Meena is a fictional character who stars in the South Asian children's television showMeena created by UNICEF. The show has been broadcast in English, Bengali, Hindi, Nepali, and Urdu. Meena educates the children of South Asia on issues of gender, health, and social inequality through her stories in comic books, animated films, and radio series. Secondary characters of her stories include her brother Raju and her pet parrot Mithu. Her adventures include attempting to get an education, having an equal share of food as Raju, and learning about the HIV, the right way to give birth to a baby, and helping people. All of her stories advocate change in social and cultural practices. Her popularity is due to her not being closely bound to just one country or culture of South Asia, but uniting the common characteristics of them all. The character of Meena was created by a team of people in UNICEF, led by Neill McKee, head of the Communication Section in the early 1990s. He engaged Rachel Carnegie as the main facilitator and brought in Ram Mohan, a famous Indian cartoonist, Dr. Mira Aghi of India as chief researcher and Nuzhat Shahzadi. They consulted UNICEF teams, NGOs, and government people and carried out hundreds of focus groups and individual interviews through out the region to arrive at the characters, names, backgrounds and stories. The first Meena episode was then launched in 1993 on Bangladesh Television in Dhaka.
Episodes
There are 37 Meena episodes.
"Count Your Chickens"
Meena wishes to go to school, but her parents see no purpose to this, because she is a girl. To overcome this problem, Meena enlists the help of her parrot, Mithu, who memorises the school lesson and relays it to her after class. As a result, Meena learns how to count in twos. She counts her family's chickens and realises that one is missing. It turns out that a thief has stolen the chicken. The villagers chase the thief and are able to recover the chicken. As a result of this incident, Meena's parents realise the value of education and allow her to attend school along with her brother, Raju.
"Dividing the Mango"
The episode starts with Meena's mother feeding her younger brother, Raju, a bigger portion than Meena because he is a boy. Meena believes this is unfair so she and Raju switch places for a day to see what it is like. Raju has to do all of Meena's household chores such as feeding the chickens, sweeping the floors and drawing water. Meena has to do Raju's chores; however, there is less work to do and Meena spends a lot of the day playing. Raju comes home at the end of the day and tells his parents how difficult it was to do all of Meena's chores. The episode ends with Raju and Meena receiving the same meal portions.
"Will Meena Leave School?"
Meena's father is worried because the family has run out of money. Hence Meena and the father have to go to the shopkeeper to get a loan of rice. The shopkeeper tries to cheat them by increasing the amount of the debt, but Meena stops him due to her ability to read. Meanwhile, the mother is looking for ways to earn money. The school teacher visits their home and tells the mother that she can work from home. The family buys a cow, as well as a bike so the father can sell the milk in the village. The shopkeeper tells them that if the family cannot repay the debt, then he will take the cow, the calf and Mithu. The father gets a fever so he is unable to sell the milk in the village. Meena and Raju go instead, but their bike crashes, which delays their ability to repay the debt to the shopkeeper. Mithu carries the money back home instead so that the debt is repaid in time.
"Who's Afraid of the Bully?"
Meena and her friends get together to solve the problem of bullies.
"Saving a Life"
Meena saves baby Rani when she has diarrhea.
"Meena's Three Wishes"
Meena dreams of a genie out of a magic lamp who grants her three wishes about hygiene and sanitation of her village people. As she wakes up;she decides to fulfill those wishes herself, as there is no magic lamp holding a genie for real. She then tackles the issues of hygiene and sanitation with the help of Raju,Mithu and all her friends.
"Say No to Dowry"
Meena and her family question the practice of dowry. There is a poor family around their village. A girl named Tara is their daughter. Shopkeeper and his brother meets with Tara's father about Tara's marriage with Shopkeeper's brother's son. Shopkeeper's family are greedy. They don't realize that Tara's family are poor. They request continue for dowry. One day Mithu was on the window of shopkeeper's house. He see that they plan to want more dowry after marriage such as:- at first bicycle and then motorcycle. Mithu informed this topic to meena and tara. Tara's family become confused. At last they close this plan of marriage and inform their neighbours.
"Too Young to Marry"
Can Meena help her cousin who is being married before the legal age?
The episode is based on the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. Many families from affected areas come to Meena's village for shelter and protection. Meena becomes friends with a girl named Nasreen and helps her find her family.
