COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio is about to join the world stage with a special visit from a 12-foot puppet called Little Amal, a giant animatronic puppet that is part of a world-traveling exhibit.
“It feels like a dream come true,” said Sara Abou Rashed, an award-winning poet and Syrian immigrant who came to the United States when she was 13.
“It has been the most moving event I’ve ever been a part of,” Rashed says of her performance when “Amal Walks Across America” made a stop in Washington, DC last week.
It is one of 40 towns and cities from Boston to San Diego that will host this traveling exhibit depicting a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child who has become a global symbol of human rights.
The stop in Columbus is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 22 at Genoa Park.
“For me, she symbolizes the refugee children who make up half of all the refugee population worldwide,” Rashed said.
Rashed will recite poetry during the Little Amal event on Friday night.
“It means the future, it means protecting our children, it means welcoming a neighbor, it means being nicer to those who are different to us,” she said. “Although the puppet itself does not talk, the message is clearly conveyed.”
It’s a message of refugee children separated from their families and placed into foreign lands that are now their new homes.
In Ohio, New Americans moving to the Buckeye State have jumped significantly in recent years. Numbers from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services show Afghanistan tops the list followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo and Syria.
“I relate so much to this puppet because I came to the U.S. at a young age, I was 13. I did not speak English. And I felt very foreign and new,” Rashed recalled.
She said she hopes Little Amal will bring more compassion and opportunities.
“I see the struggles of people already here,” Rashed says. “But I also think it's for the betterment of everyone, that we get along that there are more opportunities, more educational, economic opportunities.”