Page 28 - English_Spark_5

A few months later, Anita observed a group of men come to her village mangroves

and put a special mark on all the trees. She asked them what they were doing in
the forest. The man replied in a rude voice that they were going to build a hotel

at that place and were going to cut down all the trees. Anita was shocked when

she heard this. There would be no trees, no birds and no insects! Anita was so
overcome with grief that she decided to do something about it.

The next day, she went to school and told everything to her teacher and her

young friends about it. The teacher was quite disappointed to hear the news
too and decided to help her. Anita and all her friends in school made a group

called ‘Friends of Mangroves’. They then came up with the idea of writing a
letter to the Forest Department. They wrote the letter with their own hands

and sent it to the officers. They went to all the nearby schools and asked their
friends to join their group too. Then they waited and prayed

that their dear mangroves would be saved from being

destroyed.

The principal of Anita’s school also heard the
news of the mangroves going to be destroyed

by greedy businessmen and the efforts of
Anita and her friends to prevent it. He was

delighted to see a little girl’s concern for the
environment. He then wrote a letter to his

friends in several places to help Anita’s cause.

A month later, the merchants were forced to

stop their activity. Anita and her friends became
well known in the area for their remarkable

work in protecting the environment. She
received several awards from her school and a year

later she was asked to share her story on a national
news channel. Each year, more and more students joined

her group and she continued to visit her mangrove friends often.

—Nibedita Mukherjee

grief — sad

28 English-5