Dear Teachers,
This is a draft of the final report on the 1996
Sadako/Paper Crane Project, and, also, a special "thank-you" for being
a part of the project! I was, frankly, surprised and delighted that the project
was as successful as it was this year. It wasn't the "50th," and
because of that, the momentum necessary to raise money for travel and expenses
wasn't there. It was more difficult to be a participant this year. I wasn't
able to ship cranes; you had to do that. I didn't offer to assemble pages of
your students' writing and pictures; you had to do that--and yet you did this!
In a normal year, with no funding and rather short notice, you spoke to the
hearts of the children of Hiroshima--sending them love and messages of peace and
hope for the future. I was so proud to just collect descriptions of your
efforts, string your lei of cranes and prepare the notebook for its final
destination. Your efforts told me that teachers in the US, in Canada, in
Australia, and even Okinawa, really care about kids and their future. Your
efforts told me that teachers and children love to connect and share love and
friendship--not because of important anniversaries, but because it's a wonderful
thing to do! So I say, "Bravo!" to all of you who managed to send the
message of love and friendship which was the "Sadako/Paper Crane Project,
1996!"
Sharon O'Connell
Skaneateles, NY, USA
Forty-four schools from four countries sent greetings and cranes to Hiroshima for the Sadako Peace Statue Ceremony which was held this year on July 28th. Akiko Tokai presented the lei of cranes at the statue and described the project at the ceremony. Each crane bore the name of a representative school. Susan Buccola, a teacher from a U.S. Marine Base in Okinawa attended the large Peace Ceremony on Peace Day and presented the beautiful booklet created from pages sent by schools to Mr. Shinichiro Kurose, a principal of Hiroshima Jogaakuin Junior and Senior High School. Mr. Kurose will share this booklet with his students and others in Hiroshima.
Teachers from the forty-four schools responded to an invitation posted on the Internet to have students read the story of Sadako, fold paper cranes, and send them to the Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan. The invitation was posted once on each of four user groups, LM_Net, Kidsphere, Kidlink and Kid-Lit. A continuous report remains on the homepage graciously maintained by Susan Parker, of Seattle, Washington. Soon, she will have this updated report and pictures from this year's project.
Students involved in this project participated in a beautiful kaleidoscope of varied activities. Some schools sent their cranes to the Peace Museum in Hiroshima for the Sadako Children's Statue. Others sent paper cranes to a person who was suffering. Some schools saved one crane for a lei to honor a Hiroshima educator at the 1996 Sadako Children's Statue Ceremony. Some schools created pages for a booklet. The pictures and messages in the booklet represent the faces and hearts of students around the world who join with the children and adults of Hiroshima in saying, "Never again."
Seventh-grade students on the Gold Coast of Australia, studying Japanese, folded 1000 paper cranes for a classmate who was ill. Students in Clarkson Public School, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, each developed a monologue based on an event in the book, "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes." Students in Camp Kinser, the U.S. Air Force Base in Okinawa, had a cultural exchange with a Japanese primary school.
Students in Cocoa Beach High School, Cocoa Beach Florida, learned from two Japanese exchange students the art of folding cranes and information about the Peace Park. Students in a Learning Disability class in Orlando, Florida, read the story and talked about peace. Teacher Pam Bowie, of Des Plaines, Illinois, collaborated with the Peace Museum to create a teacher's guide for a Peace Unit. Students in Berwick Academy, South Berwick, Maine, studied Asia and used the theme of "Peace" along with Earth Day activities.
Students in Oxford, Mississippi, learned Japanese through a distance learning project. They hosted fourteen Japanese students for three weeks then went to Japan themselves for one month! Students in Custer School, Broken Bow, Nebraska, sent half of their thousand paper cranes to Bosnia and half to Japan then sent a few golden cranes to their local hospital.
Students in Hatboro, Pennsylvania read the story of Sadako and many related books. They viewed the Peace Park on the Internet, wrote haiku, tanka and designed peace banners and a huge display for a literary fair. Students of Bucktail High School, Renovo, Pennsylvania, read a play about real victims of the bombing and created their own peace monument. Students in Austin, Texas, filled their school cafeteria with paper cranes--then raised money to send them to Hiroshima.
An Asian student in Dallas, Texas, who speaks no English, taught his classmates to fold paper cranes to participate in this project. Students in Virginia shared their cranes with a terminally ill student. Students in an origami club in Skaneateles, New York, made and sold beautiful origami pins to pay for the mailing of the lei and the booklet.
