Her name means hope in Arabic. “Little Amal,” the 12-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl, came to Ann Arbor Sept. 23 on her journey to “look for her mother.” This journey is over 11,000 miles across the United States and Mexico. Amal’s mission is to bring to light human rights issues, especially those of refugees. Amal herself is represented as a young refugee girl.
WalkwithAmal.org says she will travel to “40 towns and cities from Boston to San Diego, and six cities from Tijuana to Tapachula.” This will create 100-plus free public events to welcome her.
“We welcome her,” said Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor who spoke at the Little Amal Walk. “Ann Arbor is a place that welcomes immigrants and refugees of all kinds. Amal is a representative of that, and we are so glad to come and celebrate Little Amal, a symbol of hope.”
Many people worked on bringing Amal to Ann Arbor and to create and plan the performances done for her. Ann Arbor was very lucky to get the chance to host Amal. James Garder, the associate director of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival and producer of the little Amal event, said that he worked with the Amal team, the arts initiative of the University of Michigan, and The Ann Arbor District Library to bring Amal to Ann Arbor. They had heard about her walk and knew she was coming to Michigan.
“We were really excited that she was doing a walk across the United States, and we knew she was going to be in Southeast Michigan,” he said. After hearing about Amal’s story Garder wanted to know how he could get Amal to come to Ann Arbor when “We were approached to see what it would look like to bring her here,” he said.
There were many people involved in this process, another being Tony Frazier, the co-host and co-director of the event. Frazier is a Hip Hop teacher at the U-M School of Theatre and Dance as well as a Black Lives Matter activist and film producer. “Recently I have made a couple of documentaries, one about black veterans. It incorporates dance, it’s about the injustice of black veterans in America and through the military,” she says. Frazier was asked to come and choreograph a dance that was done for Little Amal.“I am immersed in activism, not only just as projects but every day, and I wanted to be a part of this because of that,” she said. ‘I’ve always had an interest in what’s going on and what is happening in Syria, so this was moving and important for me to be a part of it.”
During the Walk with Amal Event, one of many performances was by Doctors Laboratory, a theatrical production which focuses on Black cultural research. During the performance, Donovan Rogers, a senior at U-M working on a BFA in theater performance, recited part of a poem by Maya Angelou. Other members of Doctors Laboratory sang and danced for Little Amal during the walk.
“Little Amal means so many things to a large number of different people, coming from many different experiences and places,” Rogers said. “Little Amal for me, as a Black student, is a sense of allyship, coming from a Black-American experience, being able to be in solidarity with the story uplifts [me].” Rogers explains how the U-M campus only has a 4% black student population, so ”The importance of immigrant advocacy , as someone who knows how it feels to be isolated” is important. He says that he also has “a heart towards advocating towards other people and other causes.” Rogers and everyone else from the Doctors Laboratory are just some of many people who want to support Little Amal through her journey.
“Since July 2021, Amal has traveled over 6,000 miles to 15 countries, and been welcomed by more than a million people on the street, including hundreds of artists and civic and faith leaders,” according to its website.
Little Amal was created with the help of many creative and innovative people. “Little Amal was born, derived, from a minor but powerful character in The Jungle.” according to the Philidalphia Inquirer. The producers of her journey had several ideas about her walk: “the puppet should make a journey, and she should be cared for by artists in the towns she passes through.”
David Lan, a producer on the Little Amal team told the Philadelphia Inquirer that “She’s going to be hungry, she’s going to be tired.”
At first the Little Amal team struggled to find a way to share their message to the world about refugee children.“How do people respond to that kind of experience? We came up with creating one of those journeys.” Lan said.
In addition to the thought process of her journey they had to figure out how to build her. The Handspring Puppet Company designed and built her, most known for their creation of the puppets in the play “War Horse.” Since Amal was going to be walking far distances with different climates while also crossing physical challenges, there was much thought put into the materials used to build her. They built her “from robust but lightweight materials such as cane and carbon fibre so that she can be operated for extended periods in varying conditions.” according to walkwithlittleamal.org. It takes four puppeteers total to move Little Amal so she can walk. “One on each arm, one supporting her back and one inside walking on stilts,” and the last puppeteer controls the harp, a complex tapestry of strings that animate Little Amal’s face, head and eyes.”
Garder, producer of the little Amal event, said he believes that “Amal is a symbol of freedom and safety” as well as “ a symbol for people trying to find their way in the world.”
Marjan, one of the spectators at the Sept. 23 event, and a native of Iran, says that to her, Amal represents “awareness about human rights and awareness about humans in general.”
Jane, another spectator, said. “I think she is putting a face to the refugees” and that “ she is a child, a face of someone wanting a better place”.
The U-M’s Frazier said she believes that Amal represents “hope, she represents never forgetting, I think she represents truth, where these things are still happening. We need to be aware of these social justice issues especially when we are talking about refugees and also things like genocide.”
Frazier believes it is important to spread awareness on topics like these. “Those things are still happening around the world, and I think it is important that she is present, and continuing to travel around the world to connect.”
The meaning of Amal and her walk across the country is different for everyone, but her most important meaning is the support of human rights and the support of refugees.
Little Amal represents so many important things that people often travel from all over to see her. One spectator, Leslie, said she traveled from Bilissfeild in Lenawee County to see Little Amal. “I like the idea of Little Amal representing the people of different ethnicities, and refugees that come to our country from all over the world,” she said. “I think it is pretty special that this is one of the 35 cities across our country that she’s visiting. I really wanted to make the effort to be here.”