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Bruktawit Tigabu is the creator of "Tibeb Girls", the first animation in which Ethiopian girls play not only the lead characters,but are portrayed as superheroes, "Tibeb" means wisdom in Amharic.

For me, it was very important to have, you know,girls who look like me and who look like my child to be on the screen playing very good role model."

The "Tibeb Girls" animation breaks taboos by discussing things such as menstruation ,and in the first episode, they save a girl from child marriage.

Bruktawit screens the show at schools and events around Ethiopia.

Most of the issues we are raising are not well discussed in the community or in school or in the house.So that is another inspiration to really break the taboo and give them a very entertaining,but also engaging way to talk about very serious subject."

The animation is produced in Addis Ababa with a team of voice actors, artists and writers.

Representing and empowering girls is a big responsibility.Therefore the writers, such as Mahlet Haileyesus, put a lot of preparation into an episode.

So what we do is we try to include everybody, like the relevant stakeholders, government bureaus, the specific target groups.And then once the synopsis is developed, we do prototyping, which means we go to the field and test it."

The "Tibeb Girls" animation is also published as a cartoon.Meaza Takele reads the comic strip to her children each night before they go to bed.

When I ask my children why they love the cartoon,they say it’s because now they have a cartoon that is Ethiopian and where their own language is spoken."

Creator Bruktawit hopes to raise funds to further develop the TV show,as she tries to sell the first season to broadcasters in Ethiopia and other African countries where young girls face the same issues.

Marthe van der Wolf, for VOA news, Addis Ababa.