Our deepest gratitude goes to Hiroko Komine who translated each part of the notebook and to Akiko and Ryoju Tokai who coordinated our efforts with activities in Hiroshima.
I am wondering whether or not we should continue this project. This year, we were very lucky that Susan Buccola was willing to be our representative in Hiroshima at her own expense. Akiko and Ryoju Tokai, again, were the gracious host and hostess for our representative. Dear Mr. Tomai and his friends, together with the Tokais, hosted a "Welcome Party" for Susan. And sweet Akiko, not only served as a guide, hostess, translator and friend to Susan, but gave the speech on our behalf at the Children's Statue when we learned that the Children's Ceremony was to be more than a week before Peace Day and that it would be impossible for Susan to attend that Ceremony.
Should we do this again--realizing that next year we might not be so lucky with finding a teacher in the project who could go? If we do the project, should we continue with the same pattern? Does it mean something to your students to know that their crane was presented at Sadako's Statue?
Would it be interesting to change the scope of the project to one of "working with Japanese children" on a worldwide project? Would it be interesting to try to send a garland of cranes--made by American, Canadian, Australian and Japanese children--and children of other countries--to the leader of every country possessing nuclear weapons? Or, having found a successful format should we keep the project the way it is?
Please let me know your thoughts on a future project. And please let me know your thoughts on this one!
**************************************************************************
I'm attaching the dedication I wrote for Mr. Kurose. Mr. Kurose, it turns out, is the principal of a Christian school. I didn't know that when I asked him if we could honor him. I simply chose him because I was completely in awe of the work he had put into the Children's International Peace Conference held in his school last year! (He personally raised money for 15 children from many different countries to come to his school to participate in a peace conference for three weeks before Peace Day, 1995.)
Rollo May contemplated the meaning of the pictures of the earth sent back from the Apollo 7 where astronauts could see the earth without borders. He wrote in "The Cry for Myth" "We cannot turn the clock back..., but the control of nuclear energy is the requirement needed to bring us all together.... We find ourselves in a new world community; we cannot destroy the parts without destroying the whole. In this bright loveliness we know now that we are truly sisters and brothers, at last in the same family."
Communication through the Internet, also, diminishes the borders which separate citizens of one country from another. Through its power, teachers in four countries easily came together to lend support to the people of Hiroshima in calling for a nuclear free world. Children in the United States, Canada, Australia and the military base in Okinawa, Japan, read the story "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" and contemplated the destruction created by the release of an atomic bomb. Children learned to fold paper cranes and raised money to send their paper cranes to the Sadako Children's Statue in Peace Park, Hiroshima, to physically demonstrate their commitment to peace.
Many of these students created pages for this notebook. It is their hope that it will be shared with children in Hiroshima. I believe that it is the sincere hope of children that their countries live in peace.
Children are empowered by adults. It is our privilege to present this booklet to Mr. Shinichiro Kurose, Principal of Hiroshima Jogakuin Junior and Senior High School. We feel that he has done a great deal to empower children in their efforts towards peace. We wish to honor his efforts in coordinating the 1995 International High School Summit. It is by meeting "face to face" that children best learn that we are "one family." We congratulate him on his remarkable effort in bringing together children of fifteen countries to solve problems which will help to bring about a peaceful world.
**** For those of you who are still reading, I thought you might enjoy some details of this year's project. I'll just record them as I received them via email from Akiko and Susan.
July 7, 1996 Dear Sharon, We received your letter dated June 7 and were excited to find that the new project involved more and more people across Japan and the U.S.... Could you let us know how everything in the project goes now? Ryoju and I are fine, so we are happy to do whatever we could do to help you.... Akiko
July 15, 1996 Dear Sharon, Thank you for your long email on Wednesday. It
was wonderful to hear from you.... Thanks to your explanation, we understand
the current situation. Unfortunately we have "emergency" news on the
Sadako ceremony '96. Ryoju found two days ago that it would be held on July 28
this year instead of Peace Day. Since this is the second opportunity for him to
cover Peace events in Hiroshima, he himself did not know that the ceremony was
not held on Aug. 6 every year until recently.... (Description of three
alternatives follows.)
