'Little Amal's Walk Across America' is coming to Tucson this Saturday

"Little Amal’s Walk Across America" will be nearing its halfway mark when the 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl arrives in Tucson on Saturday, Oct. 28.

The puppet’s journey, presented locally by Arizona Arts Live, set out Sept. 7 and will hit 40 American towns and cities and six Mexican cities from Tijuana to Tapachula before it concludes in early November.

In all, the puppet will have trekked 11,000 miles including across a vast expanse of America’s most iconic natural landscapes and sites. At each stop, communities host events that Amir Nizar Zuabi, artistic director of The Walk Productions, hopes will “spur conversations in communities across the country around the important role of refugees and newcomers in writing the ongoing story of the United States,” he said in a statement published on the Walk With Amal website.

Amal was created by the South African Handspring Puppet Company and has become, in the words of the British newspaper The Guardian, an “international symbol of human rights” since the journey began in Greece in 2021 and traveled throughout Europe and Canada.

Chad Herzog, Arizona Arts Live executive director, said the public is encouraged to participate in Amal’s journey throughout the day, from the 6 a.m. hike up Tumamoc Hill to witness a land blessing, to a breakfast pitstop at the south-side Galería Mitotera, 1802 S. Fourth Ave., at 9 a.m.

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At 10 a.m., Little Amal will catch a ride with the Dos Vidas Car Club, cruising through South Tucson en route to the ¡Hola! Tucson block party at 11 a.m. at the Children’s Museum Tucson, 200 S. Sixth Ave.

At 4:30 p.m., Little Amal will participate in the quintessential American college tradition, a football tailgate party on the University of Arizona Mall, 1737 E. University Blvd. It’s not known if the towering Little Amal will take part in another quintessential college tradition, watching football when the Wildcat football team faces Oregon State at 7:30 p.m. at Arizona Stadium.

Little Amal’s day in Tucson is the result of a months-long collaboration between The Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill, Arizona Arts Live, Dos Vidas Car Club, Galería Mitotera, Children’s Museum Tucson, Arizona Athletics and Flandrau Science Center. All events are free.

Find the schedule of events and more information here.