A 12-foot puppet comes to St. Louis to highlight refugee struggles and spread hope

A 12-foot puppet called Little Amal will stop at the St. Louis Gateway Arch on Sunday to spread hope to immigrants and refugees in the region and draw attention to the difficulties immigrants and refugees face.

The puppet production, "The Walk," starts at 12:30 p.m. It aims to spark dialogue about human rights in other countries. Little Amal is a puppet that symbolizes a 10-year-old Syrian refugee who is displaced from her homeland and on a quest to find her mother in a new land.

Local artists, residents and organizations will welcome Amal, which means "hope" in Arabic, to the area with activities and performances to help ease her fears of traveling to a new home.

The performance could encourage people in the St. Louis region to forge bonds with their immigrant and refugee neighbors, said David Lan, producer of "The Walk."

“The main thing that we are doing is trying to draw the focus to the potential that refugees, asylum seekers and migrants carry with them — their imaginations, their experience, their wisdom, their skills,” Lan said.

Little Amal is designed by Handspring Puppet Company. The puppet is operated by a crew of people who maneuver its hands, facial expressions and torso.

While the puppet walks through the Arch grounds, it will greet people and participate in a musical performance to help refugees and immigrants understand that they do not have to face their fears of living in a new place alone.

Lan said he hopes Amal will strengthen the community and inspire more organizations and city leaders to welcome refugees.