The WAST Nightingale Choir welcomes Little Amal to Manchester

Amal represents hope for all of us who wish to raise awareness for the struggles faced by asylum seekers and refugees.

Amal is a 3.5 metre tall puppet, representing a 9 year old Syrian refugee girl that has walked from the Syrian-Turkey border in search for her mother, who left to find food for her family but never returned. Amal walked through Europe, all the way to Manchester. Upon her arrival, she was lovingly greeted by hundreds of supporters, including the WAST family.

“Don’t forget about us.” Amal’s journey drew special focus to displaced children all over the world.

Undoubtedly, one of the most powerful moments of the event was when the WAST Nightingale choir sang their song ‘Far Away From My Home’. The song can be heard below in Nigerian, Gambian, Urdu, Lingala and English.

Here is what our women had to say about the event and what it meant to them to participate:

Little Amal represents all the displaced children all over the world, separated from their parents and loved ones. Unaccompanied children face abuse, torture and violence through the journeys they make in search of their parents.

For us in WAST, Amal represents each one of us, the treacherous journey we made to get to safety. The challenges we faced, the support we received, just like Amal, we can relate to her journey. It was an emotional experience and at the same time a wonderful one. This was amplifying the voice of the voiceless and raising awareness to the rest of the world of how people seeking safety face traumatic challenges even before they get to a welcoming environment.

Singing for Amal felt very emotional, our song Far Away From My Home resonates with women in WAST. Most of us left our homes a long time ago, separated with our families, left children behind, singing brought back the painful memories.” - Mariam.

Being part of the Amal journey was so important to WAST women, especially the choir. WAST is a place where women asylum seekers are welcome and it reminds me of myself when I came to Manchester. My first day in WAST was so welcoming and amazing, it was the first family I made in Manchester so Amal’s welcoming was so important because it make a massive awareness about asylum seekers and refugees in the Greater Manchester area. I was so honoured to be part of it but being a member of WAST was the best part.” - Mariatu.

This event is important for me because it was the perfect way for different cultures to interact, mingle and connect. It shows a child’s journey through various countries and it helps us keep our focus on the most vulnerable and affected sections of forced migration.

These are the kind of stories that need to be told. These are the kind of people that need to be in the focus to bring about a human face of this migration. It isn’t about good or bad migrants, it isn’t about economic migrants, it’s just about the pain and the suffering and the trauma that is felt by the forced migrants.

This kind of event really bring about that feeling of camaraderie where everyone is together helping her. She has been given gifts, she has been accepted throughout, barring a few places. These  kind of things are what migrants are really looking for. Everyone likes to feel comfortable.” - Tandrima.

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Mariam proudly speaks at the Manchester Solidarity Rally

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