MBC Sara story book-noispy

Sara
By Umar Butt
Illustrated by Becki Harper

© 2020. Published by Middlesbrough Mela

Sara
By Umar Butt
Illustrated by Becki Harper

Sara loved her home.
She loved the warm summer sun.
Sara loved having a bath in the cold sea.
She loved dancing in the autumn rain.
Sara loved playing with her friends.

Sandeep the seal.
He loved sliding on his belly.
Edu the eagle.
He was the fastest flyer
in the whole world,
or so he liked to think.
Henrietta
the porcupine.
She loved doing
handstands and
forward rolls.
and
Kiran the caterpillar was Sara’s best friend!
Whenever Sara had any trouble, she would confide in Kiran.

One day, there was a big storm,

with thunder and lightning.

The lightning flash hit a tree, which made a spark and set all of the animals’
homes on fire. Sara was very scared, but she helped all the animals to leave their
homes and find safety.
Many animals told Sara to come with them.
But Sara could not find her best friend Kiran.
So, she set off to fiind her.

Sara walked for miles and miles looking for Kiran,
but she was nowhere to be found.
Sara saw a slithering snake in the sand.
She asked the snake if she had seen Kiran the caterpillar.
“If you play ‘I Spy’ with me, then I will tell you where Kiran is,”
said the snake. Sara accepted. The snake started…
“I spy with my little eye, something beginning
with ‘S’.”
“Snake?” said Sara.
“No,” the snake snapped.
“Sand?” said Sara.
“No,” the snake shouted!
“Sun?” asked Sara.

“No you fool. Supper! You are my supper!”
The snake opened her big mouth to eat Sara.
Activity - I Spy
Can you work out which animals are below?
Draw a line to connect the shapes to the correct names.
Sandeep
Sara
Kiran
Henrietta
Edu

Just then, Sara’s friend Edu the eagle swooped down and grabbed the snake
with his claws, and asked Sara to come with him to be safe, but Sara needed to
find her best friend Kiran.
Snake pleaded with Edu the eagle to let him go.
“Let me go! Let me go!” hissed the snake.
So, Edu flew high in the sky and let the snake go.

Sara reached a watering hole in search of her best friend Kiran. She saw a big
crocodile coming out of the water. Sara asked the big crocodile if he had seen her
friend Kiran the caterpillar.
“I will tell you where Kiran is, if you play ‘Hide and Seek’ with me,” said the big
crocodile. “I will hide and you will have to find me.”
Sara closed her eyes and counted to 10.

“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…”
When Sara reached number 10, the big crocodile
opened his big mouth ready to eat Sara.

Just then, Sandeep the seal came out of the water and
bashed the big crocodile on his big nose.
The big crocodile went fllying!
“Come with me, Sara,”
said Sandeep the seal.
But Sara needed to find
her best friend Kiran the
caterpillar.

Activity - Maze
Can you help Sandeep find her way
through the maze to find Sara?
Make sure you avoid the fox,
the eagle and the crocodile!

Activity - Word Search
Can you help Sandeep find the following words
from the story in the puzzle?
CATERPILLAR
CROCODILE
EAGLE FOX PORCUPINE
SEAL SNAKE TORTOISE
V O A P D H C T Q A E J U K K
M Z Q P N I H S N F L B X L I
D Q T L F O U E U S I L K R S
G F P O S N I A R P D H N V N
E J F L U B Z L U V O W Z R A
M N O E Y C S R E U C Z L W K
A K I A A Y Z S I D O O K M E
F E C P G O I Y U O R P E G W
Y Q O W U O I S Z X C J C S N
O T C Q T C R E Y V A U J A L
P S J R C F R G E A G L E G H
K U O X V D H O K F L C V P T
F T L F T J U E P Z R I K T W
I Y O K R A L L I P R E T A C
S X M F E J R K K C V F H X J

Sara again walked for miles and miles.
Night fell. Sara saw a cunning fox.
She asked the cunning fox if he had seen her friend Kiran the caterpillar.