By the way, you don't have to worry about Susan's stay in Hiroshima; Ryoju
and I will welcome her any time. Ryoju may find little time to talk to her, but
I will be able to help her all day long.... We are just worried that Ryoju may
come home late or leave home very early in the morning on or around Aug 6 and
disturb her. Would you kindly ask her if she accepts this...? Akiko
July 16, 1996 Dear Sharon, Than you for your message. I am relieved that you came up with a very good idea to face the new situation. Yet, I'm willing to present the lei of paper cranes if I am the only appropriate person. You are such a dear friend to us. You always remind us that we should go forward anytime. Your friends, Akiko and Ryoju Tokai
July 23, 1996 Dear Sharon, I have wonderful news today. I talked with Mr. Kurose an hour ago, and he told me he could probably attend the Sadako Statue ceremony and promised to see Susan on Peace Day!! Akiko
July 26, 1996 Dear Sharon, Mr. Tamai told us yesterday that he and his students would participate in a CU-SeeMe event on Aug. 6 to talk with (you and your students....) Akiko
Aug 2, 1996 Good Morning, Sharon, Mr. Buccola emailed me and Susan phoned an hour ago to tell me that she had been stranded in Taiwan until yesterday because of a typhoon. I heard on TV that the typhoon hit islands near Okinawa, but I hardly imagined it kept her from coming home.... Akiko
Aug 6, 1996 Dear Sharon, Susan and I have just returned from the Peace Park and are taking a rest now. We have walked a lot today. Susan came to Hiroshima last night. She is as young as I am, and ...and a cheerful and nice woman. We left home very early this morning to see survivors praying and to see a friend of mine singing a hymn. When we arrived at the Park at 6:00 a.m., it was already crowded. When two persons hit the peace bell at 8:15, I couldn't help shedding some tears. After the ceremony, we went to the Peace Museum. We also attended peace service Mr. Kurose's school offered and presented the cranes and the booklet to him without fail. He was very much impressed.... Moreover, he not only promised to write to you but also to let his students write to you and children participating.... Your friend, Akiko
Aug 9, 1996 Dear Sharon, Susan left here yesterday as scheduled after completing all her "mission" in Hiroshima. Susan and I went to Miyajima, a famous spot for tourists near Hiroshima, on the afternoon of Aug. 7th and enjoyed its beautiful scenery and talked with many visitors from overseas, some of whom participated in the Peace Ceremony. Then we had a dinner with Mr. Tamai and his friends. They were so nice to Susan so she seemed to fully enjoy talking with and joking with them. Your friend, Akiko
Aug 16, 1996 Sharon, I can't tell you what a wonderful experience I had in Hiroshima. It was amazing! Akiko and Ryoju were outstanding. I met a slew of wonderful people, and I have emailed them as well. I can't thank you enough for this opportunity to attend.... Fondly, Susan
Aug 18, 1996 Dear Sharon, This report focuses on Peace Day. Ryoju left
home at 4:00 a.m., and Susan and I around 6:00. When we arrived at the Peace
Park, it was still cool, and we were amazed at a beautiful summer morning. The
park was already full of many people.
First we went to a memorial mound
built for unidentified victims to see a memorial service by four religious
groups. A friend of mine sang hymns there.
Secondly we went to the
Children's Statue, and Susan presented paper cranes folded by her students to
it.
Around 7:00 before we were prohibited to enter a place for the large
ceremony, we presented flowers in front of the central cenotaph. I tried to
tell her what I thought she should know before the ceremony began....
After
that we went inside the Museum. Susan seemed to be impressed most by pictures
drawn by survivors. They are quite valuable because few photos were taken soon
after the bombing. So most of them shock and terrify us; one of them shows
carbonized passengers on a train, and another shows a lot of naked people trying
to escape the fire. They are filled with cruel deaths. I was also impressed by
comments of the survivors written on their works because they drew them hoping
to console a soul of victims they saw.
In the afternoon, we joined the peace
service given by Mr. Kurose's school. An old lady who lost her teen-aged
daughter ten days after the bombing made a speech in it, and I translated most
of her story for Susan....
He also took us to a monument built for students
dying of exposure to the A-bomb. Anyway, Mr. Kurose and staff of his school
were all gracious to us. Susan was interviewed by a reporter of the largest
economic paper in Japan before the ceremony. Her comments appeared on it as
well as almost all local papers across Japan joining Kyodo news service the next
day.
I will write more. Akiko
**** Masako Furuii, the person who originally facilitated our "Hiroshima Connection" writes that she would love to have any children who know a little Japanese participate in Kidlink-Japan. Let me know if you're interested in this, and I'll forward your message on to her.
***** Thank you so much--all of you who helped in small or large ways--to
bring this year's Sadako/Paper Crane Project to a successful conclusion!
Sharon O'Connell
Back to the Sadako/Paper Crane '96 Page
Back to the Cranes for Peace page
