Author: Ginny

People Protesting

Sjoe! There was fun and games on the TV last week.

Well, I know it was not really on the TV but that was as close as I came to it.

All those people protesting about University fees going up so much that they would not be able to afford them. But it seemed to me that they behaved in a very calm and controlled way instead of burning and destroying things. That always makes me mad. What’s the point?

Hope it gets sorted out soon.

I’m just a little kid – but it makes sense to me that the Government should invest in their youth. Just because you don’t have the money to study further does not mean that you should not be able to do it.

It excludes people from reaching their full potential.

Somebody might be really clever and be able to come up with an innovative idea or plan that helps save the country somehow, but instead they never get to even try. That would be really sad.

I keep wondering why nobody has come up with a plan for solar-powered traffic lights. Or if they have – where ever are they hiding it? Especially in Gauteng where the traffic is busy and the sun shines brightly most days.

Those suckers would just keep on working – never mind whether Eskom was alive or dead.

Then we would not have traffic jams and we would not be late for school. It always feels like such a silly reason to be late for school… Sorry I’m tardy Miss but the robots were not working! She always looks at me like I’m fibbing when I’m really not.

But I was thinking… if we are all going to have an opportunity to study further one day and learn lots of lovely new and exciting things, then we should better pull up our socks and start working really hard to get good grades. Probably Universities and Technicon’s will be full and so they are going to choose people with good grades first because it shows that they want to learn.

No more chatting, I’m off to do some revision now.

Good luck to all the matrics who are about to start writing exams soon.

Sibo

Cool word of the week: gripe
Meaning: protest, grumble, moan
Example: The students were all having a serious gripe about the hike in university fees.

Sibo standingMe with my socks pulled up!

A fun weekend activity

Sibo imagining her Dad on a bike

Many people would not really have known about the EcoMobility World Festival which is currently running in Sandton for the month of October if the catastrophe of the pedestrian bridge collapsing had not occurred.  That’s so very sad and my heart goes out to the family of those people who lost their lives and were injured.

The whole point of this festival is supposed to underline the fact that the Sandton area has simply become too congested. There’s not enough parking, too many cars are making the roads just nasty.

So certain roads have been closed down for the month and people have been encouraged to use public transport – like buses and the Gautrain. People have also been encouraged to ride to work on bicycles and indulge in a bit of exercise and walk or run to work or the shops.

Of course, you can imagine that there was lots of chaos the first few days. In fact, some people are still complaining. Others are having fun and enjoying the opportunity to be able to cycle easily around the place.

Tucked away in a little nookie – a spot run by @ColouredCube, is a pop-up museum that brings to life “Our History of Transport”.

If you come on the Gautrain, at the top of the stairs (after the turnstiles) you turn left into West Street, follow the green stop signs and look for the white tent entrance on the left. Go passed the test track through a gate to the little grey building that says “Our History of Transport”.

This is uniquely activated as an interactive multi-sensory exhibition – the transit time-line traverses key turning points in our history, examines our current situation and shares exciting news about future transport possibilities.

It’s a moving exhibition and includes cool stuff like life-size vehicles, audio visual materials, storytelling and game playing. This means… it’s something for everybody!

My friend Ginny is going to be reading Sibo Likes Life in that very spot on Saturday 24th October whilst she hula hoops using a huge hoop. She has the 15h30 story telling slot, but this particular expo is open from 10h00 to 19h00 on weekends with guided tours at 10h30, 14h30 and 16h30.

If you want to find out more information you could call 082 4503356.

For more information about the EcoMobility Festival.

Come visit and have some fun.

See you there,

Sibo

Cool word of the week: traverse
Meaning: Crosses, navigates
Example: Big ships traverse the ocean.

Smile and wave!

Miss Ball and Sibo

Our teacher, Mrs Ball, gave us a teensy tip in class the other day.

She said we should smile and wave when cars stop to let us cross the road at the zebra crossing. She was specifically talking about the one outside our school – but then she said that any old zebra crossing would do.

We all looked at her.

Why?

Cars are supposed to stop at a zebra crossing to let people go safely across the road. But they often don’t. In fact, they speed up and zoom over it without even looking.

Wayne piped up that this really was true. He nearly got squished as flat as a pancake last week – expecting somebody to stop and they didn’t.

But Mrs Ball stood her ground. When somebody has the courtesy to stop and let you cross the road safely – it costs you nothing to look the person in the eye, smile and wave thank you. It’s a nice, kind gesture.

She reckons the world is often sorely lacking in basic human kindness.

People are so caught up in their own lives, with their own problems that they have forgotten how to be nice – for no reason at all.

