Amy was born on 16th December 1867 in Millisle County Down and later moved to Japan and then India to serve as a missionary.

In 1901 she set up the Dohnavur Fellowship to provide a safe home for young girls and the organisation still exists today providing care and education for around 120 children as well as 60 senior citizens. Those that grew up in Dohnavur stay on to look after the next generation so there are currently between 250 and 300 people in the family, as they like to refer to the residents.

The compassion Amy had for the Indian children meant that she never returned to Northern Ireland again and died in India on 18th January 1951.

Bangor Worldwide Missionary Convention has a strong link with Dohnavur Fellowship and donations were sent from as early as the 1940s.

The idea for the sculpture came from conversations that started years ago between the evangelist Derek Bingham and artist Ross Wilson to recognise Amy’s life and Christian witness.

Ross explains, “The sculpture celebrates the childhood beginnings and the spiritual inspiration that helped inform Amy’s young heart. It portrays Amy in the tenth year of her life looking out from below her hat towards a purposed future that would be filled with devotion to others, a serving life, a giving heart that would impact generations of children to come."

Tom Clarke, Chairman of Bangor Worldwide and clerk of session in Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church, said,
“Amy was and still is an inspiration to those who want to serve God in other parts of the world. Her tireless obedience to God’s call remains as new generations read her writings and the work that continues through the Dohnavur Fellowship today. We hope that the many children and people who see the sculpture will be challenged by Amy’s story and selfless sacrifice to travel and live and die in a foreign land, all in service to the Lord Jesus Christ.”