JSM - Edition Two

Somerset College

J S

J unior S chool M agazine for S tudent W riters and A rtists

Edition Two

O llie T oohey Y ear 3G

L auren C han Y ear 6L

T o Y ear 6 2016

Year 6 are a colony of ants Working together to build skills and experiences,

Creating friendships, Conquering nerves,

Trekking through assessment, Building pathways for ourselves And the Junior School. Year 6 are electrons in a circuit board Zipping and zooming to find a common goal, Whizzing to the locker area, Busily buzzing from early morning training to JSO1 to lessons to lunch to Piano to Art to Singing to Dance to Violin to Clarinet to Band to Chorale to the Ray to the Common to Cello to Sport to Chess to Tutoring to Viola to homework to…..sleep Year 6 are a changing village A place without desks, Where BYOD brings freedom - and visits to the KIP, A moving horde of adaptable Spartans, Independently cruising Tasmania, Adjusting to criteria, Devouring dumplings and scoffing sushi We are invincible!

Year 6 are birds about to take flight Brolgas, dancing in the Fitness Centre, Lorikeets, squawking on the bus, Snowbirds frolicking at Cradle Mountain, Bowerbirds nesting in Trashy rubbish,

Kookaburra Anna, storytelling and laughing 24/7 The ruthless, toothless Tombird calling, ‘I’m ok!’ Charliebird, the angry bird, squealing, ‘Don’t even get me started!’ Year 6 Somerset Birds of Paradise – Please take note of your exits, Please look to your Senior School teachers for refreshments and advice, Enjoy your flight! by the English Extension Class 2016

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F lutters D ifference Flutter, the butterfly was flying around looking for a tasty snack when she spotted a beautiful garden. It was filled with lots of delicious looking flowers that looked as delicate as silk. They appeared like tiny fireworks and tasted as sweet as honey. She was immediately drawn to all their beauty and hurriedly flew down and started to feast on the nourishing pollen. Little did she know that she was being watched. Flutter, the black swallowtail has enormous shiny black wings with white and blue dots across the bottom. These dots are a reminiscent of a beautiful day with fluffy white clouds and a perfect blue sky. Flutter has a beautiful slick body that goes so well with her velvet antennae position on her gorgeous head. The other butterflies in the garden are Monarch butterflies. In Flutter’s opinion, their wings were dull oranges and too small, with unremarkable black stripes in the centre. They have a plain black body with two antennae that looked a little too gangly to suit their other features. Despite Flutter thinking they weren’t pretty at all, she was the only one that was different. She felt everyone hated her and thought it was totally unfair. When she had finished feasting she looked up to see a million eyes watching her. Although Flutter was used to others staring, she felt her face turn red as she lowered her chin with embarrassment so she snuck away to find a place she could rest. As the harsh light of day changed as the sun was setting, Flutter listened to the crickets chirping noisily to themselves. She could smell the flowers stronger than ever and she could feel a thrill of warmth run through her body. A few minutes later she was fast asleep on a comfy leaf. When she woke up the sun was peeking through the tree branches and she could feel a cold chill rush through her body. All of a sudden she heard a bird squawk and Flutter felt her tummy tie in a knot as she remembered what happened the day before. There was no time to dwell because it was time to race off to school. She packed her bags and flew off. During school she noticed everyone whispering behind her back. She felt confused and anxious. When she was in class nobody wanted to sit next to her. They all wanted to sit next to Holly and listen to all the stories she was telling about Flutter. She knew they were talking about her because everyone looked at her every time Holly finished her sentence and giggled. Mr Big Wing always ignored her and never selected her to answer any questions. Holly poked her tongue out and rolled her eyes in disgust. By the end of the day Flutter could feel her face turn red again, but this time her eyes started swelling up with massive tears, her shoulders started to slump and she let out a huge sigh. A few days later she had a brilliant idea! Instead of taking the insults she would ignore them. When Holly, the most beautiful butterfly in her class came over to Flutter with her friends and said to Flutter, “Hi ugly butterfly,” Flutter completely ignored her. Holly stood there turning bright red and clenching her fists so tight they also turned the colour of fire. Holly and her friends flicked their backs and flew away in great disgust leaving Flutter alone. Flutter chuckled quietly to herself. Ignoring them worked! What other fun would she have today?

