Amy Yirou Zou, HKIS Grade 4

Amy Yirou Zou, HKIS, Grade 4
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
How Can A Global Citizen Help to Solve the Problem of Poverty In the World?
I gazed upward at the full moon, glowing brightly in the night sky. Cutting diagonally
through the blackness was a glittering swath of stars.
A frog croaked, and I looked down just in time to see the splash as it dived into the pond.
It scrambled up onto a lily pad a few seconds later. It sat there for a while, looking up, as if it
was watching the sky just like I was. For a brief moment I envied the frog. It didn’t need to
worry about money problems. Frogs didn’t care about money.
The pond was still and calm. Nothing stirred except for a water skater, quietly walking
along on the water and trailing tiny ripples behind it. For the millionth time I looked at the high
mountains in the distance and wondered what was beyond them. I had always wondered this, but
I had never found out. My family was too poor to go anywhere, and so we lived here in a small
house, growing our own food with what little seed we had.
“Not tired?”
I whipped around at the sound of my father’s voice and shook my head. Out of the blue, I
asked, “Dad, what’s behind the mountains?”
“I lived there once.” My father’s eyes misted over and became filled with memories.
“Before your mother and I became poor, we lived in the city.”
“What’s a ‘city’?” I asked. I hadn’t heard this word before.
“A city is a space filled with buildings and lights and people.” My father explained.
“Everywhere you look, people are out and about. The city is always busy.”
“Are there only rich people?” I asked.
“No.” My father replied. “There are homeless people, too, living on the streets. Kind
people sometimes give them money and things.”
“Do they give us things too?” I wondered aloud.
“A charity will deliver donations to us.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
My dad didn’t reply. He was once again wrapped up in his memories. I backed off and
sat down on the flat boulder in front of the pond.
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Amy Yirou Zou, HKIS, Grade 4
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
My father was right. The next day I found a box on our doorstep. Inside were some
toiletries, clothes, and books. The first book I opened had a picture of the moon on the cover.
Intrigued, I turned the pages one by one.
Over the next few days I spent most of my time reading. I learned about the sky, the solar
system, and the world beyond the mountains. I knew I had opened up a whole new world, a
world full of imagination and opportunity.
The next day, the morning dew glimmered on the lush green grass. There were three
frogs in the pond now, and a pair had even laid eggs. I looked upward as the sun peeped above
the mountaintops, and to me it seemed that no sunrise had ever been brighter.
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