SA muppet is global champ

2003-11-24 13:59

Cape Town - South African muppet, Kami, was formally appointed by the United Nations Childrens Fund (Unicef) in Geneva on Monday as a global "Champion for Children", a statement said.

Kami is an HIV-positive muppet who appears regularly on South Africa's television and radio, and her first appearance with Unicef under the new collaboration will be in Geneva on November 26, where she will help launch a report, Africa's orphaned generation which details with the impact of HIV/Aids on children in Africa.

"The appeal of the partnership is that through characters like Kami, we can highlight areas where children are particularly vulnerable - from illiteracy to disability and abuse - in ways that are gentle, honest and compassionate," Unicef executive director Carol Bellamy said in the statement.

The South African project manager for Takalani Sesame, Gloria Britain, said the idea for an HIV-positive muppet originated in a programme contents seminar held between local partners in 2001.

Social responsibility

"All the partners have a social responsibility to do HIV/Aids programming and education within their different portfolios... and this seemed a natural extension of our work," she said.

Britain said television and radio were high visibility mediums which could reach many children and parents.

She said all the South African partners agreed with the spirit of Unicef's announcement, but that the "finer print" would be worked out later on Monday by project partners, both local and US-based.

On Takalani Sesame, the furry, yellow, Kami portrays a five-year-old, HIV-positive girl orphaned by Aids, who confronts issues related to HIV-positive children in a way that three- to seven-year-olds can understand.

Takalani Sesame is brought to the children in South Africa through a partnership with the Department of Education, United States Agency for International Development, Sanlam and SABC Education.

Unicef said that HIV/Aids was increasingly impacting on the lives of very young children in the developing world, but especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

In 2002, 800 000 children under age 15 became HIV-positive, with the overwhelming majority infected at birth and expected to die before they turned five.

Sub-Saharan Africa faced an orphan crisis of massive proportions, as the Aids pandemic cuts a swathe through the adult population, killing about two-million African adults last year.

- SAPA