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F lutters D ifference - continued During school she disregarded the fact the teacher didn’t answer her. She just answered even if it wasn’t her turn. Mr Big Wing had steam coming out of his ears and his face turned as red as a beetroot. All of the other students were pale as ghosts and so scared they sat at the back of their chairs. All they could do was sit and stare, Flutter chuckled quietly to herself. She was enjoying this very much! When she was sitting down to dinner she reflected on her school day and in the end she decided to take it to the next level. She would make the whole garden love her for her differences and she knew exactly how to go about it. She would write a book about difference. The book would explain how everyone is different, but that is what makes life interesting and amazing. She started writing straight away. She worked tirelessly for weeks and weeks. She was exhausted but she finally completed the last sentence of her plan. Flutter decided that she would use a pseudonym for her book because she didn’t want anyone to know who the real author was. Flutter was shy, so the idea of being famous didn’t appeal to her too much. She was a little bit worried that her idea wouldn’t work. That night she said her prayers and wished on every penny thrown into the lake, every shooting star, every jade bracelet she had, and finally crossed all six of her arms and legs. Two butterflies years later… Flutter was sitting all alone on a park bench when Holly came over and asked if she could sit with her. Holly said that Flutter looked really beautiful and her wings shone like two diamonds in bright light. Flutter was astounded beyond belief. Was she dreaming or was this really true she thought to herself. Then the most extraordinary thing happened. All the butterflies came over and started giving compli- ments to her. She definitely must be dreaming. She decided to double check by pinching herself…no, not at all dreaming. Flutter was sitting down in class when Mr Big Wing picked her to answer a question. In a panic she didn’t know the answer. Instead of Holly picking on her, Holly wrote the answer down on a piece of paper and flashed it under the table so only Flutter could see. Flutter and Holly exchanged winks, but because neither of them could wink it looked like they had sucked on old lemons. They both broke up in a laughing fit. Mr Big Wing spotted them and they thought they would be in trouble, so the two butterflies winked at him and the whole class broke up laughing including Mr Big Wing! Flutter’s life took a big flip. Firstly, everyone wanted to sit next to her in class. Secondly, she got to answer questions and was one of Mr Big Wing’s favourites. Everyone loved her and she had a very different life and she definitely liked this life a lot more than her last life.

A bigail B rinkworth Y ear 3M

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L ove I s T hicker T han B lood

Chapter One: Life as an Orphan Lily sat by the windowsill and stared out into the mystery called Russia. She wondered what the rest of the country was like, not just the part of the cheesecake factory that you could see from the high up window. Mrs Veral never let them out. Even though Lily was born in Russia, it was foreign to her. “Lily are you fantasising about the perfect life you’re going to have when your perfect parents come back and take you out of this torture zone!” whined one of the other girls who also lives at St. Stephen’s Orphanage for Girls. “Yeah L-i-l-y as soon as your parents get here they’ll take you home to their mansion with all of their servants doing whatever you please!” another girl sarcastically screamed in Lily’s ear. “They’ll be here, they promised they would!” Lily stammered back. Betty the eldest straddled one of the old wooden chairs, “You’re just like the rest of us, nothing special, just an orphan!” she hissed. “There are 153 million orphans in the world and I’m not one of them!!” With that, Lily threw herself onto her bed bug invested mattress, crossed her arms and closed her eyes dramatically and all the other girls followed her lead and eventually fell asleep. Footsteps replaced the sound of Betty’s loud snoring. Lily’s best friend Abbey tapped her softly. “Mrs Veral!” she whispered at Lily. Lily jumped out of bed and grabbed Abbey by her shoulder. “Abbey, get everyone out of bed ASAP,” Lily urged. They both turned around to find everyone awake and getting dressed in a rush. Lily and Abbey looked at each other, and threw their dresses on too. Lily put her golden hair up in a messy bun then stood straight at the end of her bed like everyone else. “Roll call!” Mrs Veral screamed, barging through the door. “Sam, Abbey, Betty, Olivia, Sara, Alana, Mia and Lily.” As she demanded the names, she pointed to each of them with a stern look on her face as they nodded in fear. She handed them each a bottle of soap, a sponge and an old cloth. Nobody said a word. “Well get to it, what are you waiting for!” snapped Mrs Veral as she stormed off. Lily waited until she couldn’t hear her footsteps anymore and pulled out her notebook and wrote the words: Silence is just another word for pain. Lily felt all the other girl’s eyes shoot down her back. She knew they were annoyed. She wasn’t helping, so she slammed her notebook shut and shoved it in her pocket. Memories of Lily’s past fog over as she scrubs the floor hard trying to erase her sadness. She feels like every day she loses herself a little bit more and soon she probably won’t even be Lily. She wouldn’t know who she was at all. She would curl up in a ball in one of the dusty corners for the rest of her life. That didn’t even seem that bad to Lily. It would probably be better than this life. Lily would drive herself ballistic thinking of all the things she could possibly do to get away. She got out onto the streets once. It was pretty simple, she just had to get past Mrs Veral then unlock the door. She ended up getting brought back by the police. Mrs Veral got so cross that she barricaded the door so even she

