Happy 2010 everyone!
We have good news! The winners of the Winter Youth Corner contest have been selected.
Winners of the Kindergarten – 3rd grade group
- Narjis Tahir
- Dania Baig
- Mohammad Saeed
Winner of the 4th – 6th grade group
Winners of the 7-9th grade group
- Fatima Saeed
- Imran Mohsin
There were several very well written responses, and we were delighted to see very creative entries. Good work everyone. You are developing your skills as writers as well as becoming more aware citizens of the America and the world.
The winners of the Youth Corner contest will receive a certificate from HDF, which will be mailed to their home address. Along with that, they will also have their written work published in the January HDF newsletter. This is a great opportunity for young writers to get their work published in a quarterly publication. Our goal for the Youth Corner is to instill in the youth the value of creative expression through writing. But at the same time, they are educating themselves about the value of community giving and community service.
To ensure the success of HDF's Youth Corner, please contact your family and friends, and tell them about this exciting new venture. It is the youth of today that will be the future of tomorrow. As many of you youngsters know, Human Development Foundation helps children all over Pakistan. They go into remote villages and help provide children with an environment of learning and give them a brighter future. Come visit the online newsletter, and learn about the weekly stories that occur in Pakistan about the families HDF is helping.
Come visit the Youth Corner for our upcoming quarterly contests and updates.
Warm Regards,
Aon & Asad Hasnain
HDF Youth Associates
Winners of the kindergarten - 3rd grade group
WHY I ENJOY GOING TO SCHOOL
Narjis Tahir
Age 6: 1st grade
I like to go to school because it is fun…so much fun.
I am in 1st grade. My school starts at 8:15 AM. I get up at 7:30 in the morning; I get ready and hop in the car. At 8:10 AM my daddy drops me off at school. I go to the gym and sit there until my teacher is there. We stand up and go to our class to start another wonderful day!
I enjoy going to school because I learn lots of new things at school every day…like math, science, phonics, social science, reading, art and music. There is also gym and library. I love to go to my school library. There we can borrow one book for one week. Sometimes we get bookmarks from library.
Ever day I have recess. I go outside and play in the playground on swings, slides and monkey bars. I also play tag with my friends. But sometimes if it is rainy or too cold we have inside recess. Recess is one of my favorite activities. Every day we have star student in my class. I love to be star student. When I am star student I help the teacher to do the calendar, pass the papers and the best thing I'm the line leader.
I also enjoy school so much because there is carnival, field day, field trips and game day. We have assemblies in our school; I also won in two assemblies.
I enjoy my school because I have good friends and nice teachers there. I want to be a teacher when I grow up. Then I will be going to school again with different reasons to enjoy going to school.
FRIENDSHIP
Dania Baig
Age 8
Friendship is on a roll
It is on a run.
Friendship leads people into loads of fun.
So Friendship, you cannot live without it!
Friendship, no success without it!
Friendship is a non-betraying,
Staying, funny, serious, thing.
It can be daring or truthful
Or raging or hurtful..
And, it can be an oocky-coocky thing.
It is never on vacation
'Cause it is an incantation.
So, friendship is on a roll
And it is on the run.
FRIENDSHIP
Muhammad Saeed
Age 7: 1st grade
What is friendship?
Something you have between friends
It can never be broken
It will last forever
Sometimes it might break a little
But it will never break in half
Friendship equals happiness
And happiness equals life
Without friendship there is nothing
An empty world
A feeling of nothing
We all need friendship
Winner of the 4th – 6th grade age group
IF YOU HAD $20, HOW WOULD YOU USE IT TO BETTER THIS WORLD?
Mike Bell
Age 10: 5th grade
If I had $20, I would use it to better this world in many ways. First I would give $10 to a charity of my choice that helps the needy get an education. Second, I would give $5 to my local pet shelter because of my love for animals, and the rest of the money would go to an organization that helps the environment.
