Ahlan Simsim (Arabic: أهلا سمسم, lit. 'Welcome Sesame')[1] is an Arabic language co-production of Sesame Street that premiered on February 2, 2020, on MBC 3.[2][3] The show is the spiritual successor to Iftah Ya Simsim, a Kuwaiti production that ran from 1979 to 1990 and aired in multiple Arabic-speaking countries.[3] The show also shares a name and its characters with an initiative to provide education for displaced Syrian children.[1][4]
Production
The series was first announced in 2016.[5] In 2017 the show received a $100 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation.[6]
The second season, in addition to continuing emotional education, focused on helping children cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] The third season more broadly looks at "life challenges", social skills, and conflict resolution.[9][19] The fourth season looked at perseverance, optimism, and hope.[19] The fifth season focused on kindness to one's self and others.[2]
Characters
Human cast members include Salma (played by Mariam Amer),[20] who helps Basma and Jad in the show's DIY segment,[9] Hadi (played by Rami Delshad),[20] who plays guitar,[21] and Teta Noor, Hadi's mother. Both Hadi and Teta Noor teach the younger characters how to manage their emotions.[16][21]
Solely animated characters include Abu'l Fihim (played by Jawad Al Shakarji),[20] who lives on a mural in the neighborhood, birds Bulbul, Hasoon, and Reesheh, and a trio of Dabke dancers.[22]
The series debuted with three original Muppet characters: Basma, Jad, and Ma'zooza.[23] Basma (played by Hind Jaal)[21] is a purple almost six-year-old monster who is enthusiastic about new things and love to perform.[15][23] Jad (played by Nowar Mahayri)[20] is a yellow almost six-year-old monster who loves art and is new to the neighborhood.[15][23] Ma'zooza (played by Fatimah Amayreh)[20] is a baby goat who loves circles and is taught lessons by Basma and Jad.[15][23][13] Ma'zooza was created to show children that they can be leaders and teachers themselves.[13]
For the fifth season in 2022, the program introduced Ameera, a green eight-year-old girl who loves science and uses a wheelchair and crutches due to a spinal cord injury.[2][24] Ameera uses a boxy, more outdated wheelchair to reflect the fact that displaced children in the region are often unable to access new mobility aids.[25]
Episodes air primarily in Levantine Arabic and include Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, and Syrian dialects.[17] Modern Standard Arabic is used in some segments.[17] Some episodes have been translated into Kurdish.[13][28] The first half of each episode features Basma and Jad dealing with a problem or experience. The second half features songs, games, and celebrity guests.[29] Season 2 introduced number and word of the day segments.[30] Season 3 introduces a do-it-yourself segment.[9]
As of 2022 the show has six seasons, with each having 26 episodes.[18][20] Each episode runs about 25–26 minutes.[31]
In 2020 Sesame Workshop released four short public service announcements, featuring the show's muppet characters, which focused on health and hygiene.[32] The show also produced a half-hour special called "Ahlan Simsim: Friends Time", which was aimed toward supporting Middle Eastern families during the COVID-19 pandemic.[21][33] That same year, Basma and Jad also appeared in "Elmo's World News", a special aired internationally that focused on the pandemic and coping skills for children.[34][35]
Reception and impact
According to the MacArthur Foundation, 5.2 million children (from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria) viewed seasons 1 and 2, and 12 million viewers in the wider MENA region had seen the show by the end of season 3's initial airing.[8] In 2022, an estimated 23 million children saw the show.[36]
One 2022 study reported that children who watched the show had increased emotional regulation and larger emotional vocabularies.[17] Parents also reported that they learned new words or emotional regulation strategies from the show as well.[17] A 2023 study found that Jordanian children who had been exposed to the show at school every day for three months showed improvements in identifying and regulating emotions.[37]
In 2021 the program was nominated in the Kids: Factual & Entertainment category for the International Emmy Kids Awards, marking the time a Jordanian program had received a nomination for the award.[38]
In 2022 Ahlan Simsim was nominated for Best Mixed-Media Series at the Kidscreen Awards.[39]
Outreach programs
Ahlan Simsim's outreach programs to provide education to displaced Syrian children were launched in late 2018 in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee.[1][3] Programs and materials were created through collaboration with displaced families and communities from August to November 2018.[40]
These programs include year-long preschool classes for displaced children, parenting sessions, and materials for care providers.[5][12][13] In less stable regions, the IRC hosts informal play and learning sessions in community centers.[19] The programs also involve direct services in which early childhood development facilitators meet directly with children and caregivers in their homes.[5] As of 2022, the regional project director for the programs is Marianne Stone.[11]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative focused more on sharing messaging through text messages.[19]
The programs are independently evaluated by NYU Global TIES for Children.[19][41] A June 2023 report from the group revealed that a combined in-person and remote 11-week program affected children'slanguage, numeracy, and social-emotional development on par with what we usually expect as effects of a full year of preschool".[36][37] Evaluation of an audio-only program for caregivers of young children found it did not improve learning, but did decrease depressive symptoms in caregivers.[37]