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couldn’t get out. Then another time she tied all the sheets from everyone’s beds together and tossed it out the window, planning to climb down. She took Abbey with her because Abbey would be sensible when they actually got to the streets, unlike Lily. Abbey took a wrong step and slipped, her screams woke up Mrs Veral and their punishment was that her broken leg and wrist had to heal themselves. After a couple more times of failure she eventually gave up, it felt hopeless. Mrs Veral did eventually return, as she slammed the girls room door, about to yell at them once again, her dark blonde coloured hair got stuck. She let out a tiny yelp and all the girls in the room burst into laughter. “Well, I was about say time for breakfast, but you can continue to clean instead I guess,” Mrs Veral barked. “But I’m hungry,” whimpered the youngest girl, Mia. She is four, so only three years younger than Lily, but Lily treats her like the baby sister she never had. “No lunch for all of you either then!” Mrs Veral declared before she stomped out of the room. “Thanks a lot Mia,” grunted Betty, rolling her eyes and turning away. Instead of bursting into tears, Mia stuck her thumb into her mouth and bit down hard. Hours went by, it felt like days. The room was completely clean so they had nothing else to do, just wait. Mrs Veral’s room was right next to theirs so after a couple of hours of extra cleaning, Mrs Veral popped her head out of the rusty old window and banged on the girl’s one. Abbey opened it quickly hoping it was someone coming to rescue them. “Dinner is leftovers,” Mrs Veral snapped, handing them a week old garbage bag. “That’s dinner, really,” Abbey responded. “That or nothing,” she exclaimed, leaving them to be. After not eating all day their stomachs rumbled like volcanoes about to erupt, so they ripped open the bag like wild possums. They fought each other for anything edible. They munched on apple cores, banana peels and scraped dried yogurt out of bowls. They threw the empty rubbish bag out the win- dow and tucked themselves into bed for another restless night’s sleep. Chapter Two: The Wilkerson’s Loud music saturates the air making it hard to even think. Barbara Wilkerson poured herself a cup of French Earl Grey tea, her favourite. Then she sat down on her bright lavender coloured lounge chair, she put ear plugs in her ears to block the sound of her adopted 28-year-old son Buddy (the coach pota- to) and the rest of his band. She opened her new book, ‘Lavender Moon’. She loves lavender so much that in her 20’s during her wild streak, she literally put a wild streak of lavender in her short chestnut brown hair. Sadly, since she just turned sixty, that phase has passed and she is left with a grey mop on her head. Back then she fell in love with a DJ Master, Gary Wilkerson and until this day they are still happily married. They sat there together as the hours faded away. The never ending song kept going. It must have gotten longer since yesterday or was that just their pain talking? “I think we need to tell Buddy, to well, get a life!” Barbara barked to Gary in a frustrated voice.

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“We could get him a house for his birthday, then he would have to leave,” suggested Gary. “We don’t have that kind of money,” Barbara replied. “We could suggest he move in with his band mates,” suggested Gary. “They don’t have a life either,” she moaned. They sat there for a while looking at each other in despair. After a huge discussion they finally made up their minds of what they were going to do. They walked into the lounge room hand in hand. “Hey Buddy, that song was amazing, what a talented voice you have,” Gary said not really meaning it. “Thanks,” replied Buddy. “Your father and I were just discussing that maybe you could get a job so you and your mates could rent a house and move in together,” suggested Barbara. “Nah, I like it here,” Buddy babbled taking another sip of coke. “You need to get a job!” Gary stated. “Where on the Gold Coast would I find a job?” he moaned. “We’ve got you an interview with WOW Cinemas and you’re going and you’re getting that job!” yelled Barbara going back to her lounge chair with Gary following. Nobody said a word to each other until the next morning, even dinner was awkward. Buddy woke up at his normal time, 10.00am and put on his long brown shorts and his Peace-out t-shirt and went to go spike up his charcoal coloured hair. He then came out to find Barbara, Gary and some weird guy with a long nose standing right in front of him. “The interview is going to be held here, so are you ready?” exclaimed Barbara. “I guess,” muttered Buddy following them into the study. Buddy sat down on Barbara’s swivel lavender study chair, he pulled a piece of old gum off the bottom of the chair and stuck it in his mouth. Barbara turned away and shut the door wishing she hadn’t seen that. WOW Cinema Manager, Michael Winskey sat down and put some official papers on the desk in front of him. “So Buddy how much do you want this job,” asked Michael. “Not at all, my parents just want me to get a job,” responded Buddy still chewing the gum. “So what are your hobbies,” questioned Michael. “I have my own band,” mumbled Buddy spitting his gum into the bin, but missing.

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“Are you any good?” fired Michael. “Yeah, I’m good, one of the best around, I reckon,” retorted Buddy. “You could join my band if you’re as good as you think you are, I need some more members. I can even pay you and I’ve got a room you could use!” Michael offered. “I would love to! Would you really do that for me? Aargh, my parents, they want me to get a real job where I have to do a lot of work,” replied Buddy. “Listen, I’ve known your parents for a long time, they’ll calm down. You can still work at WOW Cinemas a bit and let them know you are staying at the employee block,” suggested Michael. “Ok,” Buddy said while leaving the study with Michael. They went into the kitchen to tell Barbara and Gary the good news. “So how did things go,” queried Barbara. “Really good, your son is very determined and showed great enthusiasm in getting the job. So I decided to give it to him and he can also stay in our employee block, for free,” stated Michael. “Wow, so when will he move in?” asked Gary. Michael and Buddy looked at each other. “Today!” they said at the same time. Mr and Mrs Wilkerson were both very pleased with Buddy and they helped him pack all of his stuff. They shed some tears and wished him farewell. Chapter Three: A New Beginning Two years had passed and Mr and Mrs Wilkerson were living in peace, but a little too much peace for their liking. It was actually boring not having loud music or a baby crying every five seconds, they missed the excitement. They were forever ringing Buddy hoping that he was having a horrible time and wanted to come back, but no, he was having the time of his life. “Do you miss having someone else around,” Barbara asked Gary one night. “It was exciting and we did have a lot of fun,” Gary said curiously. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking,” Barbara queried. “It would be fun, but we’re too old now. We’ll die before they grow up and we don’t want them to go through that trauma,” he responded. “We could get a child that’s nine or ten so we don’t have to change any more nappies and not go through all the sleepless nights,” suggested Barbara. “Are we really doing this?” questioned Gary. “Why not?” Barbara hesitated. They didn’t say any more after that. They just got into bed and fell asleep. continued over page...

