From soc.culture.burma

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

	A friend of mine showed me a letter which she had received from her sixteen
year old niece from which I would like to include some excerpts to
illustrate the  hopelessness and apathy that many young people feel in Burma
today. 
	" I do not know when our national exam results will come out - I do not
even know when the universities will open, some are even saying that we will
be lucky if they open in the year 2000. Aunt, I had tried so hard and put in
so much effort into my studies so that I can get good grades and enter the
program of my choice at the university. But now I feel that I will never get
that chance for higher education, maybe I should just open a small shop, go
into business and forget about higher education....
	" Many of the young people are getting married very early.. we do not seem
to have a future.... there are also many young girls who are turning to
prostitution for economic reasons.  
	" There are people who are so rich that they can buy all imported goods but
we have also so many poor people now- many cannot even afford to have two
meals daily, the income gap seems to be widening.  
	" I wanted to send you a tape of some songs but the post office would not
accept the tape - I do not understand why everything is controlled for us,
feel like I am in a cage at times.
	My friend was very disturbed on reading that letter since she knew how much
her niece had wanted to enter the university. It was not only the feelings
of hopelessness that struck me but the accompanying apathy and resignation
to her situation made me sad  not only for her but for the youth of Burma,
who are being cheated of their hopes and dreams. 
	
	
	
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