Takalani Sesame
Encyclopedia
Takalani Sesame ("be happy Sesame" in Venda
Venda language
Venda, also known as or , is a Bantu language and an official language of South Africa. The majority of Venda speakers live in the northern part of South Africa's Limpopo Province, but about 10% of speakers live in Zimbabwe. The Venda language is related to Kalanga which is spoken in Botswana...
) is the South African version of the children's television program Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
. Co-produced by Sesame Workshop and South African partners, Takalani Sesame is now in its 10th year. Takalani Sesame is a uniquely South African interpretation of the Sesame model engaging children and their parents and promoting basic school readiness, literacy, numeracy, and health and hygiene. Takalani Sesame also has a special focus on HIV/AIDS awareness and seeks to introduce HIV/AIDS safety while promoting tolerance and reducing stigma. The Takalani series also includes a popular radio program, a newspaper and magazine comic strip series, and a national Talk to ME Campaign which encourages adults to talk to their children about HIV/AIDS and related issues. The introduction of an HIV-positive muppet for this purpose was widely misunderstood by the U.S. political right, with such groups as the American Family Association
American Family Association
The American Family Association is a 501 non-profit organization that promotes conservative Christian values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, as well as other public policy goals such as deregulation of the oil industry and lobbying against the Employee Free...
mistaking it as a means for homosexual activists to influence young viewers.
It incorporates all of South Africa's 11 national languages, including Afrikaans, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
, Xhosa
Xhosa language
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...
, Swazi, Ndebele
Ndebele language
There are at least two languages commonly called Ndebele:*The Northern Ndebele language, a Nguni language spoken in Zimbabwe*The Southern Ndebele language, classified as Nguni language or Sotho–Tswana language, spoken in South Africa, heavily influenced by surrounding Sotho–Tswana languages and...
, Sesotho
Sesotho language
The Sotho language, also known as Sesotho, Southern Sotho, or Southern Sesotho, is a Bantu language spoken primarily in South Africa, where it is one of the 11 official languages, and in Lesotho, where it is the national language...
, Northern Sotho
Northern Sotho language
Northern Sotho , also inaccurately known by the name of a major dialect, Pedi or sePedi, is one of the official languages of South Africa, and is spoken by 4,208,980 people — in the South African provinces of Gauteng,...
, Tsonga
Tsonga language
The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people, also known as the Shangaan.- Classification :Tsonga belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger–Congo languages...
, Tswana
Tswana language
Tswana or Setswana is a language spoken in Southern Africa by about 4.5 million people. It is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages branch of Zone S , and is closely related to the Northern- and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi...
and Venda
Venda language
Venda, also known as or , is a Bantu language and an official language of South Africa. The majority of Venda speakers live in the northern part of South Africa's Limpopo Province, but about 10% of speakers live in Zimbabwe. The Venda language is related to Kalanga which is spoken in Botswana...
.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
, Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, and Nane Annan have made guest appearances on the show.
Characters
- Moshe
- Zikwe
- Kupukeji
- Neno: See ElmoElmoElmo is a Muppet character on the children's television show Sesame Street. He is a furry red monster and currently hosts the last full 15 minute segment on Sesame Street, Elmo's World, which is aimed at toddlers. His puppeteer, Kevin Clash, uses falsetto to produce his voice...
- Zuzu
- KamiKami (Takalani Sesame character)Kami is a character on Takalani Sesame and Sesame Square, the South African and Kenyan versions respectively of the children's television program Sesame Street....
Crew
- Executive producer: Seipati Bulane-Hopa
- Chief producer: Horace Rayners
- Director of operations: Stan Joseph
- Line Producer: Shame
Episode guide
- Season 1 (September 2000-March 2001)
- The Muppets sing "Doing the Family Thing" (2000)
- The Muppets see the importance of exercise in "What I Can Do" and "Mika Skipping Rope" (2000)
- The song "That's what friends are for" explores the qualities of a friend (2000)
- Zikwe writes a "book about me" (2000)
- Takalani Sesame is holding a party about food (2000)
- In "Sunrise to Sunset", we see the movement of the sun during the day; a farmer plants corn and waits for rain (2000)
- The Muppets learn that whenever we talk about transport we must also talk about safety; a bird helps a monkey get bananas (2000)
- This is what my body can do (2000)
- The children look at some special things that they can make or do (2000)
- Children make their own elephant masks for a performance (2000)
- Children greet each other in 11 languages (2000)
- A little boy's sister has HIV and learns coping strategies (2000)
- Losing things, looking for them and finding them are at the heart of this show (2001)
- This show looks at different feelings and how we can express these feelings (2001)
- Zuzu and Moshe share memories of toys they used to have; combing your hair can be fun (2001)
- In a song we learn that insects are part of the circle of life (2001)
- The Muppets and the children learn that everything and everybody needs water (2001)
- In this show we see the Muppets busy with activities that need persistence and concentration; an ant works around an obstacle in his path (2001)
- Zikwe and Zuzu use a telescope to look at the moon (2001)