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Barbara got up extra early and jumped straight onto the computer. She looked on multiple adoption websites in many different countries before making up her mind to adopt a child from Russia. A Russian child would be an exciting addition to the family she thought. She learnt all she could about Russian adoptions. Barbara read to herself ‘The Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a contract preventing United States families to adopt Russian children’. Would that apply to Australians? She wondered if it did. She scrolled down a bit more to find that the Prime Minister removed this restriction. She also read ‘Foster children and adopted children are less likely to graduate because they have been through so many changes.’ Maybe that could be why Buddy never graduated she thought. In Russia they also have places called baby houses where young orphans stay until the age of three. However, she agreed with Gary that they would get an older child, so she would need to visit a proper orphanage. None of the Russian adoption websites stood out to her until she came across St. Stephen’s Orphanage for Girls. She didn’t know why it stood out to her, it just did. She didn’t want to waste any time, so she booked an appointment for Tuesday. All they needed to do was pack and fly to Russia and choose a girl that would give them a new beginning. “Gary, I’ve got good news,” said Barbara tapping Gary repeatedly, getting louder and louder each time. “What is it?” he finally said. “We’re going to RUSSIA!!” she screamed pulling Gary out of bed. “Why?” Gary moaned still half asleep. “We are adopting a girl,” Barbara stated. “Shouldn’t we talk about this a bit more before making any life changing decisions?” he said following Barbara into the kitchen. “I thought we had decided last night,” replied Barbara. “We are going to pick her up from Russia on Tuesday.” “Tuesday! We are going half way across the world to adopt a child in three days!” Gary stammered.

“I thought you wanted a girl,” Barbara said, walking into the kitchen. “Barbara wait. I do, I just needed a moment to take it in,” he corrected. “Good, because we better start packing,” Barbara said grabbing a suitcase. Chapter Four: Russia

“ Vy mozhete pokinut’ samolet pryamo seychas. Blagodarim Vas za letuchey rossiyskogo vozdukha, kotoryy my nadeyemsya uvidet’ vas snova v sleduyushchiy raz.” The captain said through the loud speaker.

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“That’s Russian for you can go now , by the way,” whispered Barbara into Gary’s ear. “We should learn Russian since she is probably going to only speak Russian,” Gary whispered back. “Don’t worry. She is from an English speaking orphanage,” Barbara uttered pulling their bag from the overhead locker and following the snake of people out of the aircraft. After going through customs and collecting their baggage they caught a taxi to the motel so they could get a good night’s rest before their big day ahead. At exactly midnight, Barbara’s kookaburra alarm clock went off with the sharp sound of a kookaburra laughing. She jumped out of bed, had a shower, got changed and then woke Gary up. “What time is it?” he groaned. “I don’t know probably 8.00am by now,” guessed Barbara. Gary rolled over and scanned the clock. He rubbed his eyes and stared at the time. “No Barbara it’s 1.00am in the morning!!!!” Gary yawned throwing the blankets over his head. “Oh I must have gotten the time zones mixed up. I guess I’ll just go back to bed,” Barbara sighed flopping onto the bed and then slowly drifting back to sleep. Gary woke up first. Once again he turned to his side and glanced at the old copper clock. “Oh no, Barbara, it’s already 9.00am. We need to be there by 10.00am!!!!” Gary exclaimed. “Ok Gary, before we get upset, let’s make a plan. I’ll get my makeup and brush so I can get ready in the car and I’m already dressed so that’s not a problem. You need to get dressed and get breakfast that we can eat in the car. Meanwhile I’ll get her welcome present and the other stuff,” Barbara said grabbing her things. “Sounds like a plan,” Gary responded while getting ready and leaving to get breakfast. “Oh and get me a coffee, would you?” she added. They both got to the car at the same time and it was only quarter past nine so if it took the expected time they would get there with five minutes to spare. In the car Barbara wrapped the present, ate breakfast, did her make-up and hair all in the forty minutes it took to get there. They didn’t really make a good first impression on the girls that were staring at them through the lounge room window. Mr and Mrs Wilkerson where both a bit frazzled when getting out of the car. They had food all over them and a present that was messily wrapped and Barbara even had a streak of bright red lipstick across her face from when Gary suddenly stopped the car. It took a second or two but they eventually got it together. Barbara knocked on the door softly then walked in with Gary to find eight girls in a line up all in pink fluffy dresses. They all had really big fake smiles on their faces. Even though Barbara knew they were fake, she went along with it and just pretended they were all so happy to be stuck in an orphanage with no parents or relatives to truly love them. “Where are the staff?” Barbara asked the girls.

