian Gulf lies to the Northeast and the Red Sea to its West. It has an estimated population of 28 million and its size is approximately 2,149,690 square kilometres (830,000 sq mi).

The kingdom is sometimes called ‘The Land of the Two Holy Mosques’ in reference to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest places in Islam. The two mosques are Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca) and Masjid Al-Nabawi (in Medina).

The current kingdom was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud, whose efforts began in 1902 when he captured the Al-Saud’s ancestral home of Riyadh and culminated in 1932 with the proclamation and recognition of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, though its national origins go back as far as 1744 with the establishment of the First Saudi State.

Saudi Arabia’s Government takes the form of an Islamic absolute monarchy. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly expressed concern about the state of human rights in Saudi Arabia.

Oil accounts for more than 90 percent of exports and nearly 75 percent of government revenues, facilitating the creation of a welfare state, which the government has found difficult to fund during periods of low oil prices.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Navaratri festival

Please send your drawings, essays, poems and news about school events to Daily News Children, No.35, D. R. Wijewardene Mawatha, Colombo 10

As you all know our Hindu friends celebrated an important religious festivals this week.

The word Navaratri literally means nine nights in Sanskrit, Nava meaning nine and Ratri meaning nights. During these nine nights and ten days, nine forms of Shakti/Devi are worshiped.

The beginning of spring and the beginning of autumn are two very important junctions of climatic and solar influence. These two periods are taken as sacred opportunities for the worship of the Divine Mother. The dates of the festival are determined according to the lunar calendar.

Navaratri represents the celebration of Goddess Durga, the manifestation of Deity in the form of Shakti. Dasahara, meaning ‘ten days’, becomes dussehra in popular parlance.

The Navaratri festival or ‘Nine Nights festival’ becomes ‘ten days festival’ with the addition of the last day, Vijayadashami which is its culmination. On all these ten days, the various forms of Mother Mahisasura-mardini (Durga) are worshipped with devotion.

Bye for now. Have a funfilled week ahead. - Aunt Anji

Tharanee in the spot light

Ten-year old Tharanee Anuraa studies in sixth standard at New Indian School, Bahrain. Even at such a small age, she has shown skills in creative writing. This is her story in her own words.

Tharanee Anuraa

I love singing and dancing while my favourite subject is History. My hobbies are listening to music and reading books.

I have sung in many musical programs and perform dances on stage. I did a CD with visuals last year. I go for music classes taught by Tyronne Benett and study Bharata Natyam and traditional dance. I learn languages like Tamil, Sinhalese, English, French and Hindi.

I observe Sil on every Poya day in the temple in Riffa. I like to listen to Buddhist tales. The people who help me are Budaiya Sri Lankan Community, Sujatha Aunty, Thushara Uncle, Sudesh Karunathilake Uncle (I call him Appachchi). He is the person who helped me a lot to do the CD and he wrote three songs for me.

I got many certificates in Sinhala language for hand writing, essays, general knowledge, drawing, singing and fancy dress from 2006-2009. I got four crowns as a Singithi Kumari in Bahrain Budaiya Sri Lankan Community and from my school. There are about 12,000 Sri Lankan people in Bahrain but I love Sri Lanka so much.

My hobby

My hobby is gardening around my house. There are beautiful flowers and plants in my garden. When I wake up in the early morning, I usually water the plants. Bees and Butterflies come to my garden. They settle down in the flowers and drink the honey.

I spend my leisure time in cleaning the garden. I prepare manure and put it into small pits. Then, plant various flower plants in the manured pits. Then, I cover the young plants with big leaves to protect them from excessive sun and being trampled by animals. I make a fence around my garden to protect the crops from animals and birds. I enjoy my gardening as it is my favourite hobby.

M R M SHAZNY

Harrow International School

Velamboda

Return of the KIDS

By Uncle Sachi and Aunt Ruwi

- Part 42

Back to the woods

In ‘Kid’s Den’...

Four children, Pramodaka, Nalaka, Champika and Chinthaka, go on a trip to the woods with their parents for their school holidays. In the middle of the night the children are awakened by a strange noise. On following their dog, Scooby, Chinthaka is snared by the spell of the ‘luring stones’. Pramodaka departs with Ruwi, a pixie, to recall a book of spell to cast off the spell while the others remain behind with Sachi, a gnome. A storm breaks and the kids are scattered.

Meanwhile Sulo, the goblin who is always trying to make trouble for the mythical creatures, comes up with a nasty plan. She rushes off gang up the rest of her pack and reveals an age old secret.

However the group discovers that it is not only Sulo’s secret that is uncovered by the storm. Something dark and deadly had been hidden in the depths of the earth waiting to release itself and return for revenge...

(‘Return of the Kids’ is the sequel to ‘Kid’s Den’)

They were enveloped by a mist again. Ruwi clutched at Sachi’s arm as she felt as if they were descending down a cliff. Sachi strained his eyes trying to see where they were heading. It was no use. All he could make out was the vague silhouettes of his companions.

They proceeded, almost stumbling along the path. Ruwi was thoughtful trying to gather where they were heading and why fate had summoned Sachi and her to accompany Jay and the man. Suddenly she was struck the change beneath her feet. The road no longer seemed smooth. It was bumpy as if pebbles lay beneath her feet.

Sachi blinked all of a sudden. He thought he had caught sight of sunlight streaming ahead or was his eyes deceiving him? He wasn’t sure. The group trotted ahead and it took only a matter of seconds to confirm that what he had seen is real. Ruwi gasped as they daylight beat down on them and they found themselves in the middle of a meadow. Sachi looked around wildly wondering where on earth the mist had disappeared while the man looked dazed. Only Jay was able to keep his cool. He nodded to the group to follow him.

They were back in the woods and Ruwi noted that it was a meadow just near the stream which they had passed with the kids some time ago. A nostalgic feeling overtook her. She wondered where Pramodaka was. Did he have the book of spells in his possession?

She woke up from her thoughts when she heard the man give a little cry. Startled she looked ahead and her eyes widened. Two figures lay on the ground just across their path. They were motionless.

The man ran ahead. Ruwi and Sachi followed suit. It was Nalaka and Champika. The man was kneeling at their side shaking them violently.

Ruwi knelt by Nalaka and placed a hand on his face. He did not budge but she felt the warmth in his body. He was alive but seemed to be in a deep sleep. She heaved a sigh of relief.

“They are alive!” Sachi whispered from her side. She glanced and saw that he had the little girl’s hand on his. She glanced round for Pramodaka. He was nowhere to be seen. He had to be somewhere. She couldn’t help feeling tears of relief wet her cheeks.

To be continued

A forest Nethmi Himara Walpita, 5J Vidura College, Colombo	Orange Michelle Ashani Abeyewardene 1C Bishop’s College Colombo
Fishing Binath Silva Grade 6 Vidura College Colombo	Kingfisher K Nicoldine, 6G Kingston College International, Mutwal