After last year’s 5,000-mile journey across Europe to draw attention to the plight of refugees, Little Amal, a giant puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian girl, has travelled to Poland to meet children who have fled the war in Ukraine.
Amal became an international symbol of displacement and loss – but also of compassion and generosity – when, with a team of puppeteers and support workers, she walked from Gaziantep near the Turkish-Syrian border to Manchester between July and October.
This week the 3.5-metre puppet will visit the Polish cities of Lublin and Kraków to meet Ukrainian refugee children and families who have left their homes since Russia launched its military offensive on 20 February.
Amir Nizar Zuabi, the artistic director of The Walk, Amal’s trans-European journey, said: “At a time of unprecedented global change, Amal’s journeys transcend borders, politics and language to tell a new story of shared humanity – and to ensure the world doesn’t forget the millions of displaced children, each with their own potential to enhance the communities in which, as we hope, they will find refuge.”
The Polish trip, which includes visiting Przemyśl, a town close to the border with Ukraine, is at the invitation of the mayors of Lublin and Kraków and the Ukrainian embassy in Poland. Amal and her crew have taken with them aid and supplies aimed at the needs of young children.
Aleksander Sola, the vice-president of the Folkowisko Foundation, which is supporting the trip, said: “We hope that Amal will draw the world’s attention to the refugee crisis that Europe has not seen since the end of world war two. Amal symbolises the millions of refugees who have been forced to leave their homes.”
Amal, whose name means hope in Arabic, was created by Handspring, the company that made the equine puppets in War Horse. Three puppeteers are needed to operate Amal.