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L ove I s T hicker T han B lood - continued “Oh you mean Mrs Veral,” Abbey said pointing to the office room, still with a big fake smile on her face. “Hello,” said a sweet voice as Barbara entered the study. “You must be Mrs Veral, how very nice to meet you,” Barbara said in her most posh voice. “How nice to meet you both too. Please sit down if you wish,” offered Mrs Veral. “Thank you,” Barbara replied sitting down and shaking hands with Mrs Veral. “As you both already probably know there are a lot of standards that have to be met to adopt a child,” stated Mrs Veral. “Yes we do, so where should we start,” pushed Gary reaching into his wallet and pulling out their driver’s licences and their passports. “First of all, have you ever fostered or adopted a child or even had a child of your own,” asked Mrs Veral. “Yes we have, we fostered a child from America then after a few years we decided to adopt him, his name is Buddy,” explained Barbara. “Well, so I presume you’ve been through all of this boring paper work and you seem very capable of having another child, so I’ll just get you to sign here and here and then you can choose which lucky girl will come and stay with you,” explained Mrs Veral handing them the thirteen paged document. You could see Barbara’s eyes concentrate deeply on the pages in front of her. “No point to read it, just sign.” Mrs Veral urged. Barbara ignored her and kept reading. Mrs Veral wanted to scream at her but took a deep breath and held it in knowing her job was on the line. After a while Barbara finally finished reading it. “Done,” she whispered, signing the document and handing it to Gary. After they both finished reading and signing they finally went out to meet all the different girls. “Sam is 13, Abbey is 10, Betty is 16, Olivia is 8, Sara is 8, Alana is 12, Mia is 6, Lily is 9 and the new girl, Keira is 4,” Mrs Veral explained pointing to each girl as she stated their names. She then told Barbara and Gary each and every one of their stories and handed them their birth certificates. After a good long discussion, they both made up their minds. But who did they choose? Chapter Five: Birthday Wishes “Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to Lily, Happy Birthday to you. Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray!” Everyone sang throwing their hands in the air at the end. “Blow out the candles!” yelled Lily’s best friend, Masie. Barbara wrapped her arms around Lily as she made her wish. “I can’t believe my little girl is already eighteen!” she whispered, kissing Lily on the forehead.

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L ove I s T hicker T han B lood - continued Lily was now a normal girl with dreams. She went to a good school and had a few close friends. She had a boyfriend but it wasn’t like he was the captain of the football team and she was the Homecoming Queen. They were just normal. Barbara cut everyone a piece of cake as they all sat around the dining table. “I would like to give a toast to my Mum and Dad. When they adopted me they gave me everything I could ever wish for. The best thing they gave me was a family. If it wasn’t for them I would still be stuck in that torture zone and instead of a party, they would be kicking me out to go live on my own. So, thank you Mum and Dad!” Lily announced, toasting everyone with her first glass of champagne. Everyone cheered and clapped. “We’ve got one more surprise for you!” stated Gary, pulling Lily outside with everyone following. They all stared as the garage door opened. Behind it was a new sparkly red Mazda and right behind the car was her adopted brother Buddy and his band, playing their new hit song, ‘Falling Stars’ which was currently number one on the charts. Lily gasped, jumping in the air and turning around and pouncing onto Barbara and Gary to give them a big hug. After their moment everyone started to dance to the music. Lily wished all her friends and adopted family farewell as they all drove away into the starry night. Later that night while Lily was in bed she felt like something was wrong and it was keeping her from going to sleep. After a fair amount of hours Lily finally realised what this feeling was. She felt disappointed. She felt that the whole world was thinking that she was lazy because she was now eighteen and she didn’t have a job and she had never had a job. She had been living off Mr and Mrs Wilkerson’s savings. She felt awful. She tried to go back to sleep telling herself she would find a job in the morning and she would start as soon as she could. Instead of falling into deep sleep dreaming of all the fun she had that night, she got more curious as the night went on. What job would she get? Would she stay in it until she retired? Would she have to move overseas? These questions scurried through her mind until she couldn’t handle it anymore. She jumped out of bed and headed downstairs to the computer. She knew that she wanted something that she was really passionate about so she could stay with it forever. She looked at the Cadbury Chocolate industry as an option, since she loves chocolate, but it wasn’t her. She then looked at being a doctor but remembered she faints whenever she sees blood. She looked at everything you could possibly think of from a teacher to a clown. Nothing seemed right. Now she was stuck. It felt like the whole world was rejecting her. Without even realising, she dosed off. Barbara tiptoed down the stairs as the sun rose. She saw Lily face down on the computer. First, Barbara continued to tiptoe and just went around Lily, but she couldn’t help it so she tiptoed back and had a quick look at Lily’s searches. There was like a million tabs open and it didn’t take long for Barbara to realise that Lily desperately wanted a job. She didn’t want to interfere but she took away all the open tabs and created three new ones for Lily to wake up to. Lily always talked about what it was like to be in the orphanage and she always said that nobody should ever be put into her situation. So Barbara decided to put up first the ‘Miracle Foundation’ website, which is helping struggling orphanages that need to get the right resources to look after the orphans properly so they can live to their fullest. ‘Miracle Foundation’ also finds local women in third world countries and encourages them to be mums and take orphans in. On the second tab she put the ‘Better Place’ website which is helping orphans with health and security from abuse. The last website she put up was ‘UNICEF’ which is helping orphans in many ways like finding them homes and saving them from abuse.

