Muscat – The recently concluded Let’s Read Children’s Writing Competition, witnessed the participation of large number of students from different schools across the country. The theme of the writing competition was Friendship and children chose to write about their special friends and the bonds they share. Here are the winners:

Age group (16 to 18 years)

Amer Salim Amer Rashid al Harthy, Said Sultan bin Ahmed School

‘The sun that lights up my existence‘

Friendship is a relationship between two human beings which contain affection, care, and happiness. A true friendship can make you reap millions of benefits. One must be cautious when electing a companion. Make sure to designate a person who is a good listener, trustworthy, honest, generally dependable and one who is non-judgemental. One who can express empathy for others, be strong, resilient, and gentle, just to allude to a handful since the checklist is endless.

Honestly speaking I have been dropping a lot of friends since most of them were wolves in sheep’s skin. Eventually, I was fortunate to get a person who is the light of my sky. To emphasize he is a picture to a frame.

His good name is Fahad. He is at least one hundred and seventy-six centimetres tall and slightly pudgy. He has short black hair and is kind of stylish. His luminous eyes illustrate his kindness. He is obsessed with the Japanese culture and adores listening to music. Fahad is an intelligent grade 12 student. He is diligent and studies hard. During exams he always persuades me to stay awake until late night. Thankfully, I got outstanding grades in every subject.

One momentous day he did a magnificent job. It was early in the morning. The sun pierced through my window. The light of dawn seeped into my room. I rubbed my bleary eyes and walked to the window. I put on my phone and to my surprise I found twenty missed calls and a message all from Fahad. The message said, ‘I am already at the airport.’ Alas I was left with only one hour and thirty minutes. I got worried since he was leaving, and I wouldn’t see him for some time. I also wanted to give him an appreciation gift. I informed my older brother of the situation and we had to rush in a horse speed. I carried the gift and off we left at a supersonic speed just to realise I had worn my mum’s shoes. I gave it a blind eye.

Just a quarter of the way to the airport, a camel appeared from nowhere onto the road. It thereby caused a fatal accident. I bled profusely and both my precious legs were broken. I was slowly losing my consciousness. On the other hand, my brother just got minor injuries and at least could inform the police and my buddy. They both arrived immediately at the scene. The ambulance took me to the hospital. After good treatment my senses came back and, to my amazement, I saw Fahad sitting beside my bed. He had cancelled his flight just to come and witness what had happened. Then I uttered, ‘Fahad!’ Subsequently, he hugged me and we both started weeping together.

This was the day when I felt Fahad is more of a brother than a friend. It was the day he broke the record of our friendship. I was deeply touched to the bottom of my heart. I couldn’t imagine my friend Fahad missing his first cousin’s wedding as he was supposed to be best man!

To be exact, it’s extremely hard to find a true, kind-hearted friend like Fahad. To wind up, I can declare that Fahad is the sun that lights up my existence. Confidently I can claim that he is a blessing.

Age group (12 to 15 years)

Ward Rami Ali Abudayyeh from Al Injaz Private School

‘A bond between souls‘

Friendship is often portrayed as simple companionship between two or more individuals brought together by circumstances or coincidences. While that definition is not wrong, it describes a measly connection very common and familiar to humans, it does not convey the intricate meaning only discovered by those who truly think deeper than the ideologies implanted into us by society our whole lives. True, pure friendship is so precious and rare that it is difficult for most to imagine what it might be. A bond between souls, a link through which one becomes more, a pillar of support, needed by so many and yet attained by a sorrowfully small number of individuals.

I have luckily experienced this otherworldly relationship, otherwise I would have still believed it to be more fiction than reality. His name was “Sami”, which meant supreme, or ascended, and he was indeed supreme, with his mannerisms and soft smile in a world filled with frowns. Even though life tore me apart from this wonderful boy I never deserved, he gifted me a massive part of who I am today, a person I am proud of. While some might have called us kids back then, he was more mature than some adults I know and interact with, he rarely got mad or angry except in deserving situations, he treated all with respect and so he was respected by all. Many situations we went through together proved to me that his character was worth learning from, I only wish I had learned more.

A lesson he taught me was standing up for what is right, even if this contribution has a risk of backfiring. This conclusion was reached after an interaction I had with our mathematics teacher, Mr. Adam. It was a pleasant weathered day, and yet storms of negative emotions welled up inside this ninth-grade boy’s heart, he felt betrayed, misunderstood and oppressed. Some are gifted with self-control and patience, Mr. Adam was not one of them. He took every error seriously and yelled at the slightest mistakes, and my relationship with him wasn’t ideal, as I was sometimes late to his lessons due to traffic. The incident happened right after lunch break, beforehand, Sami and I were getting up from our usual spot to head to class early as to not be late to the math lesson. From the corner of my eye I notice a young girl who appeared to be in the first-grade fall and injure her knee and palm, and after a moment she began to cry. When no one came to help her up I rushed on over to her to take her to the nurse after I told my friend to head to class and that I will catch up to him quickly. On the way back, I ran like my life depended on it. Unfortunately, I was 8 minutes late, Mr. Adam was furious. Right before his harsh words attacked me Sami intervened, Mr. Adam calmed down, and the issue was resolved.

Age group (8 to 11 years)

Zainab Ali Najwani from Madinah al Sultan Qaboos Private School

‘A reason to stay stronger in life‘

Friendship is a bond, treasure that each one of us wish to have and not everyone is lucky to have. A friend is a person that is always next to you supporting you whenever you need. It is not that easy to have a friend that really cares about you, that accepts you as you are and keeps a positive mark on you. In short, a friend or a friendship is what gives you a reason to stay stronger in life.

I am so lucky to have, my friend Fatima, in my life. She is very helpful, respectable, careful, selfless and mindful. We spend most of our weekends together playing, laughing, talking or opening our heart to each other.

My friend Fatima has a short black hair, dark brown eyes and two dimples on her reddish and soft checks. She usually wears sweatshirts and loose pants or blue jeans. She has a very lovely, special personality and a wonderful character. She is 11 years old, purple is her favorite color, she prefers spring and outdoor than indoor. She is full of life and always spreading positive energy

Our friend ship had a different way in starting, after three weeks after the school started we have been taken to a camping trip, I chose Fatima as my partner in the trip. A night went and a morning came, finally, it was the trip day, we were so excited. The school bell rang, we hoped onto the bus and reached to the camping place. After doing some activates and having a barbecue time, I felt thirsty and realized that, I forgot the water bottle in the bus. I told Fatima about it and went to get it. By accident the bus driver locked the bus while I was there searching for the bottle. I tried to scream, shout and knock the door but no one heard me or even felt my absence except Fatima. She started searching inside, outside and around the camps but she could not find me. At that moment she remembered that I told her I am going to the bus to get my water bottle. She headed to the teachers to tell them about what happened and directly they all went to the bus. They were shocked to find me locked in the bus, they requested the driver to unlock the bus and I was fine. This was a very simple situation where Fatima was me saver of the day and this is how our friendship began.

In general, we spend fun and lovely moments together, watching a movie or even having a walk on the beach. buying an ice cream or building a sand castle.

Because of her I laugh little more, cry little less and smile a lot more.