InQuire www.inquiremedia.org
The University of Kent’s student publication
Friday 29 October 2021 17.4
Kent Union Will Take Climate Special: Stance On Staff Strikes COP26, Sustainable Lego and Hydrogen Cars Science & Technology: Page 15
News: Page 2
The Walk with Little Amal: Her Canterbury chapter
2021 German Election: A Paradigm Shift Opinion: Page 7
By Amber Lennox, Local Affairs Correspondent
O
n the 21st of October at around 11.30 in the morning, students and residents walked into town to wait for Amal. The three and a half metre puppet of a nine-year-old Syrian refugee, whose name means ‘hope’, has been travelling across Europe to raise awareness to the plight of people fleeing war. On Thursday she visited Canterbury and left in her wake emotions felt by all. Before her arrival, there was a sense that the community was already brewing. Waiting inside Westgate Towers for her arrival was Janette the Seagull and Amber the Fox; both large-scale puppets made in collaboration with a number of different groups. Janette was made by the students of Herne Bay High, supported by Kent University drama students, and she was there so the students could welcome Amal with a symbol which represented them and Kent. Speaking to head of Kent Drama department, Jane Thomson, she said it had been a joy and a privilege to be a part of the project, which had brought the entire community together. A project which, drama student Emily Berry said, was a celebration of refugees and human rights all through theatre. Janette clearly had an impact, when speaking to the children involved, they explained that they felt the walk was important as it “represents refugees who have to go through a lot just to get to a safe place.” Amber the Fox was a separate project, yet nonetheless linked to our university. Overseen by Kent graduate Pete Morton, in collaboration with Sam Westbury and a multitude o f
Photo by Tom Shytermeja
different students in university art workshops, Amber was created with two weeks straight in building, and a further three rehearsing every single day; the dedication to the project was one the Pete seemed very proud of. Pete explained that the team had wanted to greet Amal with a British wildlife animal, but also a multicultural symbol, and almost every culture recognises a fox within its storytelling. The project was important to Pete as it captured the struggle of refugees, and brings the message, that we should be welcoming refugees, to life. Though I would soon see that the project stretched much further than our local community, linking us to the rest of the world. Heralded by a band of drummers and exuberant cheers, when Amal arrived, she stole the collective breath of those gathered. The puppeteering was masterful and there was no-one in that crowd who, even for a second, thought that this wasn’t a real little girl. We paraded up from Westgate Towers; all along the way people leant out of their windows reaching for Amal, and Amal reached back; exchanging a wave or a handshake, or even holding up signs handed to her welcoming her to Canterbury – a message which stretched to all refugees if the crowds’ demeanour was anything to go by. One particular boy was carrying a Syrian flag which Amal held proudly. InQuire caught up with the young man, Mohamad Darwish, and he explained that he had been here for two years. From being resettled from Egypt after fleeing Syria and now taking an English course
at Canterbury College. Mohamad was visibly moved by the turn-out of people supporting refugees and wanted to extend his deepest gratitude to Good Chance Theatre Company for everything they’d done in raising awareness for refugees. On campus the parade took on a festival-feel. With music and dancing, Amal and the fox finally met on the field, backdropped by the Canterbury skyline. The children of Palm Bay Primary in Margate burst into spontaneous song, proclaiming to Amal that “five-thousand miles we’ll walk beside you, every step of the way” – tears were she by more than one onlooker. InQuire also spoke to Maryam Hashemi, a local self-employed artist who worked with all the schools involved with the parade; the streets were lined with horseheads and banners f r o m all different
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children of all different backgrounds. Maryam also said she’d been lucky to work with Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN), which had an incredibly positive energy, with a lot of the refugees involved connecting with the project in ways they perhaps wouldn’t have others; for the first time seeing themselves represented in the foreground in a positive manner. Outside the Gulbenkian a band started playing traditional Syrian music and the festival stepped into its own. A number of people, many of them Syria natives, began dancing and singing with Amal in such a display of joy that one young man was so moved he fell to the ground in tears, crying for his homeland, crying for Syria – a country which, in that moment, he felt mor connected to than he had in a very long time. InQuire was fortunate enough to sit down with Kevin Fitzmaurice, the executive producer of The Walk, who said that although it’s been an incredibly long journey to get to where they are, it had been “absolutely amazing and inspiring to be a part of.” Kevin explained that the seed of Amal came from Good Chance Theatre doing the play ‘The Jungle,’ where producers, David Lan and Stephen Daldry, wanted to do more and thought that doing the walk many refugees have to make would be appropriately symbolic. However, it was decided that the walk had to be a piece of art with refugees at the centre, telling their own story. Thus, Amal was born. Kevin said that both here in Canterbury, and across Europe, the reaction has been heart-warming. Local children and community groups of Greece banded together to create a “fabulous event”, not dissimilar to the one we greeted Amal with in Canterbury. wWhich just goes to show how Amal’s united communities locally and internationally; we have celebrated her in unison, physically apart, but together in heart.
News Page 2
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Culture: page 17
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Entertainment: Page 20
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