That reminded me of the little smiling experiment I did at the mall a few months ago. I remembered that had worked too. When I smiled at other people – most of them smiled back at me. It also made me feel good. Plus I noticed that many of the people carried on walking down the mall, still smiling.

We had the chance to try out her idea later that day. A few of us were waiting in a group at the zebra crossing. A car coasted to a complete halt and let us all walk across.

I looked up, smiled and waved. Some of my classmates were also in the group. They did the same thing.

The people in the car smiled and waved back. They only carried on driving after we were all on the other side of the road.

Some kids that were also crossing (who’re not in our class) asked why we were waving and smiling at strange people. I explained to them what Mrs Ball had said to us.

They had just seen what a positive reaction we had received and agreed that it was a good idea.

Smile awhile!

Sibo

Your new word for the week:

Word:  gesture

Meaning:  movement or sign

Example… Smiling and waving when you cross at a zebra crossing is a nice gesture.

Weird ways of making things happen.

Sibo and Lizzie 2

I found out about a new thing the other day. Well, I mean, I am always learning new things – that’s why we go to school, but I did not learn about this at school.

It’s something called crowdfunding.

Huh! I hear you say. What on earth is that?

It’s when lots of people give a little bit of money so that a large amount can be raised so that something can happen. Like an event… or producing a music DVD, or publishing a book.

I thought it was quite a cool idea.

Say you want to do something – for instance my friend Ginny wants to bring out a Sibo (yes – yay – that’s me) book on Road Safety – “Sibo Looks Left” will be the title. But because times are tough and the schooling system is interesting, it is no longer feasible for publishers to just publish books willy-nilly anymore.

With crowdfunding, you put a sort of advert on the internet for your project. There are various different service providers who provide platforms for these adverts, and you have to pass certain criteria. They don’t just accept any project.

Basically you offer rewards for support (the support comes in the form of cash). For instance, in our case if you pledge R50 towards the book – you will receive a digi-book and get your name printed in the book as a supporter. There are other rewards too – like if you pledge more money you could have your company’s logo on the inside front cover… or… you could even have one of Sibo’s friends in the story with your child’s name. Cool hey!

It’s a fact – far too many kids get killed on the roads for stupid reasons.  Maybe this book will help a little bit. Gently inform kids (and their parents) about the rules of the road.

But here’s the most important bit – you will know that you have helped in the process of getting books given to children who can’t afford to buy them themselves.

They will get a free book which they can read over and over.

Yoh! I can’t bear to think that some people don’t even own one single book. That’s just terrible. But it’s even worse to think that somebody might get hurt or killed just because they did not realise what they were doing on the road was dangerous.

Buckle up!

Sibo

 

Your new word for the week:

Word:  willy-nilly

Meaning:  haphazard, random

Example… go find the example in the text above. (Sneaky hey!)

Fun visit to the zoo

Sibo at the zoo

Last Sunday we went to the Zoo – right in the centre of Pretoria. What a fun day it was too!

We got up nice and early and took our dog for a walk first. Then we had breakfast so that our tummies were full and we had lots of energy. We drove – but you can also take the Gautrain and get off at Pretoria station and then you can get a bus that drops you off right outside the zoo.

It costs R55.00 for kids and R85.00 for adults. It’s really good value for money because you can stay there all day. If you are clever you can take a picnic with you – there are lots of grassy places where you can sit and have a snack or a meal when you are tired of walking and looking at all the animals. You can even braai.

It’s a good idea to wear comfy shoes because it’s huge. Huger than huge in fact. Sometimes I feel sad to see all those wild animals stuck in cages, but mostly the cages are big and the animals don’t look unhappy. It’s not like one of those awful places when the poor creatures sit in little concrete boxes and they hardly have space to move.

The National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria is  an awesome place. It’s also a bit like a science centre because there are notice boards that give you all sorts of different information about the animals, like where they come from and what they eat.

We took the cable car and zoomed right up to the top of the hill. Sjoe! But it was high and I was a bit scared. It was amazing to look down on all the animals.

The lions and the tigers were magnificent. I was very glad that there are big fences because I swear that one of the tigers thought I looked like a tasty little snack.

We saw all sorts of animals, birds and reptiles – kangaroos, giraffes, hippos, a rhino, lots of different types of buck, monkeys, apes, baboons, snakes, crocodiles, lizards and many brilliant birds with different colours. There were zebra, leopards and elephants too. My favourite was the bear. He looked all big and cuddly. He just wallowed – half in and half out of his water pool and watched all the visitors. Just like the people were in the zoo – instead of him.

