US Terminates Funding For Pakistani Sesame Street

KimmoAlmPhoenix · Jun 5, 2012

KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. has terminated funding for a $20 million project to develop a Pakistani version of Sesame Street, the U.S. Embassy said Tuesday. The decision came as a Pakistani newspaper reported allegations of corruption by the local puppet theater working on the initiative.

The organization in question is the Rafi Peer Theater Workshop, a group in the city of Lahore that jointly developed the show with Sesame Workshop, the creator of the American series.

The show, which includes Elmo and a host of new Pakistani characters, first aired in December and was supposed to run for at least three seasons. The U.S. hoped it would improve education in a country where one-third of primary school-age children are not in class. It was also meant to increase tolerance at a time when the influence of radical views is growing.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Robert Raines said the U.S. Agency for International Development terminated funding for the program, but declined to provide further details.

The Pakistan Today newspaper reported Tuesday that the cause was "severe" financial irregularities at Rafi Peer, citing unnamed sources close to the project. Officials at Rafi Peer allegedly used the U.S. money to pay off old debts and awarded lucrative contracts to relatives, the sources claimed.

Faizaan Peerzada, the chief operating officer of Rafi Peer and one of several family members who run the organization, denied the corruption allegations. He said the U.S. ended its participation after providing $10 million because of the lack of additional available funds.

"Rafi Peer is proud of its association with the project and of the quality of children's educational television programming created within Pakistan as a result," the group said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.

If the corruption allegations prove true, it would be an embarrassment for the multibillion-dollar U.S. aid program in Pakistan, which some analysts have criticized for lacking focus and not achieving results.

Rafi Peer plans to seek alternative sources of funding to continue producing the local version of Sesame Street, which is called Sim Sim Hamara, or Our Sim Sim. The original goal was to reach 3 million children, 1 million of whom are out of school.

The show is led by a vivacious 6-year-old girl named Rani who loves cricket and traditional Pakistani music. Her sidekick, Munna, is a 5-year-old boy obsessed with numbers and banging away on Pakistani bongo drums, or tabla. Other new characters include Baily, a kindly donkey who loves to sing, and Haseen O Jameel, a vain crocodile who lives at the bottom of a well.

The action revolves around a mock-up of a Pakistani town, complete with houses, a school and Baaji's dhaba, a small shop and restaurant found in many places in the country. The town also includes a large Banyan tree, known as the wisdom tree in South Asia, in the shade of which the children often play.

Each episode is based around a word and a number, like the U.S. version, and tackles general themes like friendship, respect and valuing diversity. This last theme is particularly important in Pakistan, where Islamist extremists often target minority religious sects and others who disagree with their views.

The American version of Sesame Street first aired in 1969, and the U.S. government has worked with the company since then to produce shows in about 20 foreign countries, including Muslim nations like Bangladesh and Indonesia.
The Associated Press

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http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/05/us-terminates-funding-for-pakistani-sesame-street/?ap

I can't wait when they show the first episode and Pakistan's children with their eyes all sucked onto their TV screens feeling the childhood blast of fun experienced watching SS then see a real explosion killing everybody and TV MA rated carnage detonated by radical Muslims right outside the studio for the Unholy Sin of educating the public. Then we'll see headlines by Muslims butthurt worse than those editorial cartoons by white authors then declare a fatwa on Jim Henson and Co., and offer a reward for Big Bird's head for millions.

$$Trooper · Jun 6, 2012

I'm sorry but even if America continued funding this it would not make it to the end of the season before being suicide bombed into oblivion.

rms · Jun 6, 2012

$$Trooper said: ↑

I'm sorry but even if America continued funding this it would not make it to the end of the season before being suicide bombed into oblivion.
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No kidding.

Sesame Street is probably one of the most non culturally offensive things ever made (unless the idea of people in costumes and puppets cause you rage because you think one of them looks like some shit sacred to your religion or something similarly asinine), but yeah, it would probably have the ever living ass bombed out of it because filthy Americans are sponsoring it, claiming it's corrupting the youth.

And, on that note, considering Islam is a religion that promotes scholarship and education not to mention commercialism (the Prophet was a merchant), that would be hilariously ironic.

$$Trooper · Jun 6, 2012

rms said: ↑

considering Islam is a religion that promotes scholarship and education not to mention commercialism (the Prophet was a merchant), that would be hilariously ironic.
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Somehow i don't think that would bother them too much.

Nicholad · Jun 6, 2012

Who even has a TV to watch it there?

Weezus Christ · Jun 6, 2012

Zozmal · Jun 6, 2012

They would teach the kids the proper way of making bombs, and stapping it to your chest. allah allah, allah allah, Elmo's world boom.

Lyle · Jun 6, 2012

They should make a sessami street with nigger puppets.

KimmoAlmPhoenix · Jun 6, 2012

Lyle said: ↑

They should make a sessami street with nigger puppets.
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They had this in South Africa, with the main female character lead infected with AIDS.

luvur · Jun 6, 2012

$20M to produce 3 seasons of a show about fucking puppets? That has misappropriation written all over it.

Lou 500 · Jun 6, 2012

Zozmal said: ↑

They would teach the kids the proper way of making bombs, and stapping it to your chest. allah allah, allah allah, Elmo's world boom.
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And how to beat your child bride when she resists your advances.

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