Grassroots comics in action
Grassroots comics have been used by organisations to focus on different issues, such as racism, sexual harassment, girl child rights, school drop-outs, hiv/aids, sanitation, and right to education. These are just a few examples. Any issue, on which one can make a story, can be expressed through grassroots comics.
The rights of the disabled, Mwanza, Tanzania
Shivyawata, an umbrella organisation in Mwanza, arranged grassroots comics workshops in cooperation with the local branches of Tanzania Association of the Deaf, Tanzania Albino Society, Tanzania Association of the Physically Handicapped, and Tanzania Association of the Mentally Handicapped. The workshops were attended by 51 participants and the comics were made as wallposters. Some comics were also published in small photocopied booklets.
The workshops were funded by Abilis Foundation of Finland and run by Sanna Hukkanen and Sunday Ngakama.
Human rights, Ngozi, Burundi
The Association for Peace and Human Rights (APDH) arranged a grassroots comics tutor-training workshop in Ngozi in July, 2010 for APDH’s one-year project: “Towards a culture of democracy in Burundi: local comics on elections and governance.” A total of 60 wallposter comics were produced during the workshop.The stories were about land rights, balanced diets, violence against women, population issues, unexploded grenades, etc. The project will continue to produce comics during the next year.
“Cooking”. A man abuses his wife, who decides not to cook for him, although she already has a fire going. The man boils water on the fire and throws it at her. After receiving first-aid, she reports the case to the police. Story and art by Ms. E. Chanelle of APDH in Ngozi.
Pictures
Read report and see video
FGM campaigning, Burco, Somaliland
The organisation Candlelight has for some years campaigned against FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) in Somaliland, with support from the International Solidarity Organisation (Finland). Candlelight arranged a grassroots comics workshop in Burco, Somaliland in October 2009 on the FGM theme. The workshop was run by Ms. Shukri Omar from Shiffa (Finland) and Daahir Mahamed of HARDO, Hamaria Rehabilitation and Development Action (Mogadishu). The participants were both male and female pupils from different secondary schools. The comics were pasted up in schools and created a keen debate.
"Consequences of circumcision". A woman tells her husband that she is not feeling well and must see a doctor. At the FGM Trauma Centre the doctor says that she needs an operation and medicines because of problems created by circumcision. The man tells her that as he can hardly support her, he cannot find money for medical treatment. He wants to send her back to her family as they are to blame, and he is going to divorce her. Story and artwork: Khadra.
Pictures
The filthy market (Tanzania)
The community group EMAJA, Elimu, Maendeleo na Jamii (Education, Development and Society), in Tandika, a suburb of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, arranged a grassroots comics workshop in 2006. One story was about how the market stall vendors cleaned up their market. Story and pictures from the workshop below:
“The market place stinks”. The vendors comment on the smell at the market place. One of them thinks that the food smells bad because it is too dirty. The other one says that the customers throw garbage around. The vendors decide to tidy up the place themselves and the market becomes clean again. Story and artwork: Ms Theresia Bonephace, EMAJA Community Group
Pictures
Read the full workshop report.
Exposing the Electricity Board in Rajasthan (India)
Suresh had no electricity in his village, Aati, in Barmer, Rajasthan. There had been promises from the Electricity Board for several years, but no action. Suresh, a World Comics India activist with the Comics Manch (Comics Group) in Barmer, made a wallposter and an 8-page comic on the issue and distributed them in the village and at a public hearing. After some time the electricity came.
The villagers discussed how to get electricity and took then eleven applications to the Electricity Board, which did nothing. So the villagers made three complaints at three separate public hearings. The comic ends with the question: "When will the Government officials shake off their deep slumber?" Story and artwork: Suresh Jaipal
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Early marriages in Palestinian refugee camps (Lebanon)
The Finnish Psychologists for Social Responsibility (FPSR) has an ongoing cooperation project with a Palestinian Refugee organisation, Beit atfal Assomoud (BAS) in Lebanon, since long. The two organisations asked World Comics Finland to run a grassroots comics training workshop especially for BAS’ youth. Below a sample of the output from the workshop in 2005.
Note: read the comic from right to left (Arabic). “Marriage” A young girl gets married without understanding that the life of a wife is not always easy and fun. Although she is pregnant, she wants a divorce. Later, while asleep, she accidentally suffocates her baby. She says now she is free and will never marry again. Story and artwork: Ms. Jumana Khalid Azzam.
