Descriptive Writing: Bicycle

It's spring! Colorful bikes are in this season. This bicycle is a really great example of bicycles that are used to go around the beach and pathways. It's not too girly Girls will use this bike since it doesn't look good for boys.  It is a relaxed bike, which means it wouldn't be good for long distance traveling or riding up and down the mountains.

Like an ordinary bike, it has two wheels which is white in color. Its body is painted with mint green, the handle bars are made out of polished wood and the breaks are stainless steel. There is a small rack placed above the front wheel, you could carry anything in there. Maybe a small bag or a box. 

In this picture, this bicycle is placed in a patch of grass. A wooden box is placed in the rack above the front wheel. 

Final Draft (Hungry Orphans)

Cecilia Sheryl Soehada

7C057

10 April 2013

There has been a terrible drought since mid-July in Africa. The drought has caused hunger in East Africa, Somalia because the crops failed and the price of food tripled.

In the streets of Somalia, there lived a family. Abyan and Asad were twin siblings. They did everything together. Their parents didn’t have a job, they were irresponsible, and all they did were beg on the streets. They used to earn enough of money from begging to provide food for the whole family. But since the drought came, Somalia citizens didn’t give as much as they used to, to the beggars. The drought caused a great effect to Abyan’s family. Abyan and Asad’s parents gave them every single bite of food they have to keep them alive. Their parents starved to death, and the siblings had to survive on their own. All they had was a mat. They did everything there.

“Asad, it’s already 4 o’clock!” screamed Abyan, “our job stars at 4:30, we might be late, wake up!!!”

It was a hot day in Somalia.  Abyan and Asad rushed outside to get some fresh air and hopped to work. Their job is to clean up the house of Mr and Mrs Aadan. They earned enough money for one meal each day. Both of them were diligent, they were always prepared to work and they always leave the house clean.

The owner of the house, Aadan and Haweeyo were wealthy. They had five children, three of them were girls and the rest were boys. Aadan and Haweeyo always wanted their kids to migrate to Japan so that they could have better education and live a better life. They had enough money to do so, they just wanted to wait until the kids were mature enough.

The next day, Abyan and Asad did the same thing. They woke up and immediately head to work. But when they arrived the house, Aadan and Haweeyo didn’t let them in.

“We don’t need you here anymore,” said Aadan, “our family is migrating to Japan.”

Abyan and Asad sighed. They went all over Somalia to look for money, but they didn’t find any. It was already five in the afternoon and there was no sign of jobs anywhere. Both of them were hungry, they haven’t eaten for the whole day. They went back and rested in their mat under the bridge. They decided to search for food in piles of trash. Abyan and Asad splited up, Abyan went to the piles of trash near the bridge and Asad went further.

It's been hours, Abyan was cold, hungry and homesick… All alone at the mat... The wind blew and she thought of her brother. She kneeled down, weeping... standing her pain made her uncomfortable, so she let it all out. She fell asleep………

"ABYAN! ABYAN WAKE UP!"

"I found few pieces of 'Canjeero's' (a pancake-like bread)... there are a few mice nibbles and mould on it but it'll do for a couple of days."

"Thank God! Why would anyone throw an edible food?? I'd munch them all up!" screeched Abyan.

"Gobble them up, we have to go look for more of these tomorrow." yawned Asad.

So each of them munched greedily and off they went to bed.

Next day, Asad woke his sister up…

"Abyan! I found a letter from the orphanage organization  ‘Sunshine’! They left us a note saying we got adopted by rich parents!!!!"

Abyan immediately jumped out of the mat and screamed as loud as she could. She was expressing her feelings, it felt good letting everything out. She prayed silently from her heart. She said all the good things about her parents. Even though they were irresponsible, they had a great heart. Thy sacrificed themselves in order to keep Abyan and Asad’s stomach warm and full. They didn’t want their children to starve.

Abyan gave Asad a great big hug, and off they went to the given address written in the letter. They crossed their fingers as they jogged in the pathways.

They walked for hours and they saw nothing. A blurry small house appeared on Asad’s eyes. He grabbed Abyan and ran towards the blurry object. As they come closer, it turned out to be a ginormous house. It looked like a mansion. Their jaws flicked open as the twins glared at the enormous house.

All the hard work they did had been paid off. They were really good children, they never complained, never cursed, and they were always on the positive side.

Fictional Story (Somalia's Drought)

Cecilia Sheryl Soehada

7C057

9th April 2013

There has been a terrible drought since mid-July in Africa. The drought has caused hunger in East Africa, Somalia because the crops failed and the price of food tripled.

