The Long Walk with Little Amal project, a performance art mission, visited El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument on Wednesday afternoon in partnership with Día de los Muertos festivities.
Little Amal is a 12-foot puppet that represents a 10-year-old Syrian refugee. According to Amal’s team, her name means “hope” in Arabic, and they imagine that she is from a small village close to Aleppo, Syria. She walks around the world searching for acceptance, her parents and a new home.
Amal’s website explains that the walk with Amal is a celebration of art and shared humanity that unites communities, refocuses attention on the urgent needs of refugees and highlights the rich cultures and contributions immigrants bring with them. Amal walks for the hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced people of all ages roaming the world in search of safety.
Bruna D’Avila, the creative producer of the Walk with Amal project, explained the project’s significance to her as an immigrant.
“I have been very lucky to have been able to come to this country through education and through other resources and jobs and all of that,” said D’Avila. “To see other sides where people are fleeing from war, fleeing from danger, to find a better life in the United States; it’s something that was really important for me because not everyone has the privilege to be able to find all the right steps to go through immigration like I did.”
Amal’s team said that she was designed and built by the Handspring Puppet Company of South Africa, creators of the award-winning puppets for the hit show “War Horse.” They said Amal is inspired by a character in Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson’s play “The Jungle,” a story about a refugee camp in Calais, France.
The project started back in 2021 when she crossed the border of Syria and Turkey. She journeyed through cities, towns and villages across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK in 2021, and Ukraine, Poland and the Netherlands in 2022.
According to her team, Amal’s journey is far from over and her long path is one many refugees continue to tread everyday.
For her United States tour, Little Amal started in New York and will end in San Diego, completing a quest consisting of 45 cities spanning 6,000 miles, and over 120 events spreading awareness of unaccompanied refugee children. She participated in events with cultural, political, spiritual and other leaders, as well as artists and immigrant groups, among others.
“I think that what this project does really well is decentralize where art usually is, which is why we have our very high cadence of three events a day in all these cities,” D’Avila said. “And with that, we’re able to really bring art to the community and not ask the community to come to us.”
Amal is visiting many places that have served as arrival posts for generations of immigrants, and others that have attracted migrants. D’Avila explained that L.A’s high population of migrants and people from all over the world points to their goal to connect with those communities and to spread awareness and hope.
“I always say that if people were as welcoming to their neighbors as they are to Amal, the world would be a much better place. I really wish everyone was welcomed the way that we’ve been welcomed in these cities, and that’s the feeling we want to pass along,” D’Avila said.
Little Amal gathers crowds from near and from afar, with her message of connecting people with diverse backgrounds.
“I think it means a lot to the community,” said Heather Davis, an event attendee. “I came all the way out from the high desert just to see this demonstration.”
Davis emphasized the impact Little Amal has. “She’s kind of like a journey of grief and healing, but I didn’t realize how real it was until I saw her right now.”
Amal Walks Across America raises money for kids through the Amal Fund. They have a partnership with Choose Love, an organization involved with refugee awareness, such as legal advice, fundraising and supplies distribution.
Little Amal is far from finishing her global tour. Her next stop is San Diego, where she will cross the border into Mexico for another seven cities: Tijuana, Monterrey, Mexico City, Tapachula, Oaxaca, Guadalajara, and Zapapán.
“A lot of the crises that are happening [in] the U.S. on the border here are also happening in Mexico,” D’Avila said. “And we’re there to explore, welcome, shine light, and hope there as well.”
If you wish to follow Amal’s adventure, her story will be shared across her social media platforms on Instagram, Tiktok, and her website.