CAMBODIA: Teachers and students plant trees to improve environment
Don Bosco Kep launches Five Thousand Trees Planting Program with governor’s visit
CAMBODIA
(MissionNewswire) Don Bosco Kep, located in the Kep province of Cambodia, hosted the governor of the province, H.E. Som Piseth, to officially open the “Five Thousand Trees Planting Program” created by the Don Bosco Green Alliance Cambodia branch.
The local government has donated 5,000 saplings so that every student and teacher receives 10 saplings to plant in their villages. The motto of the program is “Bringing the forest beyond to our own daily life” and encourages the Don Bosco community to plant trees in their villages.
Kep is one of the greenest provinces in the coastal region. Although not covering a large geographic distance, Kep features hills, caves, beaches, mangroves, salt fields and a peninsula of 13 islands and islets. Its population of 50,000 is dedicated to agriculture, fishing and tourism.
Thvinh Sarl, a first-year student in the IT department, was chosen by the Don Bosco Green Alliance Cambodia to make a speech to thank the governor. As an Indigenous youth from Ratanakiri, Sarl said that it is important that everyone join together to protect the environment.
Father Albeiro Rodas reminded the Don Bosco Kep community, “We, Cambodians, can help improve our environment. We are descendants of brave Cambodian ancestors who built wonderful temples. We are capable of reviving forests that are also sacred temples of Mother Earth.”
Piseth underlined the importance of the environment as a place where communities come together to protect life. He said, “We are also part of the environment, and we need to look for ways to preserve nature.” During the opening ceremony Piseth planted a tree on the Don Bosco Kep campus, near an older tree planted years ago by former Governor H.E. Khem Satha.
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. The organization’s 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, persons with disabilities, orphans and at-risk youth in danger of becoming victims of human trafficking, labor exploitation or other abuses.
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Sources:
ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)
ANS – Cambodia – Kep Province governor opens Don Bosco tree planting program
Salesian Missions – Cambodia
World Bank – Cambodia
