The Traveling Docudays UA in Berdyansk approached the problem of environmental protection and human rights with original methods: street actions, poster drawing, interventions in the public space or even board games as an educational platform supplemented the intense film program in the city.

Eco Kitchen

As a part of the Traveling Docudays UA in Berdyansk, the festival organizers invited everyone to join a street action, the Eco Kitchen. It offered people treats and an opportunity to talk about important things, namely about the problem of environmental protection. Because kitchen is a place where people share their own opinions, experience, news and things which they would not share in a formal situation. People talked like old friends who had not seen each other for a long time, and then sat in a kitchen and discussed the news. From the environmental perspective, it is the kitchen that generates the most waste in the house, and simple sorting or recycling can improve the environmental situation. The participants discussed the landfill on the Berdyansk city border and the problems it generates. They also talked about waste recycling, reuse, sorting. About the ways of communication with the local government. In addition, the screening of the film Born to Be Free created an opportunity to discuss the work of the local dolphinarium.

Loesje

The Yun Press studio hosted a workshop on writing Loesje on environmental topics. Together with the workshop participants, the festival coordinators discussed the environmental challenges faced by the residents of the city. They also created Loesje on environmental topics.

The goal of the Loesje initiative is to spread creativity, positive criticism, ideas, philosophical thoughts about contemporary events using short slogans on posters. The posters are signed with the Dutch female name Loesje which represents the global collective of people who want to turn the world into a more positive creative place.

Useful Board Games?

Can a game be useful, or is it just one of the types of entertainment? At the Center for Children’s and Youth creativity, we invited high school students to play a social cooperative strategy game The World of Communities.

For a few hours, the participants turned into community members, and they had to work by themselves, pay taxes, choose which community institutions to build and which they can do without, start their own businesses.

While at first the participants tried to make money for themselves, mostly ignoring the needs of the community, as the game developed, they started to cooperate with each other and help each other. One of the characteristics of the game is that no single person can win it. The whole community either wins or loses. When they understood this, the participants joined their efforts and managed to win the game.

So what, they played a little, won and went home? Not in this case. The participants started comparing the game with real life and real community. The game showed how important it is to unite and work as a team in order to resolve both social and environmental problems of the society. It showed that sometimes it’s better to sacrifice your own short-term benefit for the long-term community achievement. Especially in the case of such important issues as environmental protection.

Photo credit: Hulnara Abdulhaziyeva