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HomeGlobal Community Liaison Office...Take Your Child to Work Day (TYCTWD)

# 									Take Your Child to Work Day (TYCTWD)							

The Department has hosted a TYCTWD program each year for over 1,000 children (ages 9-15) of employees for nearly two decades. In addition to bringing the in-person event back, children were invited to participate in a Visual & Literary Art Showcase.

Children of all ages from the Department’s workforce were invited to participate, including contractors, Locally Employed Staff, Civil Service, and Foreign Service, as well as the broader foreign affairs community under Chief of Mission authority.

Participants submitted visual or literary arts (sketching, drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles, poetry, short essay, etc.)  depicting “What the Earth Means to Me.”

## Visual Showcase

## Literary Showcase

The Sentient Sphere – Chau H., 15; Parent: Houng N.; Post: Hanoi, Vietnam

Us –  Kankona C., 18; Parent: Sukanta C.; Post: Kolkata, India; Materials: Poem

Ethereal Earth – Sairandhri P., 16; Parent: Dahlia P.; Post: Kolkata, India; Materials: Pen and paper

Rainbringers – Amy F., 9; Parent: Helene F.; Post: Shanghai, China; Materials: Poem

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### The Sentient Sphere

**Author: Chau H., 15; Parent: Houng N.; Post: Hanoi, Vietnam**

Terra, Tellus, Gaia or simply Earth; our planet goes by many names. But what is Earth? Is it simply a rocky astronomical object, the third planet from the sun in our solar system, or could it be something more?

For me, Earth is beyond a simple collection of rocks, water, and air. Earth is a person, blending in with us, abeingwith feelings, one capable of emotions, knowingboth joy and sadness, having both imperfections and flaws.

She may not use wordslike we do, she may speak another language of her own, but she always finds a way to express her feelings just like joy in the blooming of a flower, sorrow in the devastation of a forest, wrath in a violent hurricane, just like the changing seasons.

Just like any sentient creature, Earth responds to the living beings it cradles. She sends natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, to express the sense of turmoil and distress growing within her. Conversely, she rewards us with moments of tranquillity, like a gentle rain shower or a golden sunset, showing feelings of peace and contentment.

Similarly, to a parent showering their children with love and affection, Earth has taken care of us since our first steps, preparing herself long before the first appearance of our kind. She watched us grow and aged with us. She gave uswater to drink, fruitsto eat, air to breathe, and shelter to sleep. She holds us in her gentle arms, shielding us from the dangers of space and lets us bathe in her unconditional love, a true loving mother.

Though, thisleavesme with one simple question: have we, asthe children of Earth, ever repaid the infinite kindnessshe hasshown us? Or are we merely parasites, slowly eating away the one who has only ever been a devoted mother to us? Earth is slowly falling apart, as the greed of mankind continues to grow. Sea levels rise as her tears flow uncontrollably, tropical storms become more frequent as she begins to lose hope, and temperatures increase as she becomes filled with rage and disdain.

Terra, Tellus, Gaia or Earth; our planet goes by many names, but she is what we call in just one

simple word: Home; and it is only natural for us to protect Earth, for not only our sake but our family’s and the generations to come.

----

### Us

**Author: Kankona C., 18; Parent: Sukanta C.; Post: Kolkata, India**

Us, a tiny bit of dust, us.

Invisible, to the distant sun.

We create a brand-new world,

In this little head of ours

A world full of assumptions,

A world that was never ours.

We think it is in our hands,

We make it home wherever we stand.

As if our feet could still touch the ground,

If gravity did not keep us around.

What is right and what is wrong?

Who decides? No one thinks upon!

It is just us and our thoughts,

Us and our minds,

We think and create,

Answers we never tried to find!

Bring the ones to book who break the rules

That God never asked us to obey.

Maybe the ‘right’ is wrong,

Maybe the ‘wrong’ is right.

But we will never know,

Because we live in a world –

A world that we designed!

----

### Ethereal Earth

**Author: Sairandhri P., 16; Parent: Dahlia P.; Post: Kolkata, India**

In a tranquil lane, you and me converse.

In long conversations, we immerse.

Occasional stops, frequent glances

To the world around us, where the leaf dances.

 

Together we spot the various amusements

Provided by nature, ignored by humans.

The variety of chirps, the hysteria of children.

It all takes just a moment.

 

Natural disasters, unpredictable rain

Are detestable, its pain.

Moderate weather, though welcomed,

Are often overlooked by some.

 

Earth provides highs and lows.

With extremes, we grow.

Sometimes catering to our gentle needs,

Earth provides flowers with seeds.

 

From exuberant summer, unbearable heat.

Fugitive winds, memories bitter sweet.

To harsh winters and shivering cold,

All is a treasure that Earth beholds.

 

Earth, the carrier of this titillating beauty.

Carries vast oceans and enormous trees.

From green grasslands to city streets.

Beautiful mortal lives and painful decease.

 

And mountain tops to colourful skies.

Bearer of glorious histories

And exquisite sceneries

Is what the earth means to me.

----

### Rainbringers

**Author: Amy F., 9; Parent: Helene F.; Post: Shanghai, China**

Twirling, twisting spires forming all manner of nature,

Cumulus creators,

The creatures of earth and the beautiful flowers and trees in the harsh sunlight

In the midday glare

Haze glazes every surface

Rough bark, rooted unable to escape their seeded spots

Sweltering withered leaves,

Curling and crisp,

Now a crunchy path,

Trodden underfoot.

In the dim lighted evening,

IL luminescent fireflies fill the skies.

Under the glow of moonlight,

Cheery white wisps whirl into a tornado of hazy black clouds,

Pouring rain

Blotting out the midnight sky

Stars faded

Bathed in rosy dawn

Droplets glint on blades of grass.

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