Oh! Wait! Silly me – we were in the zoo too, weren’t we?

Tell your parental agents you want to go to the zoo – for a family outing, a school outing or for your next birthday. It’s such fun.

Until next week!

Sibo

Texting on the go.

Sibo standing

I very nearly got trampled the other day, twice nogal!

We were saying goodbye to my auntie at the airport and I was strolling along like a normal little kid. I realised that somebody was coming towards me, towing his suitcase with one hand and texting with the other. He was not looking where he was going and he would have ploughed straight into me if I had not jumped out of the way.

However, the elderly lady behind me was not so fast and he did bump into her.

He did not even bother to apologise – just went on his way and kept on texting. She had dropped her bag and some papers went skedaddling all over the floor. Dad and I helped her pick them up. She looked a bit flustered by the whole thing.

I turned around to carry on watching the rude man – which was a rather stupid move because another lady bumped into me. She was also walking along with her cell phone glued to her hand… texting.

At least she was polite and said she was sorry.

What’s with all these people walking and texting and not looking where they are going?

Can’t they just stop for a minute – get out of the way – finish their texting business and then carry on walking. And actually look where they are going.

When we sitting at the Wimpy, waiting for it to be time for my auntie to board her plane, I checked out the place. I notice that half the people in the restaurant were on their cell phones. Often – one person was sitting there looking sad and bored, whilst the other person was busy staring at a small screen.

Sjoe! I’m not sure that this social media stuff is very healthy.

We’ve got rules in our house. Mum is not allowed to look at her phone while we are having dinner. Dad hardly ever uses his cell phone. He says it’s for work and he does not want to see it when he’s at home relaxing. He’d much rather read a book or come and work with me in the garden. Mum, on the other hand, is addicted to Twitter.

Apparently I am too young to have a fancy phone – I have what is lovingly referred to as “the brick” and it can’t do anything smart.

Watch where you walk please!

Sibo

Doing jobs properly

Remember last week I made some money at entrepreneurs’ day at school? Well that got me thinking…

Why are there so many people who lead a life of crime when they could just put their mind to making some money legally?

Sometimes it is easier to offer a service if you want to make money – like babysitting or maybe doing odd jobs for your neighbours or for older people who can’t do stuff themselves so easily. This way you don’t have to have any money to start with.

Of course if you do offer a service, you have to be really reliable and do what you say you are going to do. Like if you are babysitting – then you need to be sure you look after the kids. You have to watch them and keep them occupied so they don’t get bored and get into trouble.

Once, when I was a bit younger, mum got one of the neighbour’s older daughters to babysit me for a few hours. She ignored me totally and sat chatting on her phone to her boyfriend the whole time. I got bored and decided to investigate my mother’s make-up stuff. I made a really pretty picture with all the nice colours. Of course I knew I was being naughty but was so bored I did not really care.

When mum came home she did not yell at me I like expected her to. She yelled at the babysitter for not doing her job properly. She also refused to pay her. Even worse, she bad-mouthed the babysitter all over the place so she never got a job in our street again. I overheard mum saying that children were very precious and if somebody could not be trusted to look after them properly – then they should not have the job. I guess she was right.

I all boils down to that old saying “If a job is worth doing – it’s worth doing properly.”

Our neighbour across the road never has time to walk her dog. I’m going to ask Mum and Dad if I can become a dog-walker. My friend Wayne could come with me – we’ll share the money and then we will be safer too.

Good idea hey!

Sibo

 

Word of the week: Dollop

Meaning: A blob of something.

Example: I put dollops of mums blue eyeshadow on the paper to make the sky in my picture.Sibo and Wayne walking Zona

Making money.

Sibo 5

Last week we had entrepreneurs’ day at school.  I enjoyed it much more than I did the year before – probably because this time I actually made money!

Last year I didn’t give much thought to what I sold. I had lots of beans growing in the garden and so decided to sell fresh beans at school.

Silly me – I just didn’t think that kids don’t particularly like eating beans. And they definitely would not spend money buying them. So I landed up giving all my beans to the teachers instead.

Dad said I was a bit of a nutter – I should have offered them at a discount, rather than giving them away.

Oh well! Live and learn.

But learn I did. There has to be a market for what you are selling, otherwise you are wasting your time (and money).

This year I sat and thought long and hard about what to sell that would make money.

Mum suggested making cupcakes. That’s always a good idea because they sell, but the problem is – lots of other kids do the same thing because it is easy.

The same goes for popcorn and chips – junk food always sells well.

