In Saint-Étienne, the elected representatives of the municipal children’s council, with the help of the mangaka couple Anne and Minh, are using the power of manga to raise awareness of the fight against cancer.
The Cancer Plan of the City of Saint-Étienne takes a creative turn.
The Children’s Municipal Council (CME) teamed up with Anne and Minh, local manga authors, to tackle subjects as serious as the dangers of alcohol, tobaccopoor eating habits, factors of cancer, but also lack of sleep and excessive use of screens.
Each theme is explored through unique stories and characters designed by young elected officials themselves, all students in CM2 class.
“The goal of these boards is to change people’s habits,” explains Tim, a young elected member of the municipal children’s council. We want to show the negative impact of certain behaviors on health.”
Draw to prevent
This project, which takes place over several months, involves numerous collaborative sessions. These meetings are significant moments of sharing and learning, allowing children to understand the importance of these health issues while learning about artvery popular among young people, manga.
“Working with the CME children is really great, because they have lots of ideas. They participate a lot, there’s no need to ask them, it’s really great”greets Anne.
And Minh added: “In each working session, we imagined the story together, and in the next session, we presented the board and made adjustments with them. »
In total, 5 boards will be made.
All of them have not yet been finalized, which in no way diminishes the interest and commitment of young Stéphanois: “It’s a great project and I’m proud to be part of it. See our ideas come to life in manga makes us all very excited”underlines Leonard.
Once completed, these mangas will serve as prevention support to the City’s public health department during interventions with schools. “We really hope that our message will be heard!” »says Gabriela.
As for the CME mangaka apprentices, they will continue their awareness of health issues with a visit to the “Cancers” exhibitionvisible until July 13 at the Cité du design.
