‘Sesame Street’ Introduces Two New Rohingya Muppets Who Live In A Refugee Camp
Image via Sesame Street
Sesame Street has added two new residents, Noor and Aziz, into its Muppet family.
The twins, Noor and Aziz, are six years old and come from the displaced Rohingya Muslim community in the world's biggest refugee camp. They were introduced into the show as part of Sesame Street’s Play to Learn humanitarian program, which hopes to shed light on communities affected by Rohingya and Syrian refugee crises.
Noor and Aziz were created for a Rohingya-language educational campaign to provide early education to families across the globe, including the city of Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh.
Since 2017, many Rohingya families have had to find shelter after facing attacks from government troops. The United Nations Refugee Agency has estimated that over 40-percent of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh being children under 12 years old. UNICEF has also reported more than 680,000 children to be living in Cox’s Bazaar.
In a press release, Sherrie Westin, president of Social Impact at Sesame Workshop, stated that the new characters will touch on the importance of early education during the refugee crisis and coronavirus pandemic.
“These are two very special Sesame Muppets — for most Rohingya children, Noor and Aziz will be the very first characters in media who look and sound like them," Westin said. Sesame Street added that the new series is "rooted in the rich Rohingya culture and informed by extensive research and input from Rohingya families.”
Noor and Aziz will be featured alongside popular muppet Elmo in a video series on various topics, including social-emotional learning, math, and science. The videos will be made available next September, per NBC.
The series will be shown to communities living in settlements in Bangladesh, in hopes of creating role models for children living this experience.
Meet Noor and Aziz – 6-year-old playful Muppets who live in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. As part of @SesameWorkshop’s Play to Learn humanitarian program, Noor and Aziz will be part of new educational content to support children & families affected by the Rohingya refugee crisis. pic.twitter.com/3XiJsLbRbV
— Sesame Street (@sesamestreet) December 17, 2020
[via Mashable, cover image via SesameStreet]
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