Awareness raising and
education for development

Why we do awareness campaigns regarding refugees

Racism, Xenophobia, Intolerance, Cultural shock takes, nowadays, different forms and the fight against it must also be diverse. Primarily, people – children, teenagers, adults - living in countries receiving refugees/asylum seekers have to make an effort to build social relationships that base itself on the cultural diversity of nowadays’ society and on equality in rights and democracy and we think that educating these persons and inform them about refugees/asylum seekers’ situation through awareness campaign can help eradicate ignorance that mostly causes rejection of the “others” and also promote solidarity and activism.

Why we decided to use comics and who is our main target

Everyone knows that comics have had for several years and is still having a high power of attraction on children and teenagers. Loads of adults have also recognised that comics still raise their interest as it used to when they were children. It, therefore, constitutes an excellent and fun way of raising awareness. Our campaign is mainly aimed at youth as they can influence the present and future situation and constitutes citizens of the future.

What we intend to produce

We are preparing a comic books dealing with different aspects of a refugee/asylum seeker’s life (such as living in a refugee camp, resettlement, fleeing their own country, etc….) and in different languages. Last year, before starting the project two members of RESPECT tried to create a wall poster “grass root style”. This way they wanted to see for themselves the difficulties that creating a comic involves, to familiarise themselves with the different techniques that can be used as well as finding out about the best way to convey information about refugees. They did it through an online workshop (first of its kind) thanks to World Comics Finland www.worldcomics.fi. Mr Leif Packalén, the chairman, provided them with all necessary materials during the whole workshop. He also kindly guided and advised them during the whole process. Please check on the result.

Examples: DISA and YEMI

If you would like to be a PARTNER, ILLUSTRATE A STORY OR PROVIDE US WITH ONE REGARDING REFUGEES, please contact us at sa@respectrefugiados.org or mercedes@respectrefugiados.org.

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