MONDAY January 6, 1997

Videos help
Trees for Life
spread message

Animators' instructional cartoons are
breaking the language barrier in Third
World countries.

By Cynthia Dean
The Wichita Eagle
A grassroots movement that promotes a low-tech solution to global hunger - planting fruit trees - has found a high-tech way to get its message across.

Members of Wichita based Trees for Life are learning animation and video skills to reach more people in developing countries, such as India.

Balbir Mathur, founder and president of Trees for Life, said the group teaches people how to plant trees - who in turn teach other people in their communities how to plant trees for the future.

"We've just found a more efficient way of doing it," he said.

The fruit trees benefit the communities by producing a source of food and income and by protecting the environment.

Mathur said many of the people in the countries are illiterate, so animation and video technology has proven to be an effective way to communicate with them.

"These types of communication transcend all cultures," he said. "Everyone can understand it."

Illustrated books and videos demonstrate how people can plant trees and how they benefit from it. There are some words in the cartoons, but very few.

Mathur said Canadian animator Frederic Back, who won an Academy Award for 'The Man Who Planted Trees," has created a new 10 minute film promoting planting fruit trees in developing countries for the organization.

"Back is our patron saint," Mathur said.

He said several schools that teach animation, including Kansas Newman College and Wichita's Northeast Magnet High School, have also agreed to help.

Reeves Lehmann from the New York School of Visual Art will come to share his expertise with the organization Friday through Jan. 12.

Mathur said people can be reached in the remotest parts of the world by using animation and film.

Trees for Life volunteers will produce more animated material and travel to the countries to present it to them.

Since Trees for Life was founded in 1985, more than 40 million fruit trees have been planted in impoverished areas around the world. Trees for Life is supported by donations from individuals and corporations, including Dillons.

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