“I will tell you where your friend is, if you play a game called
‘Grandmother’s footsteps’ with me,” said the cunning fox.
“What game is that?” Sara asked.
“It’s quite simple really. You stand with your back towards me and
I will move towards you very slowly. If you catch me moving
when you turn around, then you win.”
As Sara prepared to turn around, Sara saw,
in the moonlight, that the cunning
fox was drooling.
The cunning fox ran
towards Sara…

Just then, Sara’s friend Henrietta the porcupine came rolling out of the shadows.
When the cunning fox saw Henrietta’s thorn-like spikes, he stopped.
“I will deal with this cunning fox. You go and find Kiran,” said Henrietta.

Sara again walked for miles and miles, looking for Kiran.
By this time, she was hungry, thirsty and very tired.
Sara looked up at the nights’ sky and saw thousands of shining stars looking
down at her. “Could one of those stars be Kiran?” she thought.
Sara saw a shooting star and made three wishes.
Sara wished for rain to fall so that it would put out the fire.
Sara wished for all the animals to be safe.
And before she wished her last wish,
Sara fell asleep...

She dreamt that the
thousands of stars glowing
in the dark sky, came down
to earth and surrounded her.
They picked her up.

In her dream she saw all her friends fighting to
save her life.
How Edu picked up the slithering snake.
How Sandeep bashed the big crocodile.
How Henrietta’s thorn like spikes
pricked the cunning fox.
Which woke Sara up.

Sara saw a butterfly
fluttering in front
of her.
“Where am I? Who are you?”
asked Sara.
Activity - Colour In

“I am Kiran and you are my best friend,” the butterfly replied.
“But my best friend is Kiran the caterpillar,” said Sara.
So, Kiran told Sara how she had to go
into a cocoon for five days to transform
into a butterfly. Sometimes it is better to
slow down and take your time to find out
who you really are.
“Thank you for going through all of the dangers to
look for me, you are so brave Sara,” said Kiran the
butterfly.
“Best friends look out for each other,” Sara replied.

She felt the raindrops falling from the sky. Her first wish had come true, she thought.
Sara looked around and saw all the animals were happy in their new homes.
She saw Sandeep, Edu and Henrietta, playing and having fun!
Her second wish had come true.
Sara was finally reunited with her best friend Kiran again.
And they all lived happily ever after!

This magical story of Sara epitomises the work that UNISON does with their members, UNISON is their
best friend as well as a network of support. The story is filled with hope and healing, saving and being saved,
with the overarching themes of friendship, loss, love, hope, help, care, wellbeing while also teaching kindness
which reflects the work of UNISON and its members.
Mavreen Ncube
Chair of the Northern Region Black Members’ Forum
Mavreen joined UNISON as she wanted to challenge inequality in society. Being a black
woman in the United Kingdom has thrown up some challenges for her. Despite the political
rhetoric about Britain’s traditions of ‘liberty’ and ‘tolerance’, the UK has a long history of
inequality and discrimination on grounds of age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation
and disability. UNISON challenges discrimination by helping its members to fight for a
better society for all.
As a black member in UNISON Mavreen sees her role as pivotal in encouraging other black
members to join UNISON in the work they do to improve equality in the workplace and
challenge racism and discrimination such as access to employment, pay, promotion and
training.
UNISON is committed to achieving equality in the workplace for all. This means
challenging the racism experienced by black members in the workplace and in wider
society - at branch, region and national level through self-organisation.
As a chair within the Northern Region Black Members self-organised group Mavreen
continue to campaign, raise awareness and educate people about the issues faced by black
people.
My Story - Coleman Macha
Black Members Officer
After taking up a full-time job Coleman was provided with information about joining
UNISON.
Over a period of time Coleman participated in job evaluation process twice which resulted
in some staf being asked to take compulsory redundancy so that the organisation could
save money. During this time a rep from UNISON visited his place of work to explain all
about austerity and our rights as members of UNISON.
After a meeting with a rep Coleman found that he could become active by joining a selforganised
group such as black members UNISON group. This opened up opportunities
including meeting other black members within the region and nationally.
UNISON gave Coleman opportunities to learn about employment law and my rights as a
worker as well as providing him platform to talk about issues such as racism without any
fear and with the backing UNISON.
Coleman now leads discussions on such matters during at UNISON conferences and branch
meetings. Coleman is also taking up further opportunities including courses and discounts
ofered by his UNISON membership, empowering him to participate in staf development
programmes where in some places of work they don’t exits due to lack of funds.

Sara
By Umar Butt
Illustrated by Becki Harper