Little Amal- the 11 foot puppet and the refugee story
Little Amal’s story
It’s a giant puppet that’s been to many places and is here in Coventry. That was the response I gave to several bystanders who were curious at the rapidly increasing crowd by St. Mary’s Priory.
Little Amal is a 9-year-old girl, in the form of a 11 foot giant puppet. She walked from the transport museum passing by Lady Godiva to the Cathedral, the heart of Coventry’s City Centre. She is walking 5,000 miles from Syria in a project called The Walk, bringing to light the many stories of refugees globally.
Now those are just the facts.
Reaction in Coventry
Chris Scrivener had been to several appearances of little Amal. And his response to what she represents was telling in the way I viewed her appearance in Coventry.
The event showed the disconnect emotionally with the life and journey of refugees who travel not by choice but out of a necessity. Which begs the question, is this the reality for those around me?
Refugee story
Little Amal’s walk brings back into the spotlight the story of displaced children separated from their families.
Recently, news of a 23-year-old asylum seeker, Henok Zaid Gebrsslasie, was found dead at a mental health facility and was thought to have taken his own life in Coventry. His death highlighted physically and mentally the struggle that many refugees and asylum seekers experience.
Henok Zaid fled Eritrea as a 14-year-old to avoid persecution and had previously moved to Sudan where he lived as a refugee.
He arrived in Coventry in May 2020, aged 21. Not without the struggle and the mental burden it took to reach the UK.
With the lack of publicly available data on the number of suicides by young asylum seekers, it becomes difficult to see the complete story.
Without these stories, empathy is absent, which helps form a
“perception that the other is always threatening to whoever you happen to perceive yourself to be”, as Chris said. This lack stops people from looking at their stories, emotions, and labour.
But the refugee crisis isn’t over because it isn’t being reported on.
Little Amal brings forth the conversation when it comes to the refugee narrative. And The Walk is not often filled with welcoming crowds chanting for joy at their arrival. But the hard reality and the disconnect of the host country.