Supporting grassroots organizations and communities

Santo Domingo, 9/9/2011

Among the goals of the Muestra de Cine Medioambiental Dominicana, or DREFF, is to include and support grassroots organizations and communities, schools and young people in general. Dissemination of information, community action, reflection and education on important environmental issues as well as the creation of networks among these entities are considered to be of crucial importance to achieve satisfactory results that ultimately lead to a better society and sustainable development.

To this end, the DREFF offered various activities that served to incorporate and integrate existing efforts and to help them along as well as presenting new perspectives on previously familiar experiences.

On the one hand, there was the collaboration of the Make Gardens not War project represented by Rose Lord, who taught students about sustainable agriculture through the creation of a community garden. The benefits of this initiative are expected to be two-fold: young people saw, for the first time, just how a garden develops and grows, and on the other hand, they experienced the direct connection with nature, with the very soil that sustains us.

The DREFF also brought together a grassroots community such as the Fundación Rescate y Vida (Life and Rescue Foundation), of La Caleta, with the Centro de Excelencia República de Colombia (Colombia’s Center for Excellence), painter Amy Blount y Darcy Fitzpatrick, of the California-based Surfrider Foundation and the Center for the Development of Agriculture and Forestry (CEDAF) which was represented by its Project Coordinator, Ginny Heinsen de Freites.

All those involved, with technical assistance from Vida Azul and support from local artist, Marcelo Ferder, joined the beach clean-up of Padre Montesinos Beach in Santo Domingo. The debris that was gathered was used by the students and artists to create a monster of plastic and foam, clearly representing the true monsters that threaten our seas and water and which we should all fear: garbage. This trash sculpture awoke the imagination and consciousness of all those involved.

The ghastly garbage monster served to remind everyone that every time we toss out our garbage into our trash cans or containers, it may be out of sight but it is never really gone. We can hide it, but it is never very far away. We will run into it eventually, particularly the indestructible plastic.

The groups also established strong ties and exchanged their contact information as they discussed plans and joint activities for the future. They talked about developing projects and training sessions. Local groups got to know each other and compared notes and made plans and commitments to work together.

Therefore, it looks like the DREFF indeed met its goal…and then some!