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Our Clean-Up Day

Today our neighbourhood held its clean-up day. We met (0) at 7.30 a.m. at the playground, where Mr Rosli, the chairman of the residents' committee, gave each of us (9) ____ pair of gloves and a rubbish bag.

We (10) ____ not expect to find so much rubbish by the river. There were so (11) ____ bottles and plastic bags that we could not count them. Mr Rosli warned us about broken glass, so we picked it up very (12) ____.

By noon, we (13) ____ filled forty bags. The river bank looks much (14) ____ than it did this morning, and Mr Rosli says that if we clean it every month, the fish (15) ____ come back.

I was so tired that I fell asleep (16) ____ the bus on the way home, but I felt proud of our work.

Young Volunteer of the Year
by Lina Yusof

Aiman Zakwan, 14, a student at SMK Seri Kenanga in Melaka, has been named Young Volunteer of the Year by the state youth council. Aiman leads Reading Buddies, a club that helps younger children to read.

"It began two years ago," Aiman says. "My neighbour's son was eight and could not read well. I sat with him after school, and soon his friends joined us." The club started with only nine children, but today there are 28.

Reading Buddies meets every Saturday at 9.00 a.m. in the community hall of the Seri Mawar flats. Twelve volunteers from Aiman's school take turns to read stories, play word games and help with homework. "Most of our books are donations," he says. "Last year we sold homemade cakes and raised RM600 to buy new ones."

Next year, Aiman hopes to buy a van so that the club can bring books to villages far from the town. "A mobile library," he says. "Everybody should have the chance to enjoy a good book."

Pedal Power at SMK Bukit Indah

Every morning at 6.45 a.m., a line of bicycles rolls through the gates of SMK Bukit Indah. The riders are members of Green Wheels, a club started in January by two Form 3 students, Rizal and Divya.

"Last year I spent RM3 on the bus fare every day," says Divya. "That was about RM60 a month. Now I spend nothing." The club has 36 members, and every one of them lives no more than five kilometres from school.

The first problem was safety. After a donation of RM800 from the Parent-Teacher Association, the club bought twelve helmets and built a bicycle shed near the gate. Every month, a traffic policeman, Sergeant Ismail, visits the club to teach the road safety rules.

Green Wheels also helps students who do not have a bicycle. A local shop gives the club old bicycles, which the members repair on Saturdays and lend to students for the whole term. Rizal says that there are fewer cars at the school gate now, so the road is safer and quieter.

A Weekend at a Kampung Homestay

In October, my class spent a weekend at a homestay in Kampung Batu Hampar, Negeri Sembilan. We left school at 7.00 a.m., and the journey took almost three hours. (35) ______ Our host families were waiting there with glasses of cold sirap and plates of kuih.

I stayed with Pak Cik Ramli and his wife, Mak Cik Sarah, together with my classmate Hui Ling. (36) ______ After the meal, we helped to wash the plates. (37) ______ Hui Ling and I were so sleepy afterwards that we were in bed by nine o'clock.

(38) ______ After breakfast, Pak Cik Ramli took us to his paddy field. (39) ______ My shoes were full of mud, and Hui Ling fell down twice, but we laughed all the time.

Before we left on Sunday afternoon, Mak Cik Sarah gave each of us a bag of dodol. (40) ______

Why volunteering is important

• What it is: what volunteering means
• Who we can help: people, animals or the environment
• What we learn: skills and good values
• Why it matters: the effect on the community
• Your own idea