Hammond High School
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Return to main page                                          Samantha Vogeley
 
 
 

        Nekaoyela! Hello, and welcome to Burma.  A beautiful country with family, Pagodas, and great food.  A place with so much history and life.  With a population of 44 million,  Burma seems to grow in agriculture everyday.  The main language spoken in Burma is of course, Burmese, but they also speak some Shan, and Karen.  Everyday for Burma is work and school.  The literacy rate in Burma is about 81% among people 15 and older.  For school it is a law that you go to school from ages 5 through 9, and it's free.  They do have other schools though that you can go to for a further education.  In Burma, though, even though education is free, only about 19 million people actually work.  Some ways people make a living is trading and fishing.  A lot of people in Burma are farmers.  But in Burma the farm land and houses do not look like ours.  Most people live in clay houses with grassy roofs.  Those who do have more money live in brick houses.
      People in Burma do not have a lot of accessories, too.  There are only 22 televisions per 1,000 people, and only 1 telephone per 317 people.  Letters must be a great way for them to communicate, even though most villages are over 45 miles apart.  In between are towns with "street shops".  There they can buy supplies and see the great Pagodas, which are religious towers. In town their currency is with a kyat.  There are 6.41 kyats in one United Sates dollar.  Kyats are usually coin form and are very beautiful in shape and texture.
     The towns are not usually very busy.  There are only 70,000 motor vehicles and 34,000 of them are commercial, like buses and taxes.  Most people use bikes which makes Burma have a low pollution rate.  Definitely not like New York city.  Rangoon, the capitol of Burma is the busiest city.  There are a lot of Buddhist temples there which are full of beauty and gold.  About 89% of Burma's population is Buddhist.  The rest are between Christian and Jewish.  The people in Burma are true to their religion too.  Almost all of Burma's population are nice, well rounded people.  The crime rate in Burma has gone down since World War II, when Japan took over Burma.  The death expectancy in Burma is not high, most men live to be about 53, and women live to be about 56.  Maybe it is the food.  A lot of Burmese food is full of meat and noodles, like chinese food.  It's also custom to have peppers in the food and it is so spicy!  In Burma they do not have a lot of commercial foods and drinks.  Water is most custom when eating a meal.  You'll hardly ever find soda. Or a McDonalds believe it or not.
    Sports are a big part of Burma, too.  Burma is a big soccer and boxing fan.  They also have this one sport call chinlon.  It's a woven cane ball that you attack people with.  You have to hit them in their feet, knees, or head.  It's almost like the American dodge ball.  Maybe a little bit more dangerous.  The good news is there is 1 doctor for every 15 people.
    Burma, the land of beauty and grace, the land of religion, food, and history.  The land of literally,  44 million dreams.  Chezube(thank you) and thwame naw(good bye).
 

Sources:
1995 World Encyclopedia
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