Coventry City of Culture: 'Little Amal' puppet arrives
A special event with the 3.5 metre tall puppet is taking place today (Wednesday)
Coventry is welcoming a 3.5 metre tall puppet today - who's been on an 8000 kilometre journey across the world.
Little Amal, depicts a nine-year-old Syrian girl - made by War Horse creators Handspring Puppet Company.
She is on an epic 8,000km trek in a moving artistic response to the stories of displaced children around the world.
After travelling across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, Little Amal is now in Britain.
She will be walking from Coventry Transport Museum to University Square today (Wednesday) as part of a special event for our year as UK City of Culture.
Two teachers at Earlsdon Primary School came up with the idea of welcoming Little Amal to the city with Footprints of Welcome - a montage of paper footprints designed and decorated by children from across all year groups with personal messages of welcome and artwork.
They include drawings of city landmarks they felt Amal would like to see and messages of welcome in different languages spoken at home.
Year 6 teacher Michelle Andrews, one of the teachers behind the project, said:
“Footprints of Welcome came from a desire to try and encourage the children’s empathetic responses, through emotion, art and language to the refugee situation. We wanted to be involved with the City of Culture in welcoming Amal to our city, which is well-known for acceptance and diversity and do something special.
“By the time she arrives in Coventry Little Amal will have walked 10 million steps from Syria.
“It’s really exciting how something simple has grown into something powerful. We are really pleased and proud to be part of Good Chance Theatre’s project.”
You can the route that Little Amal will be taking later on below.
Andy Reeves, Education & Young People Programme Manager, Coventry City of Culture Trust said:
“We are delighted to see how the Footprints of Welcome project has grown from an original idea sparked at Earlsdon Primary School in Coventry, is now being taken up by Good Chance Theatre and including it within their national and international educational resources, particularly during Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture.
“Soon, schools and organisations across the world will be able to follow their lead and make their own footprints to welcome Little Amal on her momentous journey.”
Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.