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L ove I s T hicker T han B lood - continued Lily wakes up to find Barbara’s surprise. She knows why she put these three websites on and instantly knows that her passion is in one of these. The websites bring up more and more questions that Lily is eager to know the answers to. She already knows the basic things like what is an orphan. An orphan is simply a child who has no family to look after them and most people adopt a child because they can’t have a child and they want a family. She also knows that many conditions must be met in order to get the right to protect a child. But this wasn’t enough information for Lily. She knew she needed to know everything about orphans if she wanted one of these jobs. She looked at what felt like a thousand different websites and even found out that orphans where also called adoptees, so that meant she was an adoptee, how weird. One of the questions she had was, what are the personal challenges that orphans are faced with? Lily did know the main answer to this since she is an orphan. She knew that orphans can have some feelings of abandonment and the thought of your birth parents giving you up for adoption can bring up feelings of rejection, that’s what she feels like sometimes. But after research she found that most orphans in third world countries live on the streets and are sometimes forced to look after their younger siblings, not just themselves. Orphans in third world countries are also usually underfed and often don’t get an education. Lily felt more empathetic for these kids now and doesn’t always think of herself. Living in the orphanage Lily was sure no one could get unluckier than her, but now the torture zone didn’t seem that bad. Every year 2,000 children die in orphanages out of the 10 million children that grow up in orphanages. That made her feel even more fortunate with the orphanage she lived in, but she felt sad that other orphans had to go through that. Of course most of the information was statistics, all the boring stuff like, over 71 million orphans live in Asia, 59 million live in Africa, almost 9 million live in Latin America and the Caribbean Islands, 31 million live in India and around 650 thousand live in Nepal. She found absolutely everything you could possibly know. She was ready. Chapter Six: The Project “Welcome to the show,” Waleed announced in a bold voice, yet you still couldn’t hear him over the thunderous sound of the audience applause as Lily’s introduction onto ‘The Project’ had finished. Lily sat on ‘The Project’ desk right next to Pete, her heart was pounding a million miles an hour. She gave the audience a soft little nod insisting them to stop clapping. “Good thing you did that or else they would have gone on for hours,” Waleed laughed making Lily feel more comfortable. “Thanks,” Lily mumbled waiting for the bomb of questions to hit her. “Let me just say, the things you have done to help change the way orphans are treated is unbelievable and you are only twenty-three,” stated Carrie. “Thanks,” whispered Lily. “Now for the one person out of a million who doesn’t know, what is UNICEF exactly?” asked Carrie starting the bomb of questions. “UNICEF, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, is helping build a world where all children get the rights they need. It operates in 190 countries and territories with the focus on improving the lives of the disadvantaged children throughout the world,” answered Lily in a more confident voice. “Don’t want to sound like the dumb guy, but what are the rights of the child?” Pete asked as Carrie rolled he eyes. continued over page...

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L ove I s T hicker T han B lood - continued “You have three children, you should know their rights,” argued Carrie. “Are you questioning my parenting?” laughed Pete. “The Rights of the Child has been formalised in a document set out to insure that all children are safe and healthy and it also shows adults what their children require. The document provides children the right to the things they need in order to grow and develop into healthy adults,” continued Lily. “How was the document created, just out of curiosity?” asked Waleed. “Children were thought of as ‘small adults’ in the past and were treated the way that adults were treated. Then in 1841 in France they started to create laws to protect children in the workplace and give them an education. It then started to spread across Europe in the 20th century giving children rights to medical care. That brings me back to UNICEF. It was created after World War II, to help children who were harmed during the War. Now as I said before, UNICEF is helping children all around the world to ensure they live the happiest and healthiest life possible,” explained Lily. “Did you have to move away from your family to work at UNICEF?” asked Pete. “I moved to Sydney with my family since there is an office there. Although I have to travel overseas a lot since in Australia we don’t have the big issue of orphans due to our foster programs. There is a number of care systems which help prevent the issue including Barnardos Australia, Salvation Army and in each state the government has a foster care system called Family and Community Services, but there is still an extensive issue, particularly in third world countries,” Lily explained. “What places do you think you have travelled to the most?” queried Carrie. “That’s a hard question,” sighed Lily. “Probably Asia, Latin America and Africa since they are the three main places in the world with a very large number of orphans.” “The shows about to end, so one last question. What are you doing next?” Carrie questioned quickly. “I’m going to Nepal next week, then I’m mentoring a new employee,” Lily said even quicker than Carrie. “Now would you please thank Lily,” Carrie announced to end the show. The whole audience applauded as the show ended. Lily took a deep breath, wow, what a journey! Reflection Writing this narrative has been an amazing journey for me. I have enjoyed writing ever single sentence and every single word. After writing it I feel more sympathetic for orphans and I feel like I’ve known Lily and the Wilkerson’s my whole life. I got stuck a few times and had to dig myself out of some holes, but I got there in the end and it sure does feel good.

