Little Amal visit shows migrants’ positive peacebuilding role
by Macken KEEFE
19 May 2024
Between Thursday, 16 May and Sunday, 19 May, Little Amal explored various sites and neighbourhoods across Belfast. Amal was invited to the city by Belfast City Council and ArtsEkta as part of the Belfast 2024 cultural initiative, and she was presented by The Walk Productions in association with Handspring Puppet Company. Her visit facilitated an expression of solidarity from the people of Belfast, with their own history of displacement, towards the ongoing challenges faced by migrants across the modern world.
Amal is a 12-foot-tall puppet that depicts a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl. She is brought to life by a team of three puppeteers, who help her walk, engage with performers and children, and express a surprising depth of emotion. Since July 2021, Amal has walked through 16 different countries, meeting over two million people and participating in 440 uniquely-tailored events in the process.
Amal stands as a global symbol of human rights — particularly those of displaced people — and embodies the virtues of potential, success, respect, hospitality, and kindness that define an inclusive society. She challenges the public to reevaluate their biases, humanise migrants, and to not let migrants’ needs recede to the background. Amal’s name is derived from the Arabic word يأمل (yamal), which translates to “hope” in English.
Amal’s Belfast visit marked the beginning of Amal’s first-ever trip to the island of Ireland, which continued through 24 May. She previously visited Great Britain during October and November 2021 to conclude her first international journey, The Walk.
Over the four-day programme, Amal was received at Custom House Square, Stormont Estate, the peace line interface at Northumberland Street, Cathedral Quarter, St Anne’s Cathedral, Writers Square, Belfast City Hall, CS Lewis Square, Colin Glen Forest Park, Irqaa Mosque, and Belfast Castle. These visits attracted thousands of supporters from across Belfast and its community divisions, whose energy fed into a largely celebratory mood.
Events featuring Amal were a “spectacle”, thanks to her collaboration with dozens of Northern Irish arts and community organisations. Their central role in the programme was highlighted during Thursday’s welcome performance at Custom House Square (Seahorse and the Wolf). After Amal arrived by boat from the River Lagan, corps of dancers performed a series of arrangements that were inspired by the heritage and story of Belfast. Tunes from local musicians, including Duke Special, complemented the energy and tone of each routine to create a balanced, theatrical portrait of the city.
Many of the dance episodes depicted highlights of Belfast history, such as its tradition of shipbuilding and the achievements of hometown heroes like George Best. Others solemnly represented the losses incurred by Belfast in recent memory, particularly during the Troubles. While showcasing the distinctive character of Belfast, these moments revealed a striking connection between past displacement in Northern Ireland, modern displacement in conflict zones like the Gaza Strip, and the need to better understand their implications.
Amal continued to engage with these issues on Friday, when she visited Northumberland Street in West Belfast (The Others).
Pupils from schools on either side of the Shankill–Falls peace line — Malvern Primary School, on Forster Street, and St Mary’s Primary School, on Divis Street, respectively — were guided by their own Amal puppet to meet at the interface.
The pupils later returned to their respective sides of the peace line, sending off Amal after she interacted with the distinctive political murals adorning either side of the peace line.
Given the entrenched presence of peace lines across Northern Ireland, along with the broader community segregation they signal, this meeting of young minds carried immense symbolic weight. The warmth with which both groups of pupils received each other inspired hope that a positive, shared future can continue to be built in Northern Ireland, so long as future generations are given the opportunity to engage with diverse worldviews. At the same time, this event affirmed the reality that work remains to transform the barriers that impede social inclusion within and between Northern Ireland’s borders. In the meantime, there is a continued need for public leaders and organisations to create opportunities for cross-community contact across these divisions, as the Amal visit enabled.
Amal’s walks plant seeds of creativity, cooperation, and social change in the hearts of those she meets. During her Sunday visit to Colin Glen (Do Not Disturb), Amal solidified these ideas and marked her visit by planting oak trees that overlook Belfast. The event combined memorial with ceremony and theatre: Amal was led on a ritual march through the glen, and was later met at the trees’ overlook by performers from Kabosh Theatre Company.
Kabosh delivered a theatre routine inspired by Ciaran Carson’s “Belfast Confetti”, a poem that interrogates the Troubles’ emblematic chaos and defensiveness. The performers used street items — shopping carts, suitcases, crates, and other debris — to construct a makeshift barrier echoing the early peace lines erected by vigilante groups. Amal, while approaching the oak trees’ site, subverted the original poem by breaking through the barrier. In addition to representing Amal’s deconstruction of the physical and mental barriers permeating Belfast, this moment symbolised the pivotal role that Amal’s inclusive values play in building a sustainable, peaceful future in Northern Ireland. As Paula McFetridge (Artistic Director, Kabosh) explained:
“‘Do Not Disturb’ in Colin Glen was to say we are not ‘fixed’ as a community; we need collective curated moments of reflection, we need opportunities to articulate our pain so ongoing conversations can be possible.”
While Amal has delighted many international crowds over the years, she has not received a universally warm welcome in every country she has visited. For example, during her 2021 visit to Larissa, Greece, right-wing protestors threw stones at Amal, striking bystanding children who had assembled to welcome her. Amal as a work of art elicits powerful emotions from her audiences, both positive and negative. In a way, these mirror people’s polarising reactions to displacement across the Global North, which may be negatively influenced by strong feelings of national attachment and uncertainty over the implications of newcomers.
Belfast, which is experiencing radical demographic change and continues to transition away from its violent past, could have chosen to turn inward and eschew Amal. But, by coming together to celebrate her, it showed that migrants can have a seat at the table when it comes to clarifying Northern Ireland’s uncertain future.
