Burundi, one year later...

Originally published on Aug 21, 2011

APDH activists having a review session at a recent workshop in Gashikanwa near Ngozi.

Our cooperation partner in Burundi, L’Association pour la Paix et les Droits de l’Homme (APDH) sent us about fifty new comics which have been made in APDH’s projects in Northern Burundi. 

We are very pleased to see that the 18 people we trained in 2010 have passed on the skill of making grassroots comics in many locations. The themes of the comics are: birth control, women’s rights, land issues, heritage rights, alcohol and drug abuse, sex abuse, corruption, forest fires, tree-planting, abuse of domestic help, nutrition, joblessness, the rights of the accused, etc.

Almost 1000 comics have been made during the year, and they will be arranged according to themes and locations, and made into booklets to be used in project activities.

Again, one can see that grassroots comics work well for an organisation, such as APDH, which has a broad-based human rights approach in its work.

The comic below was made by Ms. Nelly Kwizera in a workshop in Muremera. Summary of the story: A mother fears for the safety of her albino baby and suspects some neighbors will kill it for witchcraft. This, however, does not happen, thanks to the timely intervention by the police.

Comic by Ms. Nelly Kwizera