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Children teach children comics in advocacy

When Sompa, Sumi and Narayan participated in a workshop ‘Comic for Advocacy’, it was a healing process and story-telling experience they will never forget, so much so, that they are sharing their knowledge and experience with more children in need.

Comics as a medium for children and communities to highlight and bring focus on developmental issues was pioneered in India by Sharad Sharma, a Delhi-based cartoonist who set up World Comics India to take this form of grass roots communication to a wider audience.

“Comics are a strong visual form of communication and combined with the strong story telling tradition of India becomes a unique way for people to communicate issues,” says Sharad Sharma who worked with the children to train them in creating these cartoon-comics.

‘Teach to learn better’ is what these three children are practicing and their host of learners is none other than the needy group of children living in the slums, the streets and along the railway points of Guwahati city.

Fourteen-year-old Narayan Singh started the session by teaching how to sketch different faces using the alphabetical representation of “O” and “T”. Sompa then took charge, teaching the children to pencil different parts of the body. Sompa herself is an orphan who lost her father when she was small and has been underprivileged for as long as she can remember. A girl of few words by nature, Sompa said,”I gained so much confidence after conducting this programme”.

As Indian cities grow even bigger – the plight of struggling children is also graver. And in this case, Sompa understands the pulse and problem of a struggling child. “I want to continue helping children living in difficulties and who cannot read or write, to express their inner thoughts through art, paintings and sketching”, she said, with so much focus.

The three young facilitators then asked the group to identify an issue and develop a story around it. “Most of the children wrote stories on their life, hardships, their encounters with the railway police and bad habits like sniffing dendrite and smoking”, said Gameliel Sherio – Programme Manager, World Vision India’s Guwahati Street Children Project.

“I enjoyed being here. I learnt how to make four parts of a comic. And I would love to learn more.”, said Abbas, a participant and one of the children served by World Vision’s Street Children Project, in Guwahati.

The creative adrenaline and high level of enthusiasm seemed to beat the heat and humidity of the place yet the young and learning artists loved every moment of it. “Some of these kids have faced all kinds of abuse and have had a bitter past, a platform like this where they can freely express themselves is always fun”, said Gameliel.

The entire session covered art learning, dialogue writing, sketching, painting and comic critiquing.