| Born to be wild - Mandalay (Burma) |
| Description: |
?This is Burma? laughs a student as he disappears into the crowd, a delicately choreographed chaos of haulers, children and cattle. Like so many other places in the country, the atmosphere is relaxed and goods are abundant. Yet the smiles belie a harsher reality:
?I?m here from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and I only make Kh 4,000 to Kh 5,000 a day, barely enough to feed my three children, sighs Than Moung Aung, an onion seller. This market is the shadow of what it once was. Nargis destroyed whatever cement buildings we had and nothing has been rebuilt since. We have no choice but to work outside, drenched by the monsoon, half protected by tents. Business is also not as good as it used to be. The economy is bad. Everyone lost money. To survive, we tighten our belts, but I?d like my children to finish high school and study engineering at university.?
Education will be no guarantee of social promotion for Than Mong Aung and his sons. Three stalls further, Ma Thini ? who graduated with a B.A. in management, is selling mangoes. ?I wanted to be a doctor, she says, but I didn?t score high enough at my exams to make it to med school. I studied economics instead. After I obtained my B.A. in management, I bought back my mum?s business, and I came here.? |
| Keywords: |
Burma, Myanmar, Yangon, Mandalay, Rangoon, Cocoon, Brice, Richard, bicycle, boke, motorcycle, parent, child, children, road, helmet |
| Date: |
10.05.2010 16:21 |
| Hits: |
37335 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
| Rating: |
5.00 (1
Vote(s)) |
| File size: |
34.8 KB |
| Added by: |
Brice Richard |
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