Page 30 - ARUBATODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 23 January 2020
'Sesame Street' comforts children

displaced by Syrian war

By MARK KENNEDY message. "The humor has explore that fear.
AP Entertainment Writer to be there always, which "It's more than a TV show.
NEW YORK (AP) — "Sesame is the 'Sesame' spirit," said It's a massive intervention,"
Street" in the past year has Khaled Haddad, an execu- said Cameron. "It's a world
tackled everything from tive producer. where children and their
foster care to substance "Ahlan Simsim" will premiere families can feel safe and
abuse. Now its latest effort Feb. 2 on MBC3, a pan- secure.
This image released by Sesame Workshop shows, from left, Gro- is trying to help children suf- Arab satellite network that And it's a world where the
ver, Basma, Ma'zooza and Jad with Rami Delshad, who portrays fering as a result of the Syr- reaches 20 countries in media content is meant
Hadi in "Welcome Sesame," a new, locally produced Arabic TV ian civil war. North Africa, the Gulf and to be a portal into a fuller,
program for the hundreds of thousands of children dealing with Sesame Workshop — the the Levant, as well as You- broader set of humanitar-
displacement in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. nonprofit, educational or- Tube and national broad- ian assistance."
Associated Press
ganization behind "Sesame casters across the region. The program was initially
Street" — has launched a Production is based in the funded by a $100 mil-
new, locally produced Ara- Jordanian capital Amman, lion award by the John D.
bic TV program for the hun- with input from writers and and Catherine T. MacAr-
dreds of thousands of chil- performers from across the thur Foundation. The LEGO
dren dealing with displace- region. Dialects will be di- Foundation then awarded
ment in Syria, Iraq, Jordan versified, from Jordanian to an additional $100 mil-
and Lebanon. Saudi. lion to deepen the play-
"The thing that became "We know a lot about chil- based learning of "Ahlan
very apparent in our work dren and children's devel- Simsim" and gave Sesame
on the ground is how criti- opment and what's need- Workshop the chance to
cal the need was for the ed. But we always want to expand to Bangladesh to
children of this region and learn from people on the serve families affected by
children who have been ground," said Westin. "We the Rohingya crisis.
affected by traumatic know that when children Since the Syrian conflict
events to have the social can see themselves, iden- broke out in 2011, some 5
and emotional skills they tify with these characters million children have been
need," said Sherrie Westin, and when they can relate displaced internally and
president of Social Impact to the story lines, we are the outside Syria, according to
& Philanthropy at Sesame most effective." the U.N.-backed Commis-
Workshop. Targeted for children ages sion of Inquiry on the Syrian
Called "Ahlan Simsim," 3-8, the show will steer clear Arab Republic. Its report
which means "Welcome of the larger political, social this month said the young-
Sesame" in Arabic, the or religious issues. "To the sters have been "robbed of
show will feature Elmo, best of our ability we are their childhood" by viola-
Cookie Monster and Gro- not making political state- tions from all sides.
ver, as well as two brand ments," Westin said. "Sesame Street" has had
new Muppets — the boy "The spirit behind 'Sesame a presence in the Middle
monster Jad, who had to Street' has always been it East for decades, starting
leave his home, and Bas- doesn't matter if you have when the show "Iftah Ya
ma, a purple girl monster purple fur or yellow fur," Simsim" premiered in 1979
who befriends the young said Scott Cameron, a two- in Kuwait, followed by local
stranger. time Emmy Award-winning Egyptian, Jordanian, Pales-
An adorable goat named producer who serves as tinian and Israeli versions of
Ma'zooza adds comic re- executive producer of the "Sesame Street."
lief. new show. This time, to assess which
Each 26-minute show will "It's a place where children early childhood interven-
explore emotions experi- can feel safe and support- tions work best in crisis set-
enced by all kids but par- ed and where real things tings, Sesame Workshop is
ticularly relevant to those are tackled — like fear of working with New York Uni-
dealing with trauma and the dark, frustration or lone- versity's Global TIES for Chil-
will offer coping skills for liness. We try to always do it dren center to indepen-
feelings like anger, fear, with comedy alongside the dently evaluate both the
frustration, nervousness heartfelt." direct services and mass
and loneliness. In one epi- The show is at the center of media components of the
sode, Basma shares her a wider push together with program.
toys with Jad, since he left the International Rescue Creators hope the lessons
his behind. Some of the Committee that includes learned in the Middle East
strategies include belly direct services, including can be translated to other
breathing and expression home visits, classrooms regions, just as things "Sesa-
through art. and health clinics, all en- me Street" learned in Amer-
A variety show in the sec- hanced by Sesame materi- ican inner cities can help
ond half of each episode als like storybooks, puzzles, all children. "It will reach
offers creators the chance games and videos. One children throughout the
to bring in local celebrities episode, for example, will Middle East but the ben-
and attract an adult audi- show Jad terrified of going efits will be to all children,"
ence to hammer home the to the doctor and then will said Westin.q