Running head: MULTICULTURALISM

Cultural Autobiography Project Part 2 Assignment

Mawi Mawi
Ivy Tech Community College

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Introduction
I am really excited to share my cultural background because I dont think that I have a
normal childhood since I am from a really poor family and country, Burma. Both of my parents
are Burmese, Asian, specifically, they are Chin Ethnicity. There are six members in my family
and I am the second eldest daughter among four daughters. According to tradition, a family who
doesnt have a son end their bloodline so my parent tried to have a son, however: they didnt
success. Back in Burma, nobody knew my ethnicity unless I talked, but here in the United State
of American, most people knew exactly I am Asian because of my skin.
Major Traditions/History or Events #1
My father was born in Hakha, the capital of Chin State and he is the only son in the
family. My paternal grandmother was born in a village called Hripi and my paternal grandfather
was born in Hakha respectively. They were married by arranging from both parents, and then my
grandmother had to move with my grandfather to Hakha after married. Being the only son
among four sisters made my father really naughty and reckless in his youth. My mother was born
in a village called Khuapi, and has eight siblings in the family. Both her parents were form the
same village. My mother was a really brave girl who would like to have a better life and good
education. My mother was trying really hard to get out of her native small village to have a
higher education since there was only one elementary school in the village so she came to the
capital Hakha where she met my father and married after graduating high school. At that time,
my father did not even graduate high school because as I mentioned above, he was really out of
control since everybody in the family loved him so much. He was raised in the wrong way.
My fathers native language is Hakha but my mothers is different dialect where they
used in Khuapi village. But my mother speaks both dialects, Hakha and Khuapi. Since my parent

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speaks two dialects, I can speak both dialect as well which is beneficial rather than speaking only
one language. I used Khuapi dialect when I talked to my maternal grandparents and other
relatives form my mother side. After married, my mother worked as clerk for government and
my father who did not graduate high school did not get a job easily.
Major Traditions/History or Events #2
After married, my mother moved to Hakha permanently and also got a job as government
clerk. In the two story house, my parent, my two aunts and my grandmother lived together. At
the time when my parent married, my paternal grandfather passed away a year ago. My paternal
grandmother also was not in a good health at that time so she passed away after my elder sister
was born two years later. I happened to come to live in the community where I grew up in
because it was the community that my father grew up in his entire life called Hakha Khuahlun. I
really enjoyed living in the small neighborhood where everybody knew who was doing what in
details. Since this is a really poor and safe neighborhood, children played and run around without
supervising from adult because there was nothing to worry about cars, motorcycles etc. Parents
who worked at office just left their children to neighborhood elders without paying any childcare
fees. Therefore: parent did not have any worries for childcare.
My mother had a rough childhood than my father. The school my mother attended was
about two miles away from home. She and other friends and siblings walked every day from
home to school vice versa. Walking every day to school wasnt an easy job, especially in winter
and rainy season. In Chin State, the temperature sometimes dropped about -5 in winter, and it
rained about one or two weeks straight in rainy season. When I thought about my mother
sometimes, I am really proud of her for such being brave at that age. I am so proud of my mother
who raised three children alone while my father was away. Researchers tracked 2,100 children

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from age 1 to age 17, and they reported that children growing up in neighborhoods with high
levels of poverty and unemployment are much less likely to graduate from high school (Burns,
2011). However; she always encouraged us to go to school and be educated. She did not give up
her education because of property.
Major Traditions/History or Events # 3
My family really enjoyed holidays such as Christmas, and New Year because we had one
chance in a whole year to eat delicious food such as meat. In my hometown, meat is so expensive
and not anybody can eat meat every day. If we wanted to eat chicken, we had to kill a whole
chicken from the barn. It was not impossible to kill chicken everyday so we had chance to eat
children three or four times in a year. Christmas was the most exciting holiday for us because not
only we had delicious meal with all the relatives and family, but also we got new clothes once in
a year. Since there were four daughters in a family, my mother couldnt effort to buy new clothes,
but she always did her best to get us new clothes in Christmas. All the family brought some
dishes over and we gathered for breakfast. Diner was served at church every Christmas so after
breakfast our whole family went to the church.
My family valued family time with other relatives. One of my aunts was really good at
cooking so we always gathered at her house and had some family time. We had to get played
with other cousins and ate some delicious food. If somebody form our relatives was sick, we
brought a hen for the patient. If somebody from relatives gave a birth to a baby, we again brought
a hen for the baby. If somebody from the relatives passed away, we stayed in their housed and
slept over about a week which meant that we shared their mourning.
My family valued their marriage. Husbands and wives lived together until they die. When
a man and woman enters one of our holy temples to be married, they covenant (or promise) they

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will stay together foreveron earth and in heaven after they die, if they are faithful to each other
and their promises to the Lord (Strengthening Family n.d.).
Conclusion
There has been almost 7 years I was away from my family. Nothing is compared enough
with my family. The pressure I had, the freedom I enjoyed with my family, the bone that I grew
with my sibling are unbreakable. Even though the neighborhood I grew up was really poor and
nothing to have fun with, I really missed the time when I played with my friends and siblings. By
doing this assignment, I found out that what kind of family you had and what kind of childhood
you grew up with, the most important thing is the bond you had inside deep in your heart.

References

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Strengthening Families., The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint. (Uploaded Feb, 21,
2012) Retrieved from https://www.mormon.org/values/family
Burns., M. (2011). Poor Neighborhood Means Fewer High School Grade. Retrieved from
http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/poor-neighborhoods-mean-fewer-high-schoolgrads-37159