Tinh Thuong Microfinance Organization (TYM), under the Vietnam Women's Union, has just made an impressive milestone by winning two awards at the 2024 SineMaya International Film Festival.
The short film “ Escaping Poverty: A Story of a Muong Woman Supported by TYM ” won over the jury thanks to its touching story and special message about the role of women in the overall development of family and society.
TYM's Breakthrough Award at Film Festival
The short film “Escaping Poverty: A Story of a Muong Woman Supported by TYM” tells the story of TYM client Bui Thi Thu Huyen and her journey to escape poverty with the support of TYM.
The film won 2 awards: Third Prize for Best Film; Best Cinematography. In addition, the TYM officer who played in the film was also nominated in the category of Best Supporting Actress.
What is impressive about this short film is the true story of a TYM customer. More specifically, Ms. Huyen and her family members also played the main roles in the film, portraying very real, everyday, simple situations and emotions, full of efforts to improve the lives of ethnic minority women in the Northwest of Vietnam. The short film brought the most genuine and profound emotions in the tireless journey to escape poverty. Accompanying this arduous journey are always the figures of TYM staff, and the loan capital from TYM supports each step of the customer to overcome difficulties.
SineMaya 2024 is not just a film event, but also a platform for communities to share their stories, promote creativity and art through filmmaking, and raise awareness about the role of microfinance and social development organizations in improving lives.
The SineMaya Film Festival, organized by the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutual Aid Organizations of the Philippines (CARD MRI) and multimedia production company BENTE Productions, is the first community film festival in the Philippine microfinance industry. SineMaya began in 2022 within the Philippines; and 2024 is the first year that the festival will expand its participation to microfinance institutions in the Southeast Asian region.
Short film “Escaping Poverty: A Story of a Muong Woman Supported by TYM”
TYM Customer's Courageous Journey Becomes an Inspirational Story
The short film “ Escape from poverty: the story of a Muong woman with the companionship of TYM ” is based on the true story of Ms. Bui Thi Thu Huyen, a Muong ethnic woman living in Thanh Son, Phu Tho.
The film depicts Ms. Huyen's life during the most difficult period. More than 10 years ago, she and her family encountered many obstacles in accessing capital to develop the economy and improve their lives. Ms. Huyen got married when both husband and wife were just 20 years old. The young couple entered married life with nothing, an unstable livelihood, no capital, and daily living expenses that were always lacking. Ms. Huyen's poor health prevented her from doing heavy labor. Every month she had to go to the hospital for check-ups and medicine, making her life even more miserable in poverty for many long years.
Many nights, she looked at the house, dimly lit by oil lamps, the whole house was empty, without any valuables or belongings, the roof was covered with tarpaulin, underneath was covered with pots and pans when it rained. Her children were still young, skinny and weak, making her unwilling to live in poverty forever. At that time, she only wished to have a small source of money so that her husband and she could have capital to do business, buy some plants, some seedlings. Borrowing from the bank required collateral, she went all over the village but could not find anyone who could lend her capital to do business.
The 2024 SineMaya International Film Festival screened 16 short films produced by microfinance and social development organizations from Southeast Asia, showcasing inspiring journeys of resilience, hope and empowerment. The event had previously attracted 40 entries to the Film Festival and was selected by the Organizing Committee to enter the next round.
By 2012, when TYM returned to Thanh Son, she knew that the opportunity for her family to develop the economy had come. She applied to join TYM and borrowed 7 million VND, the first capital, to invest in raising cows. The first year of borrowing and repaying the loan was smooth, so she decided to borrow more to raise pigs. However, that year, the storm and flood submerged the family's pigsty, and her husband and wife did not have much experience, so they lost everything. But that did not make her give up, they continued to work for hire everywhere to earn money for living. Thanks to TYM's installment loan mechanism, she paid back that capital regularly every week in small installments for a year, but if she had paid the principal and interest at the end of the term, she did not know what she would have to pay if she could not sell the pigs and chickens.
The short film is based on the true story of Ms. Bui Thi Thu Huyen (pictured), a Muong ethnic woman living in Thanh Son, Phu Tho.
Seeing that Thanh Son area has suitable land, soil and climate for tea, she discussed with her husband the determination to borrow money to buy seedlings. She calculated that growing tea is not risky and can be sold all year round. Although the price of tea is not high, it is always stable. Thanks to tea, her family's income has also improved a lot. With the economic development, her husband and she continued to borrow money to buy more seedlings and fertilizer to grow more tea. Thanks to that, her family's tea growing area has increased from 4,000m2 to 10,000m2.
In the past four years, they have continued to expand into fruit tree growing. Since borrowing the first VND 7 million from TYM, Ms. Huyen’s family has now boldly borrowed capital with a maximum outstanding balance of VND 50 million. Every year, Ms. Huyen still maintains regular loans from TYM to do business and buy more household items.
In 2020, from a poor household, Ms. Huyen's family became a near-poor household. And by 2024, after 12 years of participating in TYM, Huyen's family had escaped poverty sustainably and had a stable economy, and their quality of life had also improved significantly.
The couple now runs a small mechanic shop and continues to grow tea. They have two children, who are well cared for, raised and attend school. Thanks to this, she has not only escaped poverty but also become an inspiration to many women in the area.
In her courageous journey of not giving up, Ms. Huyen's efforts to overcome poverty have always been accompanied by TYM, helping her access loans from the most difficult times. The film has affirmed TYM's efforts in accompanying women to overcome poverty and improve their social status. This success directly contributes to the implementation of Project 8 "Promoting gender equality and solving urgent problems for women and children" through sharing inspirational stories.
At the same time, the film's international recognition is also a step forward in promoting the image of dynamic and confident Vietnamese women, contributing to the implementation of the Project to support women in international integration. TYM will continue to make efforts not only to support the economy but also to enhance the position and voice of Vietnamese women globally.
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