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Malaria action in Mozambique
UFF-Finland supports in Mozambique a teachers’ training college called Ayuda Desenvolvimento de Povo para Povo (ADPP). It has several branches throughout the country. The grassroots comics idea was introduced to ADPP and its partner network in 2005 and now thousands of wallposter comics are produced annually for a variety of issues. Below is a sample on malaria campaigning.
This story explains how to avoid malaria in a rural setting by environmental sanitation and the use of mosquito nets. Story and artwork by Ms. Julia Vivaldo from Escola de Professores do Futuro (EPF), the ADPP-supported teacher training college in Maputo.
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Report
Read Leif Packalén’s report from the monitoring trip in 2008.
pdfThe right to learn a trade, Senegal
The right to learn a trade is one of the 12 rights declared by the African Movement for Working Children and Youth (AMWCY). World Comics Finland was requested to run a grassroots comics workshop for AMWCY members in Benin, in 2005.
The boy has to stop going to school as his parents cannot afford to buy school materials. The organisation AMWCY finds him an apprenticeship to learn the trade of a tailor. Later he opens a tailor shop. Story and artwork: Ms. Romaine Dieng, Enda Jeunesse, Dakar.
Pictures
Video
Stories by immigrants and asylum-seekers in Finland
World Comics Finland has cooperation with some immigrant and refugee groups since 2000. The main idea is to give to people from different backgrounds a chance to voice their opinions and tell their stories through comics. Below a few samples:
“Frozen fingers” A recent immigrant waits for the bus in Lappeenranta town, it is very cold. When the bus arrives and the driver asks for the ticket, he says that his fingers are so frozen that the driver must pick the money himself from his back pocket. The comic was made at the Nuoriso-Kanava (Youth Channel) comics course in 2003.
“Shaimal’s journey” Shaimal, a young girl from Somalia, tells how she took a boat to Saudi Arabia, and was put in jail there. Shaimal was one of the young asylum-seekers in Ingas reception centre in Espoo.
Drawing from the Ingas centre by Leif Packalén.
“People without skin” Muuse, an asylum seeker, tells the story of some girls who saw white people for the first time in Somalia. “Daddy, daddy, people without skin…” Don’t worry, they are white people from Europe”. The comic was made at a course arranged jointly with the Finnish Comics Society in 2000.
Quick glances...
Globalisation comics in Finland
Nuorisoakatemia (The Youth Academy) runs a two-year project in which school children make comics on the issue of globalisation. In the training workshop for the tutors in August 2009 this comic was made by the pen name “K”.
Cover of the book “Comics Crossing Cultures”. Environmental comics in Nepal and Finland, youth interaction.
Nepalese youth, participating in an environmental education project, learned how to make wallposter comics. Their Finnish peers sent them their own comics on environmental topics. The organisation “A Day’s Work” combined the comics in a book titled ”Comics Crossing Cultures - Strips from Nepal and Finland”. Read more about the project on: www.taksvarkki.fi
Democracy promotion in Yei, Southern Sudan
The Danish organisation MS ActionAid brought the cartoonist Sammi Mwamkinga from Tanzania Popular Media organisation (TAPOMA) to run a comics workshop for community activists in Yei, a small town near the Ugandan border in 2008. There was a dozen participants in the workshop. Below a sample of a comic about poaching.
Democracy and participation in Kashmir, Pakistan
Nida Shams (World Comics Network – Pakistan) ran a workshop for the project “Strengthening Participatory organisation” in Upper Gudgar, a remote village in Kashmir, in 2009. The participants were all women, most of whom had recently joined a literacy program.
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Video
Learn more about the workshop on the video.
AIDS campaigning in Latvia
The Youth against Aids -project in Latvia gathered 16 participants in a workshop in Silguda in 2009. The participants came from a number of youth organisations from different parts of the country.
Immigrant children in Vaxjo, Sweden
Grassroots comics were introduced as a medium for immigrant children in a school in Vaxjo, a small town in Southern Sweden. The workshop was initiated by the school librarians.
Sámi cultural rights, Lapland
Sámi activists in Rovaniemi, Finland got training in grassroots comics in 2008. Pictured Rauni Aarela (left) and Sharad Sharma of World Comics India.
Respect refugees (EU)
A group of activists from different European Union countries created some grassroots comics on the refugee issue. The comics were made in an online workshop in September – November 2008. Above a detail from Souraya Ahmada’s comic on hiv/aids in refugee camps in Ethiopia.
