Volunteered recently?  Maybe you helped do some work at school or maybe you helped clean up the environment? Whatever it is, big or small, YOU should be recognised for it! There are several schemes out there which award YOU for volunteering. Continue reading to find out more… (Did I mention that “Volunteering” also includes helping out at NYPO? *wink*).

World Wide Volunteering

World Wide Volunteering (WWV) is a scheme which aims to encourage young people to volunteer. If you have done 25 hours of volunteering – ANY volunteering that is – you are eligible for the Bronze award. If you do another 25 hours, you get the Silver and if you do another 50 hours (25 + 25 + 50 = 100 hours), you get the ultimate… Gold certificate. What’s great about the WWV is that it is UCAS recognised (or so it claims). So, for all you Asians (or people with Asian-like parents) out there whose parents have been training you up to get into Cambridge University since the day you were born, this is a great way to Read the rest of this entry »

We took our first step as we opened the door

CREAK! it went, and we fell to the floor

We tried to get up, then the window opened wide

WHOOSH! went the wind, bringing a chill to our spine
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Babu Chowdhury shows you how to make a really cool signature that you can use for any forums, including the NYPO Forum.

Part 1

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Its 4.05 in the morning, looking at the alarm clock from the corner of my eye, pressing the snooze button from time to time, unaware that today may be the last day of this blessed month of Ramadan. As usual, no alarm clock had been able to wake me up on time but the non-stop alarm of my mum dragged me out of bed and got me ready for Sehri (The morning meal before fast). After finishing the meal, I rushed to my local mosque for the sunrise prayer.

It’s 6.25 in the morning. I am the only one awake, with everyone having gone back to sleep, I finish reciting the Holy Quran. Sitting down near the window observing the time between dawn and sunrise, a thought is triggered in my mind about my Ramadan last year. I rewind my time to the point of my first day at college. I remember, in the fasting condition, I was passing through the library. It was a short while before I noticed the poster of Mahatma Gandhi on the wall ahead of me. That was the time when I was more proud to be an Indian than anyone and anything, so I went close to the poster, gazing at it for a while and reading a quote below it from Gandhi, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

Unaware of the value of the quote and ignorant of the value of Islam, I smiled at it and walked away. Today, I realised Read the rest of this entry »

An unclean environment is a problem. It affects the people and it also affects animals. That’s why today I’m going to tell you what people think of how clean Newham is.

Most environments that are unclean are usually caused by littering. Littering is when rubbish is thrown on to the streets and causes the area to look horribly unhygienic. Litter may start off by little but it can result in a big situation and put people’s lives at risk. This includes dumping, where people leave large furnitures like mattresses on the street! Also so much rubbish is put in bins when all the good leftovers can be recycled to make other things which help reduce litter and save money. The rubbish is dumped in the landfill, which eventually will not have any space for other rubbish.

In my opinion, I think Newham is great in some areas but, I find rubbish around and not only that, the streets seem very dirty. Read the rest of this entry »

Hi. Call me “Girl with the Pink Bag” because that’s my undercover name. Anyway I’m writing this because each month I want to tell you and just only you about my life. You may be wondering if it’s going to be an ordinary life. But open your eyes as you will begin to read the most extraordinary chapter of my existence as I reveal all.

In my family I am the youngest, and it sucks. Well sometimes it doesn’t because I get more of what I want than the other girls. I’m not going to tell you literally how many of us there is, because believe me; you’ll go crr-ray-zeh!

Now let me introduce you the favouritism in my family. My mum who is in her early 40’s has two favourites out of the whole family. And the answer is obvious. My two brothers. It’s true they say that mums love their sons more and Dads love their daughters more. Because my mum would give any extra food to them and not to us girls.  She won’t even let us eat anything that we have stacked away until our Read the rest of this entry »