There lived a poor family. Abyan and Asad’s parents gave them every single bite of food they have to keep them alive. Their parents starved to death, and the siblings had to survive on their own. All they had was a mat. They did everything there.

“Asad, it’s already 4 o’clock!” screamed Abyan, “our job stars at 4:30, we might be late, wake up!!!”

It was a hot day in Somalia.  Abyan and Asad rushed outside to get some fresh air and hopped to work. They were supposed to clean up the house. They earned enough money for one meal each day. Both of them were diligent, they were always prepared to work and they always leave the house clean. The owner of the house, Aadan and Haweeyo were wealthy. They had five children, three of them were girls and the rest were boys.

Aadan and Haweeyo always wanted their kids to migrate to Japan so that they could have better education and live a better life. They had enough money to do so, they just wanted to wait until the kids were mature enough.

The next day, Abyan and Asad did the same thing. They woke up and immediately head to work. But when they arrived the house, Aadan and Haweeyo didn’t let them in.

“We don’t need you here anymore,” said Aadan, “our family is migrating to Japan.”

Abyan and Asad sighed.  They went all over Somalia to look for jobs, but they didn’t find any. It was already five in the afternoon. Both of them were hungry, they haven’t eaten for the whole day. They went back and rested in their mat under the bridge. They decided to search for food in piles of trash. Abyan and Asad splited up, Abyan went to the piles of trash near the bridge and Asad went further.

It was 7 already. Abyan was waiting in the mat all alone, she couldn’t find Asad anywhere. She was worried. She sat there, standing her pain. And all of a sudden, she saw her brother running towards her.

It's been hours, Abyan was cold, hungry and homesick… All alone at the mat... The wind blew and she thought of her brother. She kneeled down, weeping... standing her pain made her uncomfortable, so she let it all out. She fell asleep.........

"ABYAN! ABYAN WAKE UP!"

"Abyan!" gasped Asad, "There are a few pieces of 'Canjeero's' (a pancake-like bread).. there are a few mice nibbles and mould on it but it'll do for a couple of days."

"Thank God! Why would anyone throw an edible food?? I'd munch them all up!" screeched Abyan.

"Gobble them up, we have to go look for more of these tomorrow." yawned Asad. So each of them munched greedily and off they went to bed.

Next day, Asad woke his sister up…

"Abyan! I found a letter from the orphanage organization  ‘Sunshine’! They left us a note saying we got adopted by rich parents!!!!"

Abyan immediately jumped out of the mat and screamed as loud as she could. She was expressing her feelings, it felt good letting everything out.

All the hard work they did had been paid off. They were really good children, they never complained, never cursed, and they were always right on track.

A World Without Hunger

Cecilia Sheryl Soehada

29 January 2013

Contact: 1. sherrsoehada@gmail.com

                2. +62816888500

West Jakarta, Indonesia

Dear editor,

Do you want a world without hunger? I have a solution that might help decrease the number of death per year due to hunger. 

World hunger is a major problem in Indonesia, but it isn’t as bad as hunger problems in Africa. Children die because of sicknesses like diarrhea due to lack of food and water to consume. 

Indonesia is a country rich in spices but we don’t really benefit from it. There are still lots of children living in the busy streets of Jakarta. A lot of them are orphans, some of their parents died from sickness and they don’t have enough money for proper medication, some of them left their daughter/son because they are irresponsible and they do not have enough money to raise their child on their own. Children at very young age have to work or beg in order to keep them alive, or maybe take care of their siblings. It is really heartbreaking to see those poor children roaming around the city to collect trash to sell, or walking in the streets while singing songs and bringing pity to rich people to give them money. If they do not get enough money, they won’t afford to buy food to eat, or water to drink. Hunger is one of the main reasons for death (children dying in young age) in Indonesia.

It is not supposed to be like this. Little things can make a huge difference. I believe we can change this negative perception if we try our best. It is not that hard. In my opinion, giving them money when they beg doesn’t change anything, it just makes them lazier, they have to earn their own money, in that way, we could change their personality, the way they think, we could make them brighter.

School is one of the ways to reduce hunger problems. We go to school in order to have greater education. School is a place where we can learn and grow. We learn lots of things in school, starting from education about life (worldview, humanities) and education about how things happen, how to solve equations and problems (math, science), and how to communicate with others (English). We keep knowledge so that we may succeed in life.

In life, we have to do a lot of things in order to live with enjoyment, such as going to school, working to earn money, and to believe in one God. Life is all about choices, pick the right one and you are good to go.

