Sesame Workshop Debuts First-Ever Rohingya Muppets

Noor and Aziz—6-year-old twins that love to learn and play—are Sesame Workshop's first ever Rohingya Muppets.

By Melissa Wickes December 17, 2020

Sesame Workshop is welcoming two new exciting friends to the street: Noor Yasmin and Aziz—six-year-old twins who live in the Cox's Bazar refugee camp. The new additions to the Sesame Street family come with the Play to Learn Humanitarian Program supporting children and families affected by the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh, made possible by the LEGO Foundation.

Noor loves to make up fun and funny rules for games she plays with her friends and family and she is deeply curious about how the world works. She uses play to help understand the world around her and asks lots of questions. Noor is confident and believes there is no problem too big for her to try to solve.

Noor's brother Aziz is a natural storyteller and performer and loves to use his imagination to create and act out stories about kings, queens, and animals. Sometimes his creativity distracts him from accomplishing tasks, but his sister Noor and his friends help him focus. Aziz loves to help with household chores and values helping his family and friends.

Meet Noor and Aziz:

“Noor and Aziz are at the heart of our efforts to bring early education and learning through play to children and caregivers affected by the Rohingya refugee crisis, who have been impacted tremendously by the dual crises of displacement and the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Sherrie Westin, president of social Impact, Sesame Workshop. “These are two very special Sesame Muppets—for most Rohingya children, Noor and Aziz will be the very first characters in media who look and sound like them. Rooted in the rich Rohingya culture and informed by extensive research and input from Rohingya families, Noor and Aziz will bring the transformative power of playful learning to families at a time when it’s needed more than ever before.”

The new characters will be featured in new video segments on social-emotional learning, math, science, health, and safety. The twins will engage in learning activities centered around playful experiences that are joyful, meaningful, actively engaging, iterative, and socially interactive. They will also be featured in groundbreaking Rohingya-language education media as part of the Play to Learn program in partnership with BRAC, the International Rescue Committee, and New York University's Global TIES for Children.

Play to Learn is delivering critical early education to families living in the world's largest refugee camp, in Cox's Bazar Bangladesh, which is home to more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees who fled conflict in Myanmar. More than half of the refugees are children. It is also reaching children affected by the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan and Lebanon as part of Sesame Workshop and the IRC's Ahlan Simsim program. Click here for more information about Play to Learn's global impact.

Sesame Workshop is always working to make all families feel represented, like with the introduction of their first character with autism, Julia, and the See Amazing in All Children initiative to help children better understand autism. Sesame Workshop has also been consistently releasing resources throughout the pandemic to help children deal with anxiety and uncertainty about COVID-19: