Features | Online edition of Daily News

Do you know that the killer Dengue mosquito has taken the lives of many including children?

Dengue has become a big problem and the Health Ministry launched the islandwide National Mosquito Eradication Week from June 20 to 27. Over 16,000 dengue mosquito-breeding places were identified. The National Mosquito Eradication Week covered homes, government and private offices and very specially schools.

The seven-day anti-dengue campaign which ended last Sunday has had great results.Statistics reveal that 468,841 places were inspected during the week while over 121,000 possible dengue-breeding places were identified.

Over 258,000 house owners and offices were warned and face possible fines for keeping their surroundings unclean.

I hope you children too are helping clean your school premises. Make sure you help keep your surrounding gardens clean in whatever small way you can.

You might help save a life and also help your family and your self. Don’t forget children, to do your duty by society towards a dengue free environment.

Dunno from Flower Town!

Can you remember we read a nice Russian story sometime back? This week we’re going to read another wonderful Russian story from the series Dunno’s Adventures by Nikolai Nosov.

The book we’re going to read this week is the eighth book of this special series and it’s called Up in the Air in a Balloon. This story is brought to you in English by Margaret Wettlin and the very colourful and attractive illustrations are by Boris Kalaushin. The same series is translated into Sinhala as Weda Beri Daasage Kathaa.

I remember many from my generation loved these stories a lot when we were small. Even a very small child who’s yet to learn to read will be fascinated by this series because of the beautiful and colourful pictures. Looking at these pictures, drawn in a unique way, is as much as enjoyable as reading the book.

Although we’re reading an English translation today, you can also try to find the Sinhala versions and read. I have a collection of 14 lovely Weda Bari Dasa books with me, and I’m going to try and find the rest as well. The Sinhala translations done by Dedigama V Rodrigo are amazing. He writes very well and you don’t feel they are translations at all. It’s as if he writes them originally. (However, I haven’t read the original books in Russian as I cannot read Russian, unfortunately.)

Once you’ve read Dunno’s Adventures you can tell me what you think of all his special adventures and whether you like him and his friends. They all live in a beautiful place called flower town and there’s always fun and excitement in that place. Oh how I wish I could go there and spend some time with them. Well...the best way to do it of course is read those wonderful books which will take you to Flower Town and make you a part of all their adventures. Aren’t you all excited!

By the way, is there a good library in your school/town/village or somewhere, from where you can borrow good books and read? Is there a classroom library at school? I hope there is some place from where you can borrow many books and read. Remember, as nobody can buy all the books you want to read, it’s always good if you can have a library membership, and it’s also good to exchange books with your friends.

Okay then I’ll see you next week with another good read. Enjoy your visit to Flower Town!

The immortal spirit

God’s creation of immortal spirit belongs to him.
His voice can console all the burning hearts
The art of singing and dancing is the gift given to him.
He adds rhythm to our heart beat.
He is the seer, who sees the world’s problem
He is the doctor, who wants to ‘Heal the world’
He is the teacher, who teaches us to take solution for problems
He is the charmer, who gets the attraction of the whole world.
But a stranger put an end to the story of his life;
Who was fortune enough to win the hearts of all of us
You made the world cry and gave eternal grief
Though you left us your immortal spirit still stays with us.
Actually who is this mysterious person?

(This sonnet is a tribute to Michael Jackson for his second death anniversary which fell on June 25, 2011)

Isipathana Poson Perahara

Students of the Primary Section of Isipathana Colombo held their annual Poson Perahara recently. Here students performing a cultural dance item (above) and others dressed as Nilames parading along the streets.

The sea	Kite	Bright day

S Mubeena A Barry Grade 2, Bishop’s College, Colombo 3	Vishma Grade 4, Kingston College International, Wellawatte	Rashini Fernando 4B, Ave Maria Convent, Negombo
Waterfall	Beauty of nature	Mountain range

Dahami Samadhini Grade 3, Sujatha Vidyalaya, Nugegoda	Pujani Aweshika Kotalawala Nipuni pre-school, Nilpanagoda	N Abiramy Grade 5, Kingston College International, Wellawatte
Fish	Wild animals	Frog

M Tami Ni Avan Grade 4, Kingston College International, Wellawatte	Musaf Razeen 6A, Sailan International School, Negombo	Dishan Grade 4, Kingston College International, Wellawatte

Dangerous Dengue

Dunno from Flower Town!

The immortal spirit

Isipathana Poson Perahara