Introduction to Nepal for students participating in the pen friends program

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Introduction to Nepal for students participating
in the pen friends program
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Welcome to Nepal!

• Nepal is a small country situated between India
  and China. It is landlocked, meaning none of it
  borders the sea. Most of the people in Nepal
  are unable to imagine what the sea would even
  look like!
• The north of Nepal is bordered by the Himalayan
  mountain range.
• Nepal contains 8 of the 10 highest mountains in
  the world including Mount Everest, which stands
  at 8,850m above sea level.

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Capital City Kathmandu Population 27,676,547
(estimated as at July 2005) Life Expectancy 60
years Religion 81 Hinduism 11 Buddhism 4
Islam 4 Others Nepal is the only official
Hindu country in the world.
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Language 48 Nepali 52 Regional dialects Many
people working in government and business in
Nepal are also able to speak English. Literacy 4
5 of the total population over 15 years of age
can read and write. 65 of these people are
male. This means only around 35 of females in
Nepal can read and write.
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• This is the flag of Nepal.
• It is the only flag in the world not to consist
  of a rectangular shape.
• The picture in the top triangle symbolises the
  moon.
• The picture in the bottom triangle symbolises
  the sun.

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• Natural Resources quartz, water, timber,
  hydropower, scenic beauty, copper, cobalt, iron
  ore
• Industries tourism, carpet, textile rice, jute,
  sugar, and oilseed mills cigarette cement and
  brick production
• Agriculture rice, corn, wheat, sugarcane, root
  crops milk, water buffalo meat
• Nepal has an unemployment rate of 47.
• 81 of the population work in agriculture.
• 42 of the population live below the poverty
  line.

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• Exports carpets, clothing, leather goods, jute
  goods, grain
• Imports gold, machinery and equipment, petroleum
  products, fertilizer
• Currency Nepalese Rupee
• India is Nepals main trading partner both for
  exports and imports.
• India accounts for almost 50 of Nepals trade.

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Part of the Himalayan mountain range, one of
things for which Nepal is famous.
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Typical Nepali children with their pet goats. The
female goats are kept for their milk whilst the
male goats are used for meat.
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One of the many Hindu temples in Kathmandu. These
temples are hundreds of years old and are made
entirely by hand right down to all the bricks and
very ornate wood carvings.
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The bride and groom in a typical Nepali wedding
ceremony. Notice their dress is very different to
couples being married in Australia. Nepali brides
always wear red, white is only worn by people
mourning the death of a relative.
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This man is a Sadhu or holy man. He is a Hindu
and has left his worldly life behind to discover
enlightenment. He relies entirely upon donations
to survive. There are many men like this
throughout Nepal and India.
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Typical Nepali school children having fun in
their playground. These children will be just
like the ones you write to. You can see that in
many ways they are no different from you!
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Letter writing   Despite the many forms of
communication available today, it is no surprise
that so many people all over the world continue
to communicate with pen friends. It is hard to
match the anticipation of waiting for letters to
arrive, the stamps, postmarks, fancy writing
paper, postcards, photos, tokens of friendship,
the time and care people have taken to write the
letters, sitting quietly and reading the letters
time and time again, and possibly keeping them
for many years as part of personal history. It is
also better to receive letters in the mail than
junk mail and bills! So, now that you know a
little more about Nepal, go and write to your new
pen friend and most of all enjoy it!