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Y ear 6 - H aiku P oem

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Y ear 6 - H aiku P oem

L ara C ulleton Y ear 6G

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Y ear 6 - H aiku P oem

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B enny L u Y ear 4C

E scape F rom P ompeii Screams of desperation and pain stung the heart of the humble city of Pompeii as pillars and archways were pulled to their knees. The ground was shaking as if a giant dog was standing before the city stomping its paws, moving the Earth. The great Mount Vesuvius was no longer dormant and it was as if the mountain had the eyes of a hawk, catching and consuming its prey with its huge net of ash and rock. The victims of the now awakened mountain would last no more than a few seconds before they were pulled to the most painful death of suffocation. Tranio was paralysed by fear. The only thing he could hear was, “Harbour, get to the harbour”. Suddenly Tranio’s mind snapped into motion and the room was visible once more. Tranio quivered his way to the door and managed to move with the crowd through the half destroyed city. Lightning struck boats and scattered buildings as if targeting them to cause disturbances in the city. For Tranio, it felt like it took days to get to the harbour. When the people of the great city had arrived, the sad sound of clattering pots and worried gasps filled the air, but Tranio didn’t care. The next he knew he was travelling away from his beloved city and all that time he didn’t get to say goodbye to Livia. Will they make it?

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E scape F rom P ompeii Suddenly the ground began to shake and tiles started slipping off roofs, crashing to the ground. The tiles sent pots flying into the air, increasing the already upheld panic. Suddenly an idea sprang into Tranio’s head, so together he and Dion dashed towards the harbour, wishing to escape. Horrified villagers darted in every direction, unsure of what to do. Boom! Unexpectedly an archway crashed to the ground behind them, trapping many citizens of Pompeii. Just then Tranio noticed a voice ring out above all the terrified screams and all the barking dogs. “The gentle mountain is angry, I fear the God of Fire has something to do with this – we must flee!” the person spread. Then Tranio remembered he was a politician, they were in the Forum. Tranio and Dion followed the trembling crowd for the harbour. Sparks were flying everywhere caus- ing extreme panic. As they reached the harbour Tranio noticed that many of the pots had cracked and various oils and spices now littered the once sparkling bay of Pompeii. Tranio scanned the bay searching for a boat. There! Tranio spotted one. It was only a ship but it would do. He and Dion raced towards it, gasping for air as pumice and ash clouded the city. “Liv, over here!” Tranio cried desperately and Livia only just dived in as the choppiness of the waves carried them out to sea. They all gasped as a sea of orange lava cascaded down the mountain. As the sea rocked the little boat dangerously onto its side, Tranio wondered whether he would ever see land again. Immediately, a lightning bolt struck the ground of the wooden stage. The curtain erupted in golden yellow flames. Tranio viewed the “Gentle Mountain” Vesuvius erupting but he had no idea what was going on! Boom! The gentle mountain roared as it spewed out some more lava/magma. The ground shook like a wild animal as a result of natural tremors. Tranio dashed for the entrance of the theatre but it was too late. The archway crumbled under the might of Mount Vesuvius. Tranio was trapped. Tranio realised the danger of just simply standing there so he started to climb to the top of the theatre’s seats. Lava filled up half of the theatre so Tranio couldn’t even jump down to the archway to move the rubble. He got his trusty pocket knife and so he started hacking at the wall of the theatre. The lava was up to the three quarter mark so Tranio started to panic. Panic welled up inside him but the panic gave him strength. He finally destroyed the wall with not a second to spare. Tranio fell. He fell straight onto a roof top. He groaned as a massive purple welt formed on his arm but Tranio ignored the pain. He had to survive! He knew jumping onto the cobblestone streets of Pom- peii would be suicide so he leaped onto another roof. Tranio continued this process until he found the docks. There was only one boat left. The boat was full. Tranio sobbed with despair as the leader of the raft un-anchored the boat. But one child spotted him. It was Livia, the baker’s daughter. She cried, “Wait! There’s another person!” The survivors spotted him so he jumped onto the boat with relief. As the boat left the harbour, Tranio saw many people being overwhelmed by magma. Lava raced after them but it was too late. They had escaped but would they survive the lava racing after them? P enelope D eacon Y ear 4F

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C hallenges A nd O pportunities L ocally A nd G lobally

What is Child Health? The state of being free from illness or injury for babies, toddlers, young children and teenagers. The main factors that determine child health throughout the world include access to health care, affordability of good health care, ability to obtain good nutrition through access to clean water and fresh food, war and culture beliefs. It is common for many children in third world countries who have poor health or a disease to be abandoned by their families, because no one else in the family wants to get the disease. These children find life very challenging because often there is no one looking after them. Most children suffer from childhood diseases in third world countries because infants and babies don’t routinely have immunisations. Newborns are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition and infectious diseases in third world countries, because their parents and siblings have a higher chance of suffering from disease, which may be passed on to the young baby. Currently, one in five children are missing out on immunisations worldwide.

It is an incredibly sad situation which results in many children dying at a very young age often from diseases that are preventable. Even for the children who don’t die from these serious diseases, they may be left with significant disability. Children suffering from Poliovirus can have difficulty walking and they often don’t have assistance to mobilise around their environment, for example they may have to get out of their wheelchair by themselves and crawl over a dirty bathroom floor to use the toilet. If you have a serious or infectious disease, normally you are excluded from your peers and community because people are scared of catching it. What are the statistics? 5.8 million children die each year from infectious diseases alone. Over 7.5 million children die from malnutrition and mostly preventable diseases each year. Malaria from tiny mosquitoes is responsible for 225 million acute illnesses worldwide and over 780 000 deaths per year.

