Comic cameos for a cause

IN 2007, Inquirer artist Albert Rodriguez created the comic strip Crazy Jhenny, inspired by Joyce Abaño, a coworker who had moved from Ormoc to Manila to work. “She’s really funny, and had crazy adventures and mishaps as an editorial assistant and as a reporter. I thought it would make a great strip,” he said. “When she left, I got ideas from my friends and family.”

Albert chronicles Crazy Jhenny’s adventures on his comics blog Crazyjhenny.blogspot.com. The comic strip also appears in Inquirer Libre.

When Supertyphoon “Yolanda” struck, Albert’s thoughts turned to Joyce who was in Ormoc with her family. “We didn’t hear from her for days until a coworker was able to contact her,” Albert recalled, adding that he learned that the roof of Joyce’s family’s house was almost totally blown away, but she and her family were safe.

Relieved that his friend wasn’t harmed but still concerned about the millions of people affected by Yolanda, Albert felt he needed to do something. He decided to raise funds for the survivors by selling guest spots in upcoming episodes of Crazy Jhenny for P200: “I was inspired by all my friends who were helping by volunteering and selling artworks. Bitstrips were flooding my Facebook wall and I knew lots of people wanted to help, so I thought, why don’t I make it fun by giving them the chance to appear in my strip?”

Better than Bitstrips

Albert announced his fundraising efforts on Facebook and his blog; soon, donations started coming in. It was better than Bitstrips—people got to see themselves transformed into comic strip characters by a real artist, all for a noble cause.

Some people even paid for guest spots of their pets. “I was quite surprised about the pet requests,” said Albert. “It was challenging to think how they’ll be part of the strip… I like drawing pets ’cause they don’t complain ’pag di nila kamukha.”

Crazy Jhenny’s “Tulong-tulong Tayo” series has featured Jhenny and her guests’ adventures and misadventures at relief repacking centers; it also highlights donation ideas and other tips on helping people in the affected areas.

So far, Albert has created 11 comic strips featuring close to 40 cameos. He deposited the first wave of donations raised from the project to the Inquirer Help Fund.

He is currently raising money for a related project, Kalinga Kay Isko at Iska, a program dedicated to helping student-survivors. “I got an e-mail from a fellow University of the Philippines (UP) alumnus about UP students who were also affected by Yolanda. Maraming students from Leyte, Samar at iba pa na nawalan ng pamilya o kabuhayan dahil kay Yolanda. Meron ding mga nag-cross-register sa iba’t-ibang UP campuses dahil nasira ang UP Tacloban.  I thought I could use my strip to raise awareness about how to help them, too. Remember how hard it was in college, to live on our allowance? Pa’no pa kaya sila? Some of them won’t even have a home or a family to come home to for Christmas.”

Albert, who had been accepting donations and guest-spot requests from friends and friends of friends, is opening the invitation to others who may be interested: “They can post a comment on my blog and show proof that they sent a donation to UP’s Kalinga Kay Isko at Iska.”

To quote Crazy Jhenny in one of the strips, “Guys, para kayong mga angels.”

Kalinga Kay Isko at Iska’s donor form can be found here: www.upd. edu.ph/~updinfo/nov13/articles/UPD _helps_Isko_Iska_survivors_of_Yolanda.html. Visit crazyjhenny.blogspot.com.