Cuajiniquil is a fishing community in the canton of La Cruz, nestled between high hills and a tranquil bay. Like other places in the province, it suffers from drought during the dry season and is practically submerged after heavy rains during the winter.
These types of climate events are usually depicted or reported by academics, journalists, or public officials. Regardless of their profession, they all have one thing in common: they are all adults.
The voices of the youth in this community or in the Chorotega region rarely find a space where they can be heard.
To change this, a project created a space for young people in Cuajiniquil to receive training in storytelling through film, while also learning more about climate change.
Speaking with images
In 2023, the audiovisual department of the Central American Institute for Cultural Extension (Spanish acronym: Icecu) launched a workshop in Cuajiniquil called “Climate, Cameras, Action.” Three words that are not often seen together.
“It’s different if you say, ‘Come participate in a workshop where we’ll talk about climate justice or climate change,’ versus ‘Come and let’s make short films about what’s happening in your communities on this topic,'” explains Marcela Esquivel, a film producer and facilitator of the workshop. Marcela Esquivel is convinced that the audiovisual language can empower young people to drive social change and engage with environmental issues.
The producer mentions that, in collaboration with the Center for Geophysical Research (Spanish acronym: Cigefi) and the Mesoamerican Center for Sustainable Development of the Dry Tropics (Spanish acronym: Cemede), they chose one of the communities that could be most affected within the Central American Dry Corridor (Spanish acronym: CSC): Cuajiniquil in La Cruz.
The Central American Dry Corridor is a vast stretch of territory that spans the Pacific coast from southern Mexico through Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guanacaste, part of Puntarenas, and the dry arc of Panama.
They share the common characteristic of experiencing at least four months of drought, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
During the six four-hour workshops, participants learned about topics such as the Central American Dry Corridor, as well as climate change and climate justice. Climate justice was understood as the unequal responsibility that countries and communities have regarding the climate crisis. For example, companies, sectors, and nations that have profited from high greenhouse gas-emitting activities have the responsibility to help those who are adversely affected by the impacts of climate change.
At the same time, they were trained in audiovisual practices such as photographic language, storytelling, and community communication.
“We believe that this population, in both urban and rural communities, is often neglected in participatory and playful learning spaces. The project’s proposal is to build a safe space to bring these discussions about climate injustice into a tangible setting,” details Esquivel.
According to the latest National Youth Survey conducted by the Committee on Youth (Spanish acronym: CPJ) in 2018, only 8.1% of young people in the Chorotega Region are involved in ecological groups, and 7.9% are part of community groups.
At the end of the workshop, the participants produced four short films. One of these films was created by Beetsi Ruiz, 17 years old, who edited, photographed, and narrated the story herself about the mangrove in the community. She named her project La tranquilidad en mí (“The Peace Within Me”), and it depicts natural spaces that she considers essential for living.
“Many people don’t really know the functions of mangroves. Mangroves act as natural barriers against storms and tsunamis, reducing the impact of these forces on coastal areas,” explains Beetsi.
From the workshops, Beetsi says she developed a fascination with audiovisual production, and it’s something she continues to pursue: now, people in her community seek her out to help with recording videos.
Another participant, Viviana López, was more drawn to the environmental topic.
“When they explained what climate change was, I became like interested because I like things related to nature. I’m not a very big fan of cameras and videos,” confesses Viviana.
Her short film, titled Sequía entre Familias (“Drought Among Families”), addresses issues of domestic violence and the limitations on food production caused by drought.
“What we wanted to understand was that drought is not only taken as nature but among families, as well as families from cities as big as they are in our town,” she explains.
According to producer Marcela Esquivel, participants choose their topics freely and demonstrate that they are young people with a political and social stance on their reality.
“In the end, the topics they choose turn out to be extremely relevant and impactful. They are aware of what is happening, but we don’t give young people the space to express what concerns them, even though no one allows them to speak,” she emphasizes.
A seed for change
After the Icecu workshops, Beetsi and Viviana didn’t stop. In June, they participated in the 2024 La Cruz Ocean Festival, an event aimed at raising awareness about the importance of protecting the ocean and bringing together various sectors, such as academia and civil society.
During this event, they shared the videos they produced and gave talks to younger children about what they have learned regarding climate change.
“We can make a change because in our community there are several groups that can help keep the community quite clean. But this isn’t just something we in the community cause. It’s driven by larger places, cities, and big companies. This affects the climate and impacts coastal areas like ours,” explains Viviana.
Marcela believes that all the teenagers who participated in the workshop could eventually become the ones driving change and working on public policies.
“We are all growing, and if we are being heard now, by the time we are adults, we will have a foundation for what we want,” says Beetsi.
If you want to watch all the short films, you can do so at this link.
Comments