Sim Sim Hamara’s Performance from Pakistan’s International Puppet Day
Two weeks ago Sim Sim Hamara, the Pakistani version of Sesame Street, celebrated International Puppet Day in Lahore. Our partners at Rafi Peer Theater Workshop, whom Senior Vice President of Global Education Charlotte Cole recently wrote about, sent us a video of a puppet show from that day. Everyone’s having such a great time that not showing you didn’t feel right. Stick around til the end when they sing the Sim Sim Hamara theme song. It might be the most relaxing of all the international co-production theme songs.
On the Ground with Rafi Peer, Sesame Workshop’s Partner in Pakistan
Ed. Note: Charlotte Cole is the Senior Vice President of Global Education for Sesame Workshop.
The gates of Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop in Lahore are a portal into a rich celebration of Pakistan’s culture. The compound, which houses a Museum of Puppetry, a crafts exhibit and a restaurant, is also the location of the home office for Sim Sim Hamara, the Pakistani version of Sesame Street. And it was there that I and two colleagues, Sadaf Sajwani, Assistant Director and Lilith Dollard, Educational Content Specialist, spent the past week. We were in Lahore to forward the work on a coproduction partnership that began two years ago when Rafi Peer received a grant from the United States Agency for International Development to create a multi-platform educational initiative known as Pakistan Children’s Television (PCTV). Sim Sim Hamara is a key component of that effort.
This is not an easy project. The challenges of providing a high quality educational experience to children living in a populous country where one-third of primary school age children are not in school are great. Yet, the creative energy that resides on the Rafi Peer grounds and the drive of the people working there make it apparent that, however difficult, the team will find a way to deliver on its promise.
The loveable puppets from Sim Sim Hamara, the Pakistani version of Sesame Street, recently took part in Pakistan’s 9th annual Folk Festival of Contemporary and Traditional Puppetry. On Wednesday, March 21, before an audience of 2500 children at the Rafi Peer Cultural Center in Lahore, Rani, a beloved Sim Sim Hamara’s puppet, helped inaugurate the festival by cutting a ribbon and releasing hundreds of colorful balloons into the sky. Then Rani and the rest of the Sim Sim Hamara gang spent the rest of International Puppet Day, which marks the first day of the festival, singing the show’s theme song and playing with all the children in attendance.
To learn more about Sim Sim Hamara, Sesame Workshop’s local partner Rafi Peer Theater Workshop, and the rest of the educational efforts in Pakistan, click here. Funding for Sim Sim Hamara is made possible through the support of USAID from the American people.
In December of last year Pakistan’s PTV began broadcasting Sim Sim Hamara, one of Sesame Workshop’s newest international co-productions. During the lead up to the show’s inaugural broadcast, our Pakistani partner Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop made the above video to document all the wonderful work their team of Pakistani producers and performers are doing to enrich the lives of their country’s children.
Like Sesame Street, Sim Sim Hamara features lovable puppet friends that help children attain the building blocks of literacy and numeracy as well as encourage healthy eating habits and cultural understanding. Sim Sim Hamara might also have the catchiest theme song of any Sesame Workshop production. We apologize if it gets stuck in your head!
We’re so excited to be working with Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop to educate and entertain the children of Pakistan, and after watching the above video we think you will be too.
Generous support of Sim Sim Hamara is made possible by the American people and government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Ed. Note: Charlotte Cole is the Senior Vice President of Global Education for Sesame Workshop.