Kalyanee Mam

Last week, I had the pleasure of hearing Kalyanee Mam present her movie Lost World, which follows a Cambodian woman who lives by the mangrove forests near the island of Koh Sralau. She and her family depend on the mangrove forest to survive. Their food, their houses, their sense of home come from the mangrove forests. But the sand from the mangrove forests is being dredged out by Saudi Arabia in order to build a expand their land. As Kalyanee and the woman venture around the mangrove forests and even take a trip to the Lost World, built by the Saudi Arabians on Koh Sralau sand, the woman explains the massive impact the dredging is having on their community. They aren't catching as many fish or crabs (their main source of food), some of their islands and quiet places are disappearing every day, and many of their family members have to move away because less food and less space means some people have to go. The floor is being pulled out from under them. 

After her extremely moving video, Mrs. Mam had a Q&A section with the audience which was much more of a discussion. We talked about different aspects of the issue (the companies, government, and NGO's involved) and the impact it is having on the local Cambodians. I was blown away by Mrs. Mam's movie and was very satisfied with the intellectual yet heartfelt discussion we had following the movie. I am SO glad that Mrs. Mam decided to come speak at Poly again. I learned a lot about an issue that I had NEVER heard of before, and I am now very interested in researching more on the sand dredging in Cambodia. Thank you so, so much for sharing, Mrs. Mam!