/ 1 January 2002

HIV positive muppet on SA airwaves

Moshe, Zikwe, Zuzu and Neno will be back on SABC TV screens and radio with a new friend, Kami, a muppet living with HIV, when the second season of Takalani Sesame debuts on September 30.

The programme is specifically targeted at the seven out of eight young children who have little or no exposure to formal early childhood development programmes and was made possible through a partnership of private, government and non-government

organisations.

Speaking at the launch of the HIV-positive muppet as part of the new children’s series, at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town on Tuesday, Education Minister Kader Asmal said South Africa was the first country in the Sesame Street family to introduce a radio

component.

”As many of our children live in rural areas, often with no access to television or electricity, we needed to make it possible for children to have access to the programme through radio,” Asmal

said.

He said another first for South Africa concerned the muppet living with HIV.

”For us it is our responsibility as a nation, as a government, and more specifically as partners with the education sector, to respond to the needs of many of our children who are infected and affected by HIV and Aids,” Asmal said. – Sapa