Dad offered to take me to Macro to see what was available and how much everything cost.

We trawled through the sweetie aisle. There was so much stuff it was unbelievable. I wandered up and down taking notes.

I only had R100 to spend. I also had to give R10 of that to the school to have a stall – which meant I really only had R90 to spend. I needed to buy something that everybody would want that I could make money on.

In the end I bought 3 bags of different flavoured Fizzers for a total price of R77.85. There were 24 Fizzers in each bag and one bag cost R25.95. This meant that one Fizzer cost R1.08c.

Fizzers take long to eat and are value for money.

I sold them for R2 each.

After paying R10 for my table, I had R12.15 left over.  I asked Dad to give me R1’s and R2’s for this money so that I had a float in case I needed to give somebody change.

I sold all my Fizzers in the first hour and made a total of R144.00. That was R66.15 profit (excluding the R10.00 I paid for the table).

Smart thinking hey!

Sibo

 

Word of the week: Profit

Meaning: a financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying or producing something.

Example: I made a profit of R66.15 at Entrepreneurs’ Day – which I am saving so that next time I will have more money to spend to make money.

Life.

Sibo and mum

The other day one of my uncles passed away. When my mom told me about it my first thought was… well, okay – he was old and we did not see him very often. So how does this affect me?

I went outside to play.

But then I started thinking… I quite liked that uncle.

He always used to come and visit and produce sweets out of his pocket like magic. Sometimes he pretended he found them in my ear! But more importantly, he talked to me like I was a real person. Not just some dumb little kid. He used to ask me questions about school and what I was doing – it seemed like he cared what the answer was. He listened to me.

I just took that for granted and maybe did not appreciate it enough.

You know, we often take people for granted. We just assume that they are going to be there forever more. And then sometimes… pooof! They are gone.

People pass away. Important people in our lives, people who we care about. And once they are gone, they are gone for good.

We will never, ever see them again in real life. Sure, we can look at photos but it’s not the same, is it. You can’t touch them. Or talk to them.

We won’t be able to hug them. Or ask them questions about special stuff that only they knew about. They are just not here anymore.

But we are just little kids and we are not supposed to worry about stuff like this… are we?

I sat on the swing and thought about my uncle. Realising that he was no longer here anymore made me so sad that I cried a bit. I went inside and gave my mum a hug. I was glad that she was real, and warm… and here.

I think Mum thought I was a little bit crazy – but she hugged me back anyway.

Your uncle will always be with you, she told me. Just think about him – and he will be there in your head and your heart.

So I thought about him and could almost see him. It made me smile.

I guess people really do live on in our hearts forever.

We should appreciate the people around us. We never know when they will be snatched away.

Hugs,

Sibo

 

 

Eye spy

Sibo cutie face

Last week mum caught me out. I’d eaten the last biscuit in the box.

“Sibo” said mum – “did you eat the last biscuit?”

Heaven only knows why I did it, but I fibbed. Probably because I thought I might get into trouble for eating that last little sucker.

“No mum”, I replied as innocently as I could, looking up at the ceiling, scuffing my toe against the edge of the carpet.

“I’m not cross with you for eating it, just for leaving the empty box there,” said Mum with a smile.

I dashed off to the kitchen and threw the box away. Then I gave mum a hug. “How did you know I was fibbing?”

“That’s easy” she replied. “You never look me in the eye when you tell fibs. Your eyes wander all over the place but don’t go anywhere near my face.”

Seriously? Can people really tell that you are fibbing if you don’t look them in the eye? I decided to google it because I did not really believe that it could be true.

Here’s what I found out… Firstly we have no control over the size of our pupils (those black bits in the middle of your eyes). Your pupils get bigger when you are interested in something and smaller when you are not.

Making eye contact makes a person seem more honest, trustworthy, attractive and confident. If you look a person in the eye whilst talking to them you are more likely to win them over. Also, it shows that you are listening to them and are interested in what they are saying. Of course, if your pupils get tiny and you look away – they can see that too!

But sometimes looking a person in the eye is very difficult; especially when it’s an adult you are talking to.

Here’s a little sneaky tip – if you are having trouble looking somebody in the eye – focus on the bridge of their nose instead. Or look at one eye only – they can’t tell the difference and it’s easier to do.

It’s a good trait to learn and practise – look somebody in the eye when you talk to them.

Sibo

 

Odd, slightly naughty but very cool word for the week: Fopdoodle

Meaning – a Victorian (very old) word for a “dumbass”

Example: I was such a fopdoodle I forgot to turn off the light in my room when the power went out – so when it came back on again the light woke me up.