I want give $10 to an organization that helps the needy get an education because I believe that if someone is given education, then they can do whatever they wish. Also with an education, people are able to educate their own children about things in their and area and about life.
Since I love animals, I would donate $5. This money can go to making sure animals are safe and are in a loving and caring home. This money can also go to buying cages, food, toys, and other equipment. This equipment will help the animals a lot and make sure the animals are very safe and happy.
Lastly, I would give the rest of the money, which would be $5 to a group that helps out the environment. We live in the environment and with a bad environment we might not be able to live well. With this money we can buy things like windmills and solar panels which are good for the Earth.
Winners of the 7th-9th grade age group
ILLERTRACY - A SOCIAL CURSE
Fatima Saeed
There are many social issues which can affect people in different ways. I have chosen illiteracy because in my point of view, it's the root cause of many other social problems. That can decrease the quality of life itself. The United Nations defines an illiterate as, a person who cannot, with understanding, both read and write a short, simple statement on everyday life.
I will discuss some issues which are directly related to illiteracy. For example, illiteracy gives birth to crimes. Uneducated people lack skills and education to earn money, so they see committing crimes as a way to get money. It has been observed that illiterate people commit more crimes than literate ones.
There is a relationship between literacy and income. Below are some figures which prove this fact:
| Literacy Rate |
Per Capita Income |
| Below 40% |
Less than $600 |
| Above 98% |
More than $12,000 |
The above data shows that literacy is a worthwhile investment.
Loss of productivity, resources, and time is a by-product of illiteracy. Sometimes illiterate people do not engage themselves in productive activities as effectively as educated people. Their output is not as high as it should be.
Low health issues can also arise as a result of illiteracy. As illiterate people are less aware of hygienic factors, they don't pay attention to their personal hygiene and so they are caught up by different diseases. This results in low health, which can lead to major complications later on.
This can cause a great burden on the government's shoulder. Every country, whether it's developed, underdeveloped, or developing, try to increase the number of educated people through different incentives. A country's fate can also depend on people's education. If people are educated, they will be able to comprehend what's right and what's wrong. They will be able to vote independently and will have an opinion on how their country and government are supposed to run.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s study report in 2003, the effects of illiteracy reach beyond the individual, family, and community level and it also effects entire countries. In fact, illiteracy is a global issue with far reaching effects. Only the strong determination, positive, and measurable steps at every level, can help to reduce illiteracy and enhance the level of people stranded for life.
WAR - A SOCIAL ISSUE
Imran Mohsin
9th grade
I picked war as a social issue. I chose war because I do not like people dying for any good reason. In war, people are soldiers for two main reasons, they have a bad education or they are forced to serve their country in some way. I also do not like war because it does bad things to people and countries. War can affect people mentally, physically, and economically.
War gives the soldiers depression and trauma issues because they see their friends and comrades dying all the time. It makes people not care about deaths in war but just concentrating on winning the war for their country. War could make soldiers commit suicide because of all the stuff that is happening around them. It could make soldiers be more religious so they could prey that something bad does not happen to them.
The expenses of war is unbelievable. The money that funds the war comes from the country that is having the war. In World War 2, the expenses were 1,600,000,000 dollars for all the supplies. In World War 1, the expenses were 196.5 billion dollars. In the Vietnam War, the expenses were 700 billion dollars. In the Iraq and Arabian war, the expenses were 915.1 billion dollars. In the US Civil War, the expenses were 6,190,000,000 dollars. That is a lot of money.
The Civil War tore families apart because of their different beliefs. Men and little boys were forced to fight in the war. After the war, slavery was banned but African Americans were still getting treated badly. The families that were torn apart barely reunited. More than 618000 Americans died.
There are many things I can do about war. I could make advertisements to make people feel sorry about what war is doing to people. Put pictures of families with no dads to support them and put captions on how much stress the mothers have. I could put pictures of orphans. I could also put posters that lets people know that there is going to be a meeting where we are going to talk about what we can all do about war.