• Oh! those little children
• I Find My True Home
• The Postman
• Are You Numb?
• My favorite person
• The Glorious Bond of Friendship
• Saving fauna and flora
• How to detect fake stamps
• Frogs and toads - Nature Watch

Oh! those little children

After the second World War, it was a common sight to see children everywhere, crying of hunger, walking along the dusty roads with tear strained faces. Some sat near their dead parents, talking with them, wondering why their parents were so quiet, for these children could not even understand the meaning of death. These children kept on wondering, 'why were their parents so quiet?' They were too young to understand the meaning of death.

It was their parents who loved them, who took care of them, fed them and clothed them but now they were alone. Alone in a world of darkness. This is the result of endless war, leaving children to fend for themselves. It was then under the United Nation Organization began a new organization for children, called UNICEF.

The United Nations Children's Fund started in 1946 as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, to help children after the Second World War. During the war millions of children became homeless and many lost their parents. The fund helped them to be properly fed, clothed and educated. Today it is known as the UN Children's Fund, and it tries to improve the lives of children all over the world.

Arfath Badurdeen

I Find My True Home

As I wake up, I find myself in my childhood home
I feel the sudden warmth of welcome in the atmosphere
just like a Mother hen welcoming her lost chicks,
I walk into my house of which I have so many fond
memories.
Everything is still the same as it was five years ago
Except no one is home.
I walk into all the rooms and soon discover I am alone.
I run outside into my backyard and find my faithful dog. I smile and give him a pat on the head.
Hearing a hen, I look up to see the chickens in their cages
Some of them have laid eggs that I have to collect.
Walking backwards, I stumble into a concrete wall.
I turn around and before my eyes lies the well.
A rush of memories drowns me in them and I remember. Remember fondly my sister and I playing there, and how much I took this well for granted when I lived here.
I hear kids laughing and so I go outside into the lane.
There, I discover a few kids playing together.
Suddenly I realize I know them - remember caring for them as babies.
I call out to them but they cannot hear or see me,
My heart is saddened.
I walk on and a cow passes me without a second look
That reminds me of how scared I was of them when I was little.
Hiding every trace of red clothing I wore
But now I see that they are gentle creatures without a worry.I walk on and soon I find myself being watched by monkeys.
I stop and scratch my itchy arm. They start to copy me.
I laugh and walk on.
After walking a while, I stop to examine my surroundings. I am at the beach
I look out at the water and see it sparkling with life
The grains of sand are small and the beach is clean
With not a trace of litter.
Now I realise, I belong here. This is my place - my true home. I walk to the water and bend down to touch it and suddenly, I wake up.
One day I will return to Sri Lanka...
One day..

Dilinie Thampiyappa
Kilbreda College
Melbourne
Australia

The Postman

The postman gets up early in the morning. He goes to the post office. He wears a Khaki shirt and a trouser. He collects letters, parcels, telegrams and then gets onto his bicycle and sets off.

He comes to our doorstep and rings the bell; people wait anxiously for the postman. The postman brings happy news and sad news. If there is no one in the garden the postman puts the letter in the letter box and goes to the next house. He knows most of the lanes and roads in the town. When the postman rides his bike and rings the bell, dogs bark at him. He often wears a hat. During the festival season we give him presents.

A postman is very useful man to us, he is hard working and a busy man. He is a friendly person too.

Mufassal Mowlana
Hejaz International school

Are You Numb?

Can you hear the lonely cry of. Children far away?
Can you hear the widows crying suffering all day?
Can you hear the sorrowful prayer of mothers all around?
Can you see the weeping trees without blossoms any more to bloom?
Can you hear the lonely cubs moaning all around?
Can you see the sparkling water.
Covered with warm red blood?
I know you see it. I know you hear it
Yet, why did you say you can't?
Maybe, it's because you think. Because it's not worth
'Cause you've got other things on your mind.
Are you numb to the environment?
Feel the suffering, Feel the sorrow it's all around you
Count the lives others have sacrificed for you
Think like a human with feelings for your brother
Otherwise it'll have to be the destruction of humanity

Lawanya Wijesekara
B/ Kuda Kusum Balika MV Bandarawela

My favorite person

Every morning as the rays of the sun drop on my face I hear a kindly voice. I open my eyes slowly. She is near my bed with a smiling face.

She is fair and tall. Her hair is black. I thought she is a fairy who comes from heaven. From morning to night I enjoy her love. In the morning she is busy.

A few years ago when I was a little baby, I heard her little fairy tales. I can still remember all this.

She always tries to make me good and she always teaches me about the world. She loves me and I love her too. I think she is my favorite person. Yes, she is my mother

Chamanthi Kulatunge
Anula Vidyalaya
Nugegoda

The Glorious Bond of Friendship

A bud that blooms greeted by rays of Sun

A heart that speaks with tones of love

A caring voice and a helping hand

To know that someone always cares

The sweet nectar in a flower

The warmth of welcome for a feast to share

The heart that trusts and never doubts.

