CHILDREN

Swaziland

Capital - Lobamba

Largest city - Mbabane

Official language(s) - English, SiSwati

Demonym - Swazi

Area - Total 17,364 km2

Currency - Lilangeni (SZL)

The Kingdom of Swaziland, sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the North, South and West by South Africa and to the East by Mozambique. The nation, as well as its people, are named after the 19th Century king Mswati II.

Swaziland is a small country, no more than 200 km North to South and 130 km east to west. The Western half is mountainous, descending to a lowveld region to the east. The eastern border with Mozambique and South Africa is dominated by the escarpment of the Lebombo Mountains.

The climate is temperate in the west, but may reach 40 degrees in summer in the lowveld. The area that Swaziland now covers has been continuously inhabited since prehistory.

Today, the population is primarily ethnic Swazis whose language is siSwati, though English is spoken as a second language. The Swazi people descend from the Southern Bantu who migrated from Central Africa in the 15th and 16th Centuries.

The Anglo Boer war saw the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland make Swaziland a protectorate under its direct control. Swaziland gained independence in 1968. Swaziland is a member of the Southern African Development Community, the African Union and the Commonwealth of Nations. The head of state is the king, who appoints the prime minister and a small number of representatives for both Chambers of Parliament.

Elections are held every five years to determine the majority of the representatives. A new Constitution was adopted in 2005.

Swaziland’s economy is dominated by the service industry, manufacturing and agriculture. Some 75 percent of the population are employed in subsistence. Swaziland’s main trading partner is South Africa and its currency is pegged to the South African rand.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Asian Games in China

I am sure most of you are sports fans. Then you must be following the Asian Games currently taking place in Chinese city of Guangzhou.

This is the 16th Asian Games which also known as XVI Asiad. The Asian Games which began on November 12 ends on November 27.

More than 10,000 athletes are participating in 476 events in 42 sports.

Did you participate in the nationwide tree planting campaign on Monday, November 15.

I am sure most of you would have involved in this world record project where 1.1 million plants or saplings were planted within 11 minutes.

Don’t forget to take your umbrellars when you go to school. You never know how Mother Nature works. The rains can suddenly come without warning. It’s always good to be prepared.

Have a funfilled and great week ahead. Be good and stay healthy.

Bye for now.

Aunt Anji

William Shakespeare a great playwright

When we learn world literature we come across many writers of plays. Out of all the writers William Shakespeare can be considered as one of greatest and highly respected authors of the 16th and 17th Century. Contempories who wrote about him said as a good looking man who liked a quiet life. Thirty seven of his plays had survived until now.

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 at Strafford-upon-Avon, England. His father was a local businessman. Shakespeare probably went to the Town Grammar School where he would have had a strict schooling. William Shakespeare came to London in search of employment and had to do hard work for his living. William produced his first play in London for Lord Chamberlain’s Men. He wrote his plays with the actors of his company in mind. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway who was elder to him.

Among the plays he wrote, Hamlet the Prince of Denmark is criticized more. And the comedy Merchant of Venice is a famous play. If you read his Comedy of Errors and Mid-night summer dreams you can laugh for weeks even today. Taming of the shrew is one of his sarcastic plays. He also had written 154 fourteen-lined poems which are called as Sonnets. Some of these are addressed to a young man and to woman with dark hair, now known as the dark lady of the sonnets.

It is not known who these two people actually were. Shakespeare’s plays were meant for the stage. These stage plays were very popular among the people of England. He understood the aspirations of the common man and therefore, wrote to give him entertainment while giving something to the intellectuals for criticism. That was why people in their thousands came to see his stage plays. Shakespeare not only wrote plays, but even acted in his plays. In one of his scripts he quotes that;

“He who has injured thee was
either stronger or weaker than thee
If weaker, spare him; if
stronger, spare thyself.”

In 1616 the world lost a great writer. Though he is not alive his plays are yet living. May God bless him.

Afza Ajmal
8B
Sailan International School

Back to square one

                                  - Part 46
By Uncle Sachi and Aunt Ruwi
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. A sleeping spell is unleashed and all the unmythical creatures including the children fall asleep. Strangely Pramodaka is the only one awake.

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’)

Diane was puzzled. She had been having a tough time trying to get into the Elder’s Headquarters. The gnomes at the gate simply would not listen to her excuses. In fact they did not even give her time to explain but kept repeating the same thing. They were beginning to get on her nerves.

“The Headquarters is under tight security. We cannot let you in without permission.”

“But I don’t know whom to contact. I wasn’t sure who handles these problems. Maybe I could speak to Gerry or Ronnie....”

“Sorry. Can’t do. They are busy.... Anyway you haven’t got permission to enter or they would have let us know by now,” replied the gnome with a bushy moustache as he scanned a thick-bound book.

Diane felt like screaming. She certainly had a hot temper but she decided to hang on to it and try another tactic. This one hardly failed.

She put on her most charming smile and got closer to the gnome on duty at the gate.

“Pleeeeeeeese let me see Gerry... It’s only for a few minutes. You can just let him know that I am here. That’s all. It wouldn’t take a minute, right?”

The stout gnome scratched his head and gave his companion a questioning look. His partner met his eye.

“She has no permission. There will be trouble if we let her in and others will also want to enter without permission. This is an operation site, not a hotel!” was his stubborn reply.

Diane groaned. She was back to square one.

She tried anther method.

“The Graceful One knows me. If you can inform her that I’m here...”

“And I keep telling you - your name is not here in the book. Make an appointment first and come back.”

“Look here. I came all the way from...”

“I don’t care even if you came from the underworld. Your name is not...”

All three jumped as a wail rose from within the Headquarters. The gnomes looked around wildly.

“Goodness...,” gasped the stout gnome.

“Gracious...,” cried his partner.

“What was that?”

“It came from the upper room.”

“Someone shouting for help...”

They stared at each other.

“We are under attack!” they chorused and set off in high speed for the stairs.

To be continued

Pen pal corner

Name : Fathima Shimla Imthiyas
Sex : Female
Age : 14
Hobbies : Collecting stamps, reading adventure stories, watching TV
School : Holy Family Convent, Kalutara
Pen pals (Girls) preffered from : Pakistan, Australia, Japan, China, Indonesia, USA
Age group : 14 - 18
Address : No. 51/2, Kaleel Place, Kalutara, Sri Lanka