Global Images Contest 2008-2009

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Children's Declaration of Peace, Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Japan

WINNER

In Japan, there's a legend that a person who folds a thousand paper cranes will be granted a wish. Sadako Sasaki was only a two years old when she was exposed to the radiation released by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. She was diagnosed with leukemia ten years later. While in the hospital, she began folding paper cranes in hope of reaching a thousand, which she thought would grant her a wish--- to continue to live. Sadako died a few months after and her friends raised money to build a memorial in commemoration of Sadako. Today a statue of Sakado holding a paper crane stands in the Hiroshima Memorial Park, and the paper crane has turned into a symbol for peace. School children from all over Japan send in thousands of paper cranes everyday in memories of Sadako and in hope for peace.

Vivian Kan ‘09