Don Bosco Global Youth Film Festival brings together youth

(MissionNewswire) Cambodian youth joined youth from around the globe in participating in the annual Don Bosco Global Youth Film Festival. This year’s focus was on climate change and the theme “I Have a Dream – Youth and Climate Change – Making Mother Earth Cleaner and Greener.” Social communication students from several Don Bosco schools in Cambodia were invited to participate in this Salesian event.

The winner in the East Asia-Oceania Region was “Women Guards of Mother Earth,” directed by Tula Hang, a media communication student at Don Bosco Kep in Cambodia. Also in the 10 finalists for the East Asia-Oceania Region were three films from students in Thailand and three from the Philippines, two films from Vietnam, and one from Timor-Leste.

A Salesian explained, “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 to get money for their family’s livelihood. The women confront them and seek better solutions where nature and community can work together.”

Don Bosco Kep provides basic, secondary and technical education to youth who are poor and living in the Cambodian provinces of Kep, Kampot, Takeo, Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri. Educational and social development programs help students break the cycle of poverty in their lives and become contributing members of their communities. Don Bosco Kep provides special attention to children and young people from ethnic minorities, youth with disabilities, orphans, and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.

Salesians in Cambodia provide primary and secondary schools along with technical education so youth have an opportunity to gain an education and develop the skills for employment. These educational services are bolstered by social development programs that help youth have access to basic needs like food, shelter and life skills training.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS) 

ANS – Cambodia – Women guards of Mother Earth at DBGYFF 2024

Don Bosco Kep

Salesian Missions – Cambodia

World Bank – Cambodia