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A giant puppet of aÌýnine-year-old girl will arrive in the UK on Tuesday,Ìýas part ofÌýa 5,000 mile trekÌýacross to highlightÌýthe plight of child refugees.

Little Amal, aÌýthree-metre tall figure, will arrive at Folkestone Beach in Kent after leavingÌýGaziantep, near the -Syrian border, inÌýJuly.

The sameÌýjourneyÌýwas taken by over 17,000 peopleÌýwishing to seek refuge in Europe this year alone.

The 14-week street theatre event will come to an end in Manchester on 3ÌýNovember after Little Amal - whose name means 'hope' in Arabic - visits numerous cities across the UK including London, Birmingham, and Sheffield.Ìý

"It's been challenging, it's been difficult at times, but it's also been amazing and incredible," said David Lan, one of the producers of the walk, to The Guardian.

Tomorrow Little Amal arrives in the UK! 🇬🇧
Take a photo 📸 and share it with us!

— Little Amal (The Walk) (@walkwithamal)

"People who are marginalised...Ìýsee a representative of themselves... being celebrated... that’s very moving," Lan continued.

The giant doll, operated by a team of eightÌýpuppeteers, has anÌýentourage of around 30Ìýpeople who have navigated Covid travel restrictions in order to successfully complete their journey.

They began in Turkey, travellingÌýthroughÌýGreece,ÌýItaly,ÌýSwitzerland, , Belgium, and France and are set to land in the UK this week.

Thousands of people have walked with the doll through the towns andÌývillages Little Amal passed through.

Little AmalÌýwas even blessed by on her visit to Rome.

The puppet was received with open arms for the most part, but in Kalambaka, a village in northern Greece, the village council decidedÌýnot to receive a "Muslim doll from Syria", as the mayor described her.

"We're saying to peopleÌýremember refugees are people. We hope that the memory of this odd, beautiful child walking through a village or city or over the mountains helps change the weather a little bit," explained Lam.