Little Amal heads into Rochdale

Little Amal shakes hands in Rochdale [Pic: John Cannell]

A giant puppet of a 9-year-old refugee girl has travelled through Rochdale as part of a mammoth effort to raise awareness of young refugees around the world.

Little Amal is the giant puppet at the heart of The Walk. She began her 8000km walk on 27 July from Gaziantep in Turkey, heading around the globe.

The 3.5 metre-tall living artwork of a young Syrian refugee child will walk across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK to focus attention on the urgent needs of young refugees.

Little Amal is continuing a journey in search of her mother, and has passed through over 60 locations - including Rochdale on Tuesday (2 November).

Her journey represents those taken by millions of people who have been displaced by war or persecution, especially children. At this time of multiple global crises her urgent message to the world is, ‘don't forget about us’.

‘The Walk’ is a public art project produced for Good Chance in association with Handspring Puppet Company, world famous creators of the horse puppets in War Horse.

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