Comics Power

The one thing I wanted to do the most while I was here in India was to join a workshop of the World Comics India (see link on the side). World Comics India is cheafly run by an amazing man, whom I respect and can learn many thins from: Sharad Sharma. This non-govermental, non-profit organisation (NGO) uses comis as their way of communicating and sending relevant messages to people. The reason I say ‘relevant’ messages is because World Comics India does not preach any messages themselves, but they work with other NGO’s on a small scale on matters that are important to that group specifically. The participants of the workshop are asked to find the issue they want to approach, and then are tought how they can translate the message into a comics poster. It is simple - Everyone can draw comics: litterate and non literate, the rich and the poor, the artists and the person that up until now thought they had no talent for drawing. In this way the messages reach a broader audience, and the audience relates directly to it, since the main character might well be your next door neighbour. It brings the issue closer to you. There is no middle man, there is nobody preaching from above. It the people telling the people.

The workshop I got go participate in was in Chennai (previously Madras), in Tamil Nadu. Unfortunatelly Tamil Nadu has the highest rate for HIV/AIDS in India – Second highest world wide. My workshop was run in co-operation with the Positive Women Network (PWN) and UNICEF, who sponsored the workshop. Me and Dipti, a law graduate from Goa, were to teach the children of HIV positive women how to make comics … although we got the mothers to draw with us as well. 

In Tamil Nadu they speak their own language, Tamil, and are not well spoken in English, besides them being too young to know english anyway. Dipti speaks Hindi… And me no Hindi – no Tamil. Language was therefor a barrier although we had a translator, but only in the beginning as we found a good way to comunicate via body language… and comics. It worked wonders.

These children had never seen anything like me before -  white as a naan, blond hair, and blue eys! The first day they dared not to speak to me. They only looked. The second day was better but on the third day I was dancing with them, laughing and getting lessons in how to eat with my hands! We had a very good time.

It was therefore difficult for me to fully connect them to their situation. These kids sure do not call everything their grandmother. Their stories are almost unbelievable, and I wish they were.  Being HIV positive in India is probably the worst label you can have. The general uneducated rural Indian believes connects HIV with horedom, prostitues, homosexuality and other taboos. However, they also believe that they can themselves catch the virus by everyday contact with a positive person. This situation leeds to a total exclution for the positive individual. Parents denay their children, siblings do the same. The religion denyes them access to the tembles and other religios function – which is a big thing in such a religios society. They do not get work anywhere and the children are often banned from their schools. The worst and most important is that  they are refused of puplic health care, many hospitals refuse to treat positive women. This causes many of the women to commit suicide.  These are the situations these children grow up with, and many have lost their parents, one or both. 

PWN is an important part of their lives, socially and physically.  That was the purpose of the workshop  – to create a campaign for the PWN. The stories involved these bad situations and how PWN came into their lives. These simple, ture and honest stories made powerful posters and it felt so good to go out on the streets and hang them. They were proud of themselves, and I was also proud of them. And not only was I proud, I respect these children.

I learnt valuable things from this workshop. In exchange to a simple lesson in how to draw and make comics I now have a better insight into the lives of the less fortunate who are HIV positive and how important it is to keep up your spirit in tough situations. I also see how important it is to seek advice and the power of organisations like the PWN. If it wasn’t for them many of the participants of the workshop would not be alive today.

After this workshop I know the power of comics!