Its All About the People

Suriname is a melting pot of culture. There are the East Indians 37%, Surinamese Creole 31%, the Javanese (Indonesian) 15%, and the Maroon (African slave descendants) 10%. As of recent years the Brazilian population has grown most of which are gold miners and now number 40,000+ members of the surinamese population and growing yearly.

As for religion there is no majority stakeholder, many of the people practice Christianity, either Roman Catholic or Protestant. And the Indian population is either Hindu of Islamic. The Islamic population however is the largest minority percentage in the world at 20%. There are other smaller pockets of religions. Old

While these numbers can only give you and idea of what the cultural environment of Suriname is like, to actually see it is a different story. During my recent visit it seemed that the majority of the population was either Hindu or Muslim. The Temples and Mosques peppered the city of

Paramaribo. Their spires reaching to the heavens, It was beautiful site. The communities were woven together like small families.

While many times the world over religion, politics and cultural differences breed separation within communities it would seem that the majority of the Surinamese people have found a common link among each other. Living side by side struggling to survive the people of this third world and often forgotten country have made their differences a part of their unity as a people.