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C hallenges A nd O pportunities L ocally A nd G lobally - continued Poliovirus tragically, mainly affects children under the age of 5. This virus affects the central nervous system as they are growing up and they may eventually die. 27.4 Million children die from Human Immunodeficiency Virus known as HIV annually. Furthermore, HIV infection makes people more susceptible to contracting Tuberculosis. Children who suffer from both HIV and Tuberculosis are much more likely to die as their small bodies attempt to fight two diseases at once. There are also one million deaths from Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS worldwide, again many of these victims are children. When comparing the prevalence of both HIV infection and Tuberculosis across the world, we can use the statistics from Australia and Cambodia to contrast the incidence of these diseases between the first and third world. Australia has one of the lowest rates of Tuberculosis worldwide. In 2010, there was 1,353 Tuberculosis cases reported in Australia. Most of these were immigrants who had migrated to Australia from other countries. There were very few reports of children with Tuberculosis and the majority of these were in the Aboriginal community. In contrast, the disease that kills the most children in Cambodia each year is Tuberculosis. Cambodia has had one of the highest Tuberculosis prevalence rates in the world. Doctors Without Borders estimated in 2011, that 64 per cent of all Cambodians carry the Tuberculosis Mycobacterium and that at any time 690 out of every 100, 000 people in the country have full blown Tuberculosis. www.doctorswithoutborders.org HIV infection in Australia is decreasing and this is reflected in the incidence of childhood HIV. In 2015, the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisation stated that over the last 10 years, there has been approximately 400 children born to mothers with HIV. Of these only 13 contracted the disease and in the case of half of those, the moth- ers were diagnosed with HIV after the birth. https://www.afao.org.au/about-hiv/the-hiv-epidemic/hiv-statistics-australia On the contrary, UNICEF estimated that in 2008, 3,800 children were living with HIV in Cambodia. Most of these HIV infections in Cambodia occur as a result of mother-to- child transmission. 1.1% of pregnant women are diagnosed with HIV in Cambodia and

it is estimated that 1,547 babies will be born with HIV each year. www.unicef.org/eapro/OVC_Situation_Assess_June_2008.pdf

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C hallenges A nd O pportunities L ocally A nd G lobally - continued

Where does this issue exist? There are many childhood diseases found worldwide and the prevalence of each disease varies from country to country. Many children who contract serious preventable diseases like Polio, Measles and Diphtheria live in villages in Asia and Africa and they find it difficult to access good healthcare because of their remote location, poor hygiene standards or few hospitals nearby. Some diseases are more prevalent is areas because of their location. Malaria is very common in Sub-Saharan Regions of south Africa because there are a lot of mosquitoes in this area and the countries there are very poor so they can’t afford to take preventa- tive measures. Other diseases are common in certain countries because of genetics or the fact that they are inherited characteristics passed from one generation to the next, for example cystic fibrosis. Looking particularly at HIV and Tuberculosis incidence across the world, both are seen more commonly in third world countries than in developed first world countries. Furthermore, if you have HIV you are 20 to 30 times more likely to get Tuberculosis.

What are the rights of the child and why were they created? UNICEF created the rights of the child so that every child can be equal and every child can get an education, have good health, be cared for and be safe. UNICEF stands for United Nations International Children Emergency Fund; they are an organisation around the world to help children. UNICEF was created after World War 2 to help children that have lost their parents or are starving and provided them with someone who could look after them. UNICEF was also created so that adults know what the needs of children are. This includes their need to play, their necessity for food and clean water and their need to be educated.

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C hallenges A nd O pportunities L ocally A nd G lobally - continued

The UNICEF Rights of the Child document also allows children to have the essential elements they require to grow and develop into a healthy adult. In the past, children were thought of as small adults, that is, they could and should do what adults do. However, in France in 1841 laws were created to protect children in the workplace and give them an education. This was during the industrial revolution in the 20th century. These laws started to spread across Europe and then included the rights of children to access medical care. Currently, UNICEF helps children all around the world to ensure they live the happiest and healthiest life possible. What right is challenged under my issue? The right of the child to have a high standard of health and access to good quality healthcare are challenged under my issue. In some third world countries, some people are not willing to help children with serious preventable diseases because they are scared that they will be infected with the disease, even though there are ways to prevent catching some diseases. People with disabilities also have a right to special care. Some communities and schools don’t have special care for people with disabilities resulting from some infectious diseases, for example Poliovirus. Why is the right challenged? In many third world countries, the right of children to access to good quality health care is compromised by the fact that people don’t have enough money to afford the correct medicine for children who have serious diseases. Often parents aren’t taking care of their children correctly due to lack of information, or they don’t give their children immunisations because they think the disease is not serious or is improving. Sometimes children don’t survive because they have lost their parents and have no-one to care for them or they don’t have access to fresh food or clean water. Sometimes their right to good health is challenged because the child can’t travel to the closest hospital quickly enough. This may be because of lack of transport or because they live on massive farms. This could be particularly important if, for example, they got bitten by a brown snake that is really venomous and it was an emergency situation. They could die because there are no hospitals close by. More specifically, in relation to HIV, the high incidence of children diagnosed with HIV in Cambodia is a direct result of a lack of programs targeting the prevention of mother-to-baby transmission during childbirth and shortly after birth.

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