Cambodia – Women guards of Mother Earth at DBGYFF 2024
Kep, Cambodia – October 2024 - Cambodian young people participated in the Don Bosco Global Youth Film Festival 2024 which this year was dedicated to young people and climate change, "I Have a Dream - Youth and climate change - Making Mother Earth cleaner and greener", in the context of the 200th anniversary of John Bosco's dream at 9 years of age. The social communication students and students from different Don Bosco schools in Cambodia were invited to participate in this international Salesian event. Three films made by young people were sent, but one would be the winner in the East Asia - Oceania Region: "Women guards of Mother Earth" directed by Mr Tula Hang, a student of media communication at Don Bosco Kep, with his team. In the ten finalists for the East Asia-Oceania Region, Thailand and the Philippines each scored three films, Vietnam two and Timor-Leste one. The Cambodian film stresses the need for community-oriented action to protect the environment. It is not enough for a single person or some groups to work for the protection of the environment if others in the community are simultaneously carrying out activities for its reduction and degradation. While a group of village women work to protect their beloved ancestral territory of wonderful giant trees, their husbands secretly cut down trees to sell them on the black market, in a hurry to get money for their family's livelihood. The women confront them and seek better solutions where nature and community can work together.