Photos by Andrew Hastings
Words by Julie Wassmer
A little girl on a very big journey…
She stands 3.5 metres tall so it would be easy to describe Little Amal, as a “giant puppet” – but in fact she is so much more…
Created by the Handspring Puppet Company, whose work includes War Horse, Amal is a “living artwork” – a representation of a 9 year old Syrian refugee, displaced from her home country and in search of her mother.
Little Amal has embarked upon The Walk which has been described as “an extraordinary artistic response: a cultural odyssey transcending 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 story, who are more vulnerable than ever during the global pandemic.”
Her journey has covered 8,000 km across Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium – and the UK. On Thursday 21st October, Little Amal arrived in Canterbury where she was warmly welcomed.
Amal is Arabic for Hope.
Click on images to enlarge
The Walk With Amal website is here: https://www.walkwithamal.org/
You can donate to the Walk With Amal fund here:- https://donate.chooselove.org/campaigns/walks-amal-fund/
Andrew Hastings is a Whitstable-based photographer documenting the extraordinary small print of daily life. www.imagedrum.uk
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