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Message of Peace Sent Out by Hiroshima's High School Students
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Since 2002, Hiroshima City and this Foundation have been jointly running the High School Students Peace Club, aimed at training human resources for the promotion of peace.
In 2013, 26 students participated in the Club, where they learn about the actual damage caused by the atomic bomb, and communicate the importance of peace through activities such as peace study sessions with high school students from other municipalities.
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August