Celebrating Inclusivity and Diversity at Berk Chet Festival
Come on a journey with me through our Berk Chet Festival: an inspiring, heartfelt, and unique experience celebrating diverse groups and amazing changemakers creating a more inclusive Cambodia.
- Pichmony Thay
Sur Sdey! Mony here, the Program Manager for Berk Chet Festival. I am here today to share with you the one-of-a-kind experience I had during our recent Berk Chet Festival in Battambang and Phnom Penh.
In English, “Berk Chet” means “open heart”. And I can say that the Berk Chet Festival opened by heart beyond what words can describe. The mission of the festival was to use a hope-based storytelling approach to showcase the amazing groups of people who won the NOW-Us! Awards Cambodia, and shine a light on the many others who also work to create a more inclusive Cambodia.
Berk Chet: Battambang Edition
The festival kicked off in Battambang at a creative space for artists called Phare Ponleu Selapak. Our awardee Arts and Mental Health hosted the first workshop of the day, on expressing feelings through arts. It was quite emotional and heartfelt. The day featured two other workshops: sign language, where we got to learn a few basic gestures in sign language; and learning about sexuality and gender, which was a super interesting conversation with our participants to understand the differences between the two.
The day was inspiring and insightful. One participant shared that “It was super fun! I didn’t expect to meet so much diverse community. It was very cool for me to learn about sign language. I feel that I got a lot of emotional support from the event.”
In between the workshops, we got to visit booths from many different organizations who all work on supporting diverse groups and promoting inclusivity in Cambodia. One of my highlights was visiting the booth of HelpAge Cambodia, which really helped me reflect personally on what kind of social support and protection I will receive when I age.
As night fell, the concert was about to begin. A youth group from Kampong Thom gave a mesmerizing dance to the movement of the moon. Our volunteers gave a singing performance, for some of them the first time they performed on stage. And then the grand finale: a performance by Vis! Throughout, we provided sign language interpretation. I could really feel the sense of community that evening — the sense of family, of no judgment, of love and open heart. I can confidently say that we “Berk Chet” that night and we celebrated the diversity and creativity of Battambang.
Berk Chet: Phnom Penh Edition
A week later, Berk Chet came to Phnom Penh! It was an intense week in between for our organizing team… Berk Chet Phnom Penh promised to even be bigger and bolder than our first edition.
In addition to a workshop on sign language, we had a workshop by SAORI teaching us how arts and crafts can support people with disabilities, especially people with mental disabilities. We even got to try doing weaving ourselves. Lastly, we hosted the influencer Bong Tomrong Pich who led a thought-provoking workshop on redefining beauty standards in Cambodia.
After the workshops finished, I had a chance to visit some of the booths, like Green Lady Cambodia who makes environmentally friendly menstrual pads and provides sexual reproductive health education to young girls in rural areas. Across from that booth, I went to check out La Chhouk, whose project Srolanh Kon Jea Kon Digital Campaign won the NOW-US! Awards. At the booth, they were collecting positive stories and messages that people want to say to LGBTIQ+ individuals, which will be compiled into a video (and I can’t wait to see it!).
And finally, back to the main agenda… the concert! For Berk Chet Phnom Penh, we featured 3 main guests: ChaCha, KESORRR, and Vis. Of course, their performances were fantastic! The audience loved it so much. My heart filled with joy the moment I saw our deaf audience sign the lyrics of KESORRR’s song “Me, You & Us,” which was part of our NOW-US! Awards campaign.
“It was my first time joining a concert that has sign language! For me as a deaf person it was very fun. I never feel like this before.”
And it wasn’t just singing performance! We had the honor to see Epic Arts perform their magical (and daring) “Same Same” show, and we got to see the creativity of the team La Chhouk in their Civilai Fashion Show. Phum Asia’s performance showcased the culture of Indigenous People in Cambodia. And at the end we had a group of amazing singers from the Blind Musician Association; together we danced Khmer traditional dances together. It was truly the most diversity on one stage in a night. It was so Berk Chet.
And that, my friends, concluded Berk Chet in Phnom Penh! I hope you enjoyed following me on this journey of Berk Chet and I hope you open your heart and celebrate the diversity of Cambodia with us.
If you are interested in learning more about Berk Chet or the DEI landscape of Cambodia, don’t hesitate to reach out.
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