1000 Cranes
Two-year-old Sadako didn't know about the war. But this didn't matter at 8:15a.m. on August 6 , 1945, because the bomb dropped on her city anyway. Sadako Sasaki survived the initial blast that leveled most of Hiroshima , but her fate was sealed. At age 11 Sadako was an active child who loved to run, but she soon started getting dizzy spells. In 1955 Sadako was diagnosed with Leukemia, "the atom bomb" disease.
In Japan there is a legend that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes the gods will grant you a wish. Sadako knew exactly what she would wish for. Each day she folded cranes, but she never made it to her goal.
On October 25, 1955 Sadako died after finishing only 644 paper cranes. Although she had not made it to 1,000, her story inspired many people to action. Her friends and classmates finished her cranes and collected money, and in 1958 a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in Hiroshima Peace Park . On the statue is a message from the children that made it possible.
“ This is our cry, This is our prayer, Peace in the world . "
Now it is a symbol of peace to go to the park and leave 1,000 paper cranes.Susan Gilfert and Professor Schuchardt led the Fall 2005 Academic Travel to Japan .
Gilfert felt that it was very important to go to the Peace Park in Hiroshima. “There is a great deal of curricular interest in the Second World War from a European perspective and I hoped that the students could get another perspective,” she said.
Not only did Franklin students visit the park but they endeavored to leave 1,000 paper cranes in honor of peace. The students held a small personal ceremony at the memorial of the mobilized children. The ceremony was not held at the official Sadako Statue because there is certain protocol that must be respected there and as tour director Susan felt that it was more in the “spirit of Franklin” to be able to leave the cranes in a personalized manner. Gilfert explained that the memorial where the Franklin ceremony was held was “at the mobilized children memorial. It was for the children who survived but later died of radiation, also it was for the children around the world who mobilized funds. It was a more grassroots movement.”
For the ceremony each student took strings of cranes, which they had made, and silently hung them among the other cranes. Gilfert expressed that she was, “pleased to see that the students were respectfully offering what they wanted and I felt that was really in the spirit of the memorial at Hiroshima .”
The mission of each Academic Travel is different, but they all hope that the students take something away from their experience. By visiting Hiroshima Peace Park each Franklin student not only took away something important, but they also left an important symbol of peace.