Tobacco in Four Square ….by Usha and Manas (Assam, India)

After the Delhi workshop Manas happened to come to Guwahati and as a part of the  programme, we decided to do a workshop together here. So this happened! A Grassroots Comics Workshop was conducted by trainers Usha Dewani from New Ways Group and Manas Baruah from World comics India in association with Voluntary Health Association of Assam. The theme of the workshop was tobacco control.    A total of 16 people participated in the workshop. The participants were a mixed group of members of NGOs, Volunteers from VHAA and recovered victims of tobacco and drug abuse. The participants came from various districts of Assam and represented various age groups. The chief aim of the workshop was to propagate Grassroots Comics as an alternate media to express their concerns, ideas and voices on issues important for them and the community. The workshop was designed to bring out the different aspects of tobacco consumption among the people. Two sub-trainers, Sushmita Lahkar and Shivajyoti Das Baruah from New Ways also assisted in the workshop. The workshop served to help the participants realize how they can prepare comics themselves, to bring out their own people’s issues and set about motion to motivate them to work upon these problems.