The evidence presented here supports the argument that there is better evidence that the children at Ariel school witnessed something related to the established puppetry education occuring in Africa at the time, than there is that a spaceship landed and the children encountered aliens or otherworldly beings. What it lacks is verifiable records, perhaps from AREPP, that place them or one of their teams in that location on that date. I've reached out to AREPP to see if they can help in this regard and await their response. I have also reached out a witnesses for their opinion about this hypothesis.
However, the evidence above makes a strong case that,
- there is a physical similarity between the AREPP puppets – including those made by trainee pupeteers in various workshops – and the "alien(s)"
- there is a similarity between AREPP puppet movements and that of the "alien(s)" as described by the children
- puppets are used to deliver a message, sometimes powerfully and without words
- the spectacle of puppetry can render the pupeteer unnoticed or "invisible" to the audience
- there is a physical similarity between the AREPP vehicle(s) and the "spaceship" (given the observation distance / environmental conditions from the children's point of view
From the available newspaper reports cited here it is verified that,
- AREPP sent puppetry teams into rural areas, (Ruwa, Zimbabwe possibly being one of them on the date in question)
- in April of 1994 there were at least two puppetry teams of 3-4 people working in the field, "mostly in rural areas".
- by at least 1994 AREPP had trained up to "40 troupes of puppeteers" (in Kenya) and "600 puppeteers" more broadly in southern Africa.
