Iftah Ya Simsim
Iftah Ya Simsim (; meaning "Open Sesame") is the first international co-production of the American children's television series "Sesame Street" created in the Arab world. It premiered in Kuwait on September 14, 1979 and was broadcast in 22 Arabic-speaking countries, running until April 6, 1990. The program continued to be well-known decades after it went off the air. In 1978, educators, mass media officers, and social planners agreed to adopt "Sesame Street" as a feasible and economical solution for the low attendance in preschools and illiteracy that plagued the region. They approached the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the producers of the American show, and purchased the rights to create an Arab version for US$2.5 million.
Emmanuel Etim
Emmanuel Etim was born to Chief Ishie Henry Etim and late Mrs Veronica Afakhame Etim on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1980 in Lagos Nigeria. In his childhood years from 1990 to 1993 following his love for singing, Etim joined and was an active member of the choir at the Festac Town parish of Presbyterian Church of Nigeria. It was during 1994 to 1997 while in senior secondary school he got exposed to the Nigerian Youth AIDS Programme (NYAP) through which he engaged as a peer health educator. Etim then set up an NGO called Adolescents in Nigeria (AIN) which was registered with the Cross River State Ministry of Youth and Sports. Few years later, he renamed Adolescents in Nigeria (AIN) into the Center for Development Action, an Institute for Youth Studies and Development Research, which has now been reformed into the Pan African Centre for Social Development and Accountability (PACSDA).