Staff Photographer
Humans are not the only ones who advocate for HIV-related issues — puppets have been doing their bit too.
The HIV-infected muppet Kami, on the South African version of the award-winning children’s programme Sesame Street, has been around since 2002. “The decision to include a muppet who is living with HIV as an integral member of the cast evolved from a need to have a strong vehicle for promoting the humanisation of individuals with HIV,” says Patronella Sello of Sesame Street South Africa.
Kami is the world’s only HIV-infected muppet and helps to educate kids about Aids and confronts issues related to being HIV-infected.
According to Rhodes University Associate Professor Jean Baxen, puppets help children to understand complicated issues. But Dr Joanne Hardman from the University of Cape Town’s School of Educational Psychology warns that “they can be effective learning tools for young children only if content messages are backed by sound understanding of how young children develop.”
At an estimated 5.5-million, South Africa has the highest number of HIV-infected people in the world. About 280 000 of those infected are children aged 14 and younger and there are 1,4-million orphans in the country due to Aids.
Kami is also an orphan — she lost her mother to Aids. Her name is derived from the Setswana word Kamogelo meaning acceptance. At her first appearance on the world’s most enduring TV show for young children — the show turned 40 in 2009 — Kami arrived on Sesame Street nervously wondering if the others would want to play with her.
In 2003, the United Nations Children’s Fund appointed Kami as a global “Champion for Children”. She’s even joined former United States president Bill Clinton to deliver Aids messages. Yet she’s never appeared on the US edition of Sesame Street, with producers being in two minds about the controversy she may cause. One blogger on Muppets and History says: “She teaches a young audience about coping with illness and loss — [US] parents have already allowed Sesame Workshop to introduce acceptance with those who have disabilities and illnesses, and also with those who are a different race or religion. How is this any different?”
The Takalani Sesame team is working on a new series which will be aired in 2011. Since puppets don’t age, Kami will still be with Takalani Sesame for its next season. — Goodhope Mnisi and Juhie Bhatia. Bhatia works for Global Voices, a website that translates and reports on blogs from around the world
See www.globalvoicesonline.org for more information.