Alam Simsim is an Arabic language Egyptian-made adaptation of the format used in the children's television seriesSesame Street. Alam Simsim is Arabic for "Sesame World". The show, funded by the U.S. Government's U.S. Agency for International Development, is a cooperative project between Egypt's Al Karma Edutainment and the USA's Sesame Workshop. This effort is one of several such cooperative projects funded by USAID in countries such as Russia and South Africa. The show debuted in 2000, and now has more than 240 episodes. Satellite broadcaster Future Television of Lebanon picked up the show in November 2005, expanding possible viewership to more than 200 million viewers in the Arab States. The show is set in the imaginary Alam Simsim neighborhood in Egypt. This area is Medieval-looking like Old Cairo except perhaps more rural and green. It consists of a small public square surrounded by a park; a store owned by 'Am Gherghis; the carpenter's shop owned by 'Am Hussein with apartments above occupied by 'Am Hussein's family, 'Ama Kheireya his wife, Mona his teenage daughter and Kareem his young son. A bookstore or library is run by a young woman named Nabila. The humans are referred to as 'Am and 'Ama, which are "Uncle" and "Aunt" in Egyptian Arabic. These titles denote familiarity common in Egyptian neighborhoods.
Characters
The show also includes three main Muppetcharacters who interact with the humans in the neighborhood just as they do on the original American program. Nimnim is a large green furry creature who wears a cap from upper Egypt and a patterned vest. He is a somewhat gentle and naive creature who enjoys gardening. Khokha is a furry pinkish orange colored monster with long black hair. She is a very inquisitive, imaginative and confident character whose main message is to encourage young girls. Filfil is a bearded furry purple monster who often gets carried away with himself. He is a bit egotistical and loves to eat honey-sesame sticks. Alam Simsim reuses many of the sketches from other versions of Sesame Street, dubbed into Egyptian Arabic. Some of these include segments using American Muppets, however some names are changed. Ernie and Bert are known as Shadi and Hadi, Elmo is called Tohfa, Telly Monster is named Mosaad while Grover is Jafaar. Kermit is simply called Kermit.
