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Syrian refugees’ long walk: why Amal is more than a puppet 

A giant puppet of a young Syrian girl will travel nearly 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) from the Turkish-Syrian border to the United Kingdom.
Amal, the Syrian refugee puppet.

At 3.5 meters (12 feet) tall and with a carbon fiber head full of dark braids, huge, questioning eyes and a love for Turkish delights, Amal is a puppet with a plan: She is on a 10-million-step journey from the Turkish-Syrian border to the United Kingdom, with the hope of uniting with her mother.

The giant puppet, who portrays a 9-year-old Syrian refugee, is the heart of an international traveling art and culture festival that aims to draw attention to the plight of the refugee children as the Syrian civil war and the resulting global refugee crisis reach the 10th-year mark.

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