Peace Cranes 2013

Childrens messages for Peace

Levenmouth school children have sent peace messages and 1000 origami Peace Cranes to the Childrens Peace Garden in Hiroshima with the help of Rotarians from Leven Rotary club.

Rotary International president, Sakuji Tanaka, selected the theme Peace through Service for his year as president 2012 2013. The symbol of his theme was an origami Peace Crane and after hearing the Story of the Peace Crane, Leven Rotarians and friends approached schools in the Levenmouth area to help to fold 1000 cranes.

The Story of the Cranes originates from a Japanese legend which says that if you fold1000 origami cranes, you will be granted a wish. A little girl named Sadako Sasaki, who had survived the initial atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, later developed leukaemia and spent months in hospital. On hearing about the Japanese legend she started folding the cranes in the hope she would recover.

As her condition worsened she realised that her wish to get well again would not come true even after successfully folding 1000 cranes. Before her death she made a wish for peace so that no child would suffer like she had because of the atomic bomb.

With the support of 3100 schools from all over the world, a 9metre bronze statue holding a folded crane was erected in the Peace Garden in Hiroshima. The statue is known as the Childrens Peace Monument and beneath the pedestal there is an inscription:

This is our cry. This is our prayer. For building peace in this world.

Leven Rotarians visited local primary schools, which included Kirkton of Largo , East Wemyss , Parkhill, Kennoway , Mountfleurie  and St Agathas and shared the Story of the Peace Cranes with the children. They then helped the children to fold 1000 cranes, which have now been packaged and are on their way to the Childrens Peace Garden in Hiroshima, thanks to the assistance of Japan Airlines, who agreed to transport them free of charge.

The children also wrote Peace messages to accompany the cranes and 3 were chosen to be included in the package:

         World at Peace, Live in Peace, Stay in Peace

         Sometimes we build walls instead of bridges.

         A gift from children, in hope of Peace to all.

On 6^th August the cranes from the children of Levenmouth, along with their messages, will be displayed during the memorial service which is held each year on the anniversary of the dropping of the bomb.