It's what the glorious bond of friendship is all about

Tania Withanage
St. Bridget's Convent
Colombo 7

Stamp News 37

Saving fauna and flora

Twenty five years ago, delegates from 80 countries negotiated in Washington D.C, a new multilateral environmental agreement known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Its goal was to protect threatened species of wild fauna and flora from the negative effects of international trade and to establish a global system that would ensure that such a trade in other species takes place on a basis sustainable for the future.

The Convention signed on 3 March 1973 came into force on 1 July 1975. Up to date 139 parties have subscribed to the Convention.

'Recognizing that wild fauna and flora in their many beautiful and varied forms are an irreplaceable part of the natural systems of the earth which must be protected for this and the generations to come," states the Preamble to the Convention.

It has been accepted that the exploitation of flora and fauna is the second major threat to the survival of wild plants and animals, the first being destruction of their habitats. The Convention's aim is to make sure that international trade does not threaten the survival of species of wild animals and plants. Depending on the protection needed, the export and import of wild specimens and of their parts or derivatives is either prohibited or subjected to uniform licensing requirements recognized by all member countries. For this purpose species of wild animals and plants are listed in three appendices to the Convention.

For the past six years, the United Nations Postal Administration has been releasing sets of 12 stamps each year, depicting endangered species of fauna and flora with the objective of highlighting the need for their protection. Among those featured in the first set released in 1993 were the following:

Queensland hairy-nosed wombat - looks somewhat like a small sturdy bear with short legs and a stubby tail. It has long, soft brown fur, a large and broad head, and the upper surface of the nose is covered with short brown hair.

Whooping crane - a very rare large crane with white plumage and red and black colouration on the head. The legs are black, as are the longest wing feathers. It nests on the ground with the male and female building a nest of dry plants in a protected and often almost inaccessible place.

Giant clam - a bivalve with a relatively heavy and thick shell, with ribs, which are more or less pronounced, depending on the species. Most of the species live nested among corals and are always found in the relatively shallow areas of the sea where sunlight can easily penetrate.

Giant stable antelope - a subspecies of the sable antelope belonging to the family of 'Bovidae' which crouch down on their haunches to face the enemy and defend themselves with their horns.

Gorilla - is not only closest to man in physical appearance but also closest to his intellectual capacity. Being an ape, it has no tail. Its fur is brownish-black, thicker in those individuals that live at high altitudes.

Peregrine falcon - perfectly adapted to hunting while in flight, attains extraordinary maximum speeds in horizontal flight or vertical dives (up to 300 km/hr). It owes this flying power to the long and pointed wings.

Amazonian manatee - Found only in fresh water, is sometimes carried into swampy areas during seasonal floods and takes refuge in lakes at low water.

Snow leopard - represents the transition between the small and great cats. It does not roar but purrs like a domestic cat and eats in a crouching position. It is a large spotted cat with fairly short legs and a very long tail.

How to detect fake stamps

By Harry Goonawardena

(Secretary, Philatelic Society of Sri Lanka)

Watermarks are of ten used as a way of preventing the forged (fake) printing of stamps. Printing stamps on watermarked paper makes them much more difficult to accurately counterfeit.

Watermarked paper is intentionally made thinner in certain areas to produce a design. This thinned area is the WATERMARK. The design of a watermark is created by attaching small pieces of metal (called watermark bits) to the dandy roll at regular intervals to produce the desired design on the finished paper. Watermarks exist in many different forms. They have been created as letters of the alphabet, pictures, symbols, lines, or any number of combinations off these to form an interesting design.

Watermarks come in a number of different configurations, including single or multiple designs on a stamp; continuous, in which the over all design is repeated numerous times on a sheet, with a random portion of the design appearing on each stamp; and sheet or group watermarks, where the design of the watermark extends over a large group of stamps, with only a small portion (sometimes none) of the design included on a single stamp.

One interesting type of watermark is called the STITCH WATERMARK. Stitch watermarks appear on many stamps quite by accident. When the paper pulp was being dried, it was carried over belts that were held together with sewing stitches. Wherever the wet paper pulp came in contact with these stitches, the design of the stitches was impressed into the paper, the same way the watermark bits create a watermark design. Some collectors seek these out, as stitch watermarks can often be quite challenging to locate.

Stamps were normally printed on watermarked paper so that the watermarked design runs upright to left in relation to the stamp's design. Watermarks are more easily seen on the back of the stamp, where they appear backward.

Inverted and sideways watermarks are upside down and sideways in relation to the upright position of the stamp design. Sideways and inverted watermarks can be errors or identifying features of certain types of stamp production.

Watermarks often are very important to the collector in terms of stamp identification. Often a collector may find two stamps that are identical in design, colour and perforation, but one is printed on watermarked paper and one is not. In other words, the ability to detect the presence or absence of a watermark is an essential skill for the collector to develop.

