Asia and the Near East
First Lady Laura Bush Meets Egypt's Alam Simsim Muppets
Mrs. Bush, accompanied by Mrs. Mubarak, visited the Alam
Simsim production studio in Egypt yesterday, a highlight of
her tour of the Middle East. Alam Simsim is the Egyptian version
of Sesame Street.
Mrs. Mubarak and Mrs. Bush were met by Amr Koura, CEO of
Alkarma Edutainment, Dina Amin, Managing Director, and Robert
Knezevic of Sesame Workshop/New York. Upon entering the studio,
Mr. Koura took the first ladies on a tour of the Alam Simsim
set. First stop was with Nimnim, a large green muppet similar
to Big Bird. Then, they met with Gergis the grocer and Filfil,
a purple muppet whose name means pepper in Arabic. At the
carpenter's workshop, they met with Am Hussein's (uncle Hussein)
family. The next stop was the library to meet the librarian,
Nabila. Then finally Khokha, the peach colored girl muppet
star of this tour, got her chance to exchange a few words
with the two first ladies.
After the tour, the First Ladies sat down to hear a few words
about the Alam Simsim program and the partnership between
Alkarma Edutainment, Sesame Workshop, and USAID. Mr. Koura
talked about the broad themes and educational goals of the
Alam Simsim show: girls empowerment, literacy, caring for
the environment, tolerance, and celebration of diversity.
He also talked about the outreach work of Alam Simsim to educate
parents about early childhood development.
The visit concluded with the First Ladies participating in
the taping of a short sequence with the muppet Khokha to endorse
reading as an important mind expanding activity for parents
and their children. The scene introduces the First Ladies
as important visitors to Alam Simsim, and Khokha asks the
first ladies to read to her. The sequence ends with a comical
twist as the First Ladies defer, out of politeness, to each
other to go first while Khokha waits impatiently for the reading
to begin.
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