Message in a doodle
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COMMENTS 
Leif Packalen from Finland and Delhi-based artist Sharad Sharma promote the comics form of communicating as the simplest, least expensive and most effective way of getting ideas across
For Leif Packalen (59) it all started when his Finnish friend in Tanzania wrote to ask if Leif had any way of transferring useful dairy-cattle ideas from Ethiopia to the poor who so badly needed it. Leif's romance with the scraggly line has been going strong for over a decade-and-a-half. Now, he's spreading the message across parts of Africa and South Asia.
For Leif, and his New Delhi-based pen-and-ink friend/colleague Sharad Sharma, comics are not just something to entertain kids. These drawings say much more than the proverbial thousand words of the picture -- more so when large sections of people still can't read or are stricken by poverty, illiteracy and a crying need for information that reflects their reality.
Leif Packalen started World Comics (worldcomics.fi), and Sharad Sharma picked up and extended the idea via worldcomicsindia.com. While Leif -- a former commercial attaché in Africa for the embassy of Finland -- has held training camps in half-a-dozen African countries, Sharad has been spreading the idea across half-a-dozen states in India and other parts of South Asia.
In end-November 2005, both men teamed up in Goa's sleepy Madkai village to host a training-for-trainers camp, which they hope will spread the idea to more people who can use it.
Put briefly, the idea is remarkably simple yet effective. You don't need to be an artist to express yourself in drawing. "If you have a good story, you can manage with less skilful drawings. But if you have a lousy story, there's no drawing that can rescue it," Leif told a dozen-and-a-half trainers-in-the-making in Goa.
On simple A4-sized paper, non-profit groups and tribal young men and women find an alternative to searching for that elusive access to the media. Leif's message is: wall-poster comics can be put up anywhere; wall-poster comics create local debate; wall-poster comics are simple to make, and inexpensive. "The idea is to enable people who have something to say, to convert their ideas into comic-format. This can then be transferred into a wall-poster or a brochure," he explains.
According to Sharad, "anyone from eight to 80" can work on this idea. And he has the creative work of Lakhindra Nayak of Jharkhand, Deepak from Uttaranchal, Champalal of Madhya Pradesh, Sujata in Orissa, Noel from Tamil Nadu, Zuala of Mizoram and Rina from Nagaland to make his point.
In largely literate Finland itself, this media is being harnessed for marginalised groups: immigrants, refugees, minorities. "But I must say, our international work takes most of our time," says Leif, who, incidentally, studied business administration and international marketing. He also worked on a development cooperation project in Tanzania, after being an embassy official in Nigeria and Sudan.
So, he's not an artist?
"I've trained myself," he corrects you speedily. "On realising the power of comics, I did a comic-making course. Then took drawing classes. In fact, I started drawing only at the age of 42; I had not drawn anything before that. Adult (continuing) education is very good in Finland."
Drawing, he believes, is a skill you acquire only by drawing. "It's not a gift from god. I took a degree in commercial art in 1998, at the age of 52."
Sharad Sharma, an artist who has worked with Indian mainstream television, has been extending Leif's idea and his slogan of 'comics power'. But he doesn't just stop where Leif leaves off, and invites keep coming across South Asia for him to conduct training courses. "This is my 25th workshop in one year. We have been busy (and can only manage to spread the idea by) training more trainers," says Sharad.
Leif adds: "I've been quite a few times to India. But World Comics India has become very strong. So now I mostly come here to learn. My vision is to see this method of grassroots communication being exported from India to other places."
"We develop pictorials on parenting issues," says Rina Nath of Kolkata. From the poor urban quarters of Manchester (UK) come two community workers Kezia Lavan and Kath Taylor who say: "We hope to use this idea in building more community participation (among the marginalised in an affluent society). We had a wonderful workshop with World Comics in May this year."
Meanwhile, in Mizoram, the idea is being moulded to preserve almost-forgotten folktales and pass these on to local children in the more-than-catchy comics form. In Tamil Nadu, some of the victims of the December 2004 tsunami were encouraged to use the comics form to get an alternative media voice for themselves.
"Most of the time when the word 'comics' is uttered, people think it's for kids. But anyone from eight to 80 can participate (in the training). It's not even necessary to be an artist," says Sharad. Involving women is important, he stresses. Men take to comics more easily, but women hold the key to development.
Sharad encourages trainers to get neophytes to write a story, break it into manageable parts, translate words into visuals, place the text on a rough draft, boldly knock out all but the bare minimum words, and so on...
For their work, they already have something to show. It's a 28-page booklet called Wall-poster Comics: A Great Campaign Tool. It carries cartoons in the Mizo language, tips on how to get your message out, and suggestions on how to 'text' your drawings. Then there are also stories on afforestation in Jharkhand, the neighbour's pig from the northeast, drug-addiction issues, the story of an eye doctor from Madhya Pradesh, and a Jharkhandi story on elections...from a people's perspective. You wouldn't think a line form more associated with entertaining affluent and middle-class children could actually talk on all these issues.
Villagers can easily pick up the rudiments of drawing; all they need are a few tips on how to reflect moods in an egg-shaped face. Or how to depict people and motion. Drawing movement, sound and other effects are also briefly explained. 'Adivasis neh jeeti ladayee' ('Tribals won the battle') is the title of one story on the Tawa dam project in Madhya Pradesh. "When you're using comics in this way, there should be an insider element to it," says Leif.
In the end, the message is simple: this simple idea works. If only more people would get down to trying it.
(Frederick Noronha is a Goa-based freelance journalist)
InfoChange News & Features, December 2005