Frogs and toads

Frogs and toads are to be found in most parts of the world, from cold polar regions to hot deserts. However, most of them live in the tropics, where it is warm and wet. They vary in size from tiny frogs as short as a centimetre up to the rare Goliath frog of Central Africa. This giant frog has a body about 30 centimetres long and, with its legs outstretched, it measures up to 80 centimetres.

Tree frogs

Among the most interesting frogs are tree frogs, which live in tropical forests around the world. These frogs live in trees or on the ground, and many are coloured bright green so that they merge with the leaves. To help them clamber through the branches in search of insects to eat, many tree frogs have suction pads on their toes and fingers. Others can use their fingers to grasp twigs.

The most unusual method of travel among amphibians is that used by the flying frog. This tree frog does not fly like a bird but jumps from a branch and glides through the air to another tree. It has large webbed feet that it spreads out like small parachutes and it can make flights up to 30 metres .

Many tree frogs have special ways of breeding. Some lay their eggs in pools of water in hollow trees or in cup-shaped leaves. Others make special nests for their eggs. Some tree frogs produce clumps of foam from the jelly of the eggs, and stick the foam to leaves hanging over some water. The eggs develop inside the foam, which hardens on the outside to protect them. When the tadpoles hatch from the eggs, the foam softens and they fall into the water. Other tree frogs make nests by sticking leaves together with egg jelly. The eggs are laid inside, and when the first tadpole hatches, the nest collapses into the water below .

Some frogs lay their eggs in damp soil. The young become tadpoles while still in the egg, and hatch as tiny frogs. In one group of frogs from Chile, the male carries the eggs in his throat. The young hatch there, and do not leave until they have become frogs. Female marsupial frogs of South America carry their eggs in a pouch on their backs. Fully formed frogs hatch from the pouch.

Several toads also have unusual breeding habits. The male midwife toad takes charge of the eggs after the female has laid them, winding them round his back legs. When the eggs are ready to hatch, he takes them to some water. The male Surinam toad takes the female's eggs and places them in pockets on her back. Skin grows over the eggs, and the young go through the tadpole stage there, so that fully formed young toads hatch from the pockets.

The Surinam toad has long fingers to help it find food among the mud of the South American rivers where it lives. Similarly, the clawed toad of South Africa uses its claws to dig for food in ponds. If the pond dries up, the toad survives by burying itself in the mud.

Migration

Most amphibians in the Northern Hemisphere breed in a quiet pond or stream. They may travel long distances over the ground to reach a particular breeding site, using the same place year after year, just as birds migrate to their breeding grounds. Amphibians may use the position of the sun to guide them, or they may use their sense of smell to direct them.

Breeding

As they enter the water, the male frogs and toads begin to croak loudly to attract a female. As a female enters, several males compete for her attention. The "winner" clings to the female's back and she begins to lay eggs. The eggs are fertilized by the male's sperm as they are laid. Frogs produce large clumps of eggs, called spawn, whereas toads lay strings of eggs. Many thousands of eggs may be produced. A bullfrog, for example, may lay as many as 25,000 eggs at one time.

Newts and salamanders reproduce in different ways. The male performs a courting display in which he moves around the female, and he then lays packets of sperm on the bottom of the pond or stream, or sometimes on land. The female picks up the packets, and the sperm fertilizes the eggs inside her body. The female then lays the eggs either in small clumps or separately.

Caecilians mate before laying their eggs, which are usually placed on damp ground near water.

With frogs and toads, a great change takes place as the young develop. This change is called metamorphosis. The egg hatches to produce a tadpole, which swims with a long tail and breathes with gills. Legs begin to grow and the tail gets smaller, while lungs begin to form inside the body. Over several weeks, the tadpole changes into a small frog or toad and can leave the water. The young of newts and salamanders are like tadpoles at first, but soon grow legs so that they begin to look like adults much earlier on.

When a pair of frogs mate, the male climbs on the female and clasps her tightly. The male grows a pad of hard rough skin on his fingers to help grip her slippery body. He then fertilizes the eggs as the female lays them.

Frogspawn consists of large clumps of frog's eggs. Each egg contains a black egg cell surrounded by jelly.

A pair of hind legs begin to grow at the base of the tail. A pair of forelegs are also beginning to form. The tadpole now eats animal remains.

The egg grows and hatches out as a tadpole. The tadpole swims like a fish and has gills on its head to breathe.

As the hind legs grow larger, the forelegs burst through the skin by the gills. At the same time, the tail begins to get shorter. Soon a fold of skin grows over the gills so that they are inside the body. The tadpole eats plant food.

Finally, the tadpole loses its tail and turns into a small frog. It has grown a pair of lungs to breathe air, and can leave the water for the land.

Return to Mirror Magazine Contents