London is currently hosting a four-meter tall Syrian refugee puppet in the form of a nine-year old girl, and this art and performance project aims to bring awareness to the many innocent lives that are caught up fleeing their home lands due to conflict, prosecution, and other bad situations. Little Amal was created by Handspring Puppet Company, and they are the group responsible for creating the horse puppets in "War Horse". Little Amal has arrived in the United Kingdom for a few days on the last leg of her journey that took her from the Syrian border across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. She is missing her family.
Little Amal was in the south of England on Friday, and she started Saturday morning off at St. Paul's Cathedral where she was welcomed by Londoners. A brass band played for her, and choirs sang. One of the priests (or ministers) from St. Paul's Cathedral welcomed Little Amal in a mesage, and a letter was read from Little Amal, and she presented a gift to the cathedral.
A large crowd turned out to meet her.
Little Amal climbed the steps of the cathedral and knocked on the huge door, which was opened for her to go inside. She then joined in singing and dancing.
Little Amal then continued her journey from St. Paul's across the Thames via the Millennium footbridge where she was scheduled to participate and meet more people from Shakespeare's Globe theatre. I got to follow her in this short snippet of her journey.
Little Amal became tired of walking and rested for a minute or two.
She stopped to smell roses in front of the cathedral.
Flags greeted Amal on her journey down to the river where she would walk across the bridge. No one else was permitted to go onto the Millennium Bridge with Little Amal, so we had to wait for her to get safely across. (I assume this is due to the bridge being narrow and wobbly, and it would not be very safe for the handlers.)
I was surprised at the number of people who had come out to see Little Amal, and it really was a treasure. I was not able to follow her for long because of a long gap at Shakespeare's Globe, but others who arrived later would have followed her along the South Bank and up Westminster Bridge (which was, incidentally, the same walk that I made to on my way).
As I stopped on the Millennium Bridge looking at Shakespeare's Globe, Little Amal waved.
Little Amal will be in London all day today (Sunday, October 23, 2021) and will then visit Oxford and Manchester and probably a few other stops along the way.
Readers of my blog may remember posts about the giant puppets in Liverpool, which you can see here:
Giant Spectacle Marionettes in Liverpool 'Memories of 1914' Commemorate World War 1
Giants Parade through Liverpool
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