Now there are a lot of organizations like orphanage and charities to donate for the poor. We should pay attention to this, there are so many organizations like this but nothing is changing, people still starve to death, they still live on streets and this leads to stealing. When people are desperate for money and they gave up on working, most of them become bad people, they steal other people’s belongings, for example: robbery.

If we provide jobs for the poor and give them a place for shelter until they have enough money to buy there own homes and buy food and drinks to decrease the amount of death per year. If we donate enough to pay the bills to buy a huge land for shelter for a lot of poor people, they can survive by working. Their children can study for free until they can work and live on their own.

This is from my point of view. Do not be greedy when you are eating, maybe we could spare a portion of our food and share it with people who needs it more than us. Each year, donate 10% of your earnings to organizations to help them. Or maybe in  the future, you might be the one who will built these organizations. Small things like this helps, it might not solve the whole problem, but it with help. 

Stop world hunger and make a difference!

“Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.” 
― Bertolt Brecht

Peace Symbol

Peace Symbols (the Dove and the Olive Branch)

Doves mate for life, are incredibly loyal to each other and work together to build their nest and raise their young. Because they tend to nest in areas that humans can watch, people picked up quickly on the idea that doves were dedicated, honorable and peaceful.

While hawks and other birds of prey would violently attack their neighbors, the dove was a bird of peace, eating seeds, easily trained to eat out of the hand or to become domesticated.

Beginning with the Egyptians, the dove was as symbol of quiet innocence. The Chinese felt the dove was a symbol of peace and long life.

To early Greeks and Romans, doves represented love and devotion, and care for a family. The dove was the sacred animal of Aphrodite and Venus, the goddesses of love. The dove also symbolized the peaceful soul for many cultures.

The Bible continued this symbolism, often referring to the dove as an animal representing love, loyalty, fidelity and honesty. The dove is entrusted with the olive branch when Noah hopes to find a new home for himself and his flock. The dove often also represents the Holy Spirit.

credits to =http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110323091553AAZAc3i

The Story About Noah (relating to the peace symbol)

God saw how great wickedness had become and decided to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. However, one righteous man among all the people of that time, Noah, found favor in God's eyes. With very specific instructions, God told Noah to build an ark for him and his family in preparation for a catastrophic flood that would destroy every living thing on earth.

God also instructed Noah to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, both male and female, and seven pairs of all the clean animals, along with every kind of food to be stored for the animals and his family while on the ark. Noah obeyed everything God commanded him to do.

After they entered the ark, rain fell on the earth for a period of forty days and nights. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days, and every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out. As the waters receded, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Noah and his family continued to wait for almost eight more months while the surface of the earth dried out.

Finally after an entire year, God invited Noah to come out of the ark. Immediately, he built an altar and worshiped the Lord with burnt offerings from some of the clean animals. God was pleased with the offerings and promised never again to destroy all the living creatures as he had just done. Later God established a covenant with Noah: "Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." As a sign of this everlasting covenant God set a rainbow in the clouds.

credits to =http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestorysummaries/p/noahsarkflood.htm

Building Bridges for a Brighter Future

When I was younger, I used to watch 'Bob the Builder' and 'Handy Manny'. I was fascinated! I was inspired of how they can build and help people who are in need. That's when I decided what I wanted to be, a construction engineer.

My dream is when I become a construction engineer, I will focus on building bridges. The bridges I wanted to build range from small bridges like arched bridges and viaducts to colossal bridges like suspension bridges and truss bridges. I will make them sturdy and at the same time magnificent. I will use the latest computer technology to design the models and construct the miniatures.

But that's not all. My dream is bigger than that. Like Manny and Bob who helps people, I want my career to mean something and to contribute to society. You may be wondering how an engineer can possibly help the world right now, especially that engineers are responsible for the buildings of so many concrete in place on green areas. I want to change this negative perception by using my knowledge and skills for a better purpose. Instead of constructing buildings, I will construct bridges in the rural areas in Indonesia that are often neglected because of lack of supplies and basic needs. Bridges are not just physical connections, they are also a metaphor for reaching out to others and uniting people. I will build bridges in villages so students there can attend school safely and quickly without getting wet. I will build big bridges to connect rural areas to the developed city so that they could trade and become progressive. My bridges will look like architectural marvels so that they will become tourist attractions. The villages will develop faster with more tourists and it will give more jobs to the villagers so that they will earn money to support their families. Wouldn't that be wonderful? 

Dreams will become realities only when we work hard in it. For me the first step is to study hard, therefore my dream begins now.