#WCW: Carol Ofori chats to the creator of the kids series, 'JoJo and Gran Gran'
Carol Ofori shares a personal favourite of hers, a series for kiddies on CBeebies called ‘JoJo and
Gran Gran’, which caught her eye a little while ago...
As kids, there was hardly any programmes that reflected our culture and our ethnicity. But as time has passed, creating content that is for children and adults that is more relevant and relatable has become attainable.
It is definitely something we appreciate because it allows our children to experience that sense of connection with characters and stories. Being able to relate to the stories and feel included makes a difference in a child's state of mind and imagination. And this was a perfect example of how a story can vicariously have an impact on you as an adult, too.
Carol Ofori tweeted about a particular episode of a kiddies series called 'JoJo and Gran Gran' that really touched her heart. It so happens that the tweet reached the creator of the kiddies series, Laura Henry-Allain, and Carol got an opportunity to speak to her about the series.
Laura shared that the story about JoJo and Gran Gran was based on her own personal story about the bond that she shared with her late grandmother. The feeling and emotion that she expressed whilst talking about her 'mama', which is the name used to express grandmother in Creole, definitely nudged at the heart strings.
WATCH the episode that had Carol Ofori feeling sentimental (courtesy of YouTube):
Laura chatted about a new book that she will be releasing next month called, 'My Skin, Your Skin', which speaks about racism, race, and empowerment. She chatted about a range of things from education to what we are doing as a society to encourage diversity to breaking down stereotypes.
It's not just black and brown children this is good for, equally to it is for white children to see diversity as well so that they grow up seeing black people in positive roles, rather than the stereotypical roles images that we sometimes see.
In celebrating Heritage Month, Carol Ofori brought up the fact that being inclusive and learning from one another is important. Laura shared that there are two 'L' words that she feels are important - learning and leaning.
The responsibility is to learn about each other and with a resource such as the internet, there can be no more excuses. Her words really share a sense of wisdom and love and the way she speaks about colour and dealing with explaining this to children in such a diverse and natural way, is truly something we think is going to change the world.
Image Courtesy of YouTube