World Peace Project at Edison State
Oct 14, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
World Peace Project Goal: 1,000 Origami Cranes
Free Event to Learn Origami
October 14, 2011 – Edison State College’s School of Education presents an opportunity to learn the ancient art of folding Origami cranes. It’s all part of a World Peace Initiative from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 19 in Building “U” on the Lee Campus.
The goal, said Dr. Genelle Grant, an adjunct professor at Edison State College, is to make 1,000 Origami cranes, which will then be on display in the lobby of Building “U”. Students will be on hand to demonstrate how to fold the cranes. No experience is needed.
Celebrating nearly 50 years of excellence, Edison State College is Southwest Florida’s largest, most accessible and most affordable institution of higher education. Proud to be tobacco-free, Edison State serves more than 25,000 students per year in five counties and online. For more information please visit www.edison.edu.
Media Contact: Teresa Morgenstern, Office: (239) 732-3901; Mobile: (239) 821-3978 E: tmorgenstern@edison.edu
The Story of Sadako and the Thousand Origami Cranes
This is the true story of a Japanese girl who lived in the city of Hiroshima during World War II. She was two years old when planes from the United States dropped the atomic bombs there and in Nagasaki, on August 6, 1945. As Sadako grew up, she loved running and hoped to become a famous athlete. However, at age 11, she became very sick with leukemia, a form of blood cancer, because of her exposure to the radiation from the atomic bomb.
When her friend Chizuko (Coerr 34) visited Sadako in the hospital, she told Sadako that she knew a way to make her well. She reminded Sadako of the Japanese legend about the crane, a bird who can live for a thousand years. The belief is that if a sick person makes one thousand Origami paper cranes, the gods will help that person become well again. Sadako began making the cranes. Sadly, even though the cranes gave Sadako hope, she died at the age of 12. In 1955, after having folded 644 cranes, Sadako was buried with 1000 paper cranes. Her classmates folded the other 356 cranes.
After her death, Sadako’s classmates formed a committee and published a book, Kokeshi, about her story. They wrote letters to schools all over the country, and they worked hard for three years to raise money. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden paper crane was built in the new Sadako Peace Garden in Hiroshima, Japan. Now, August 6 of every year is dedicated to International Peace Day. On this day, people from all over the world send or bring thousands of paper cranes to place around Sadako’s statue. They pray that no one will ever drop another atomic bomb in our world again.
**Please direct any questions to Dr. Grant (ggrant@edison.edu), Joyce Rollins (jrollins@edison.edu) or Barbara Miley (bimiley@edison.edu).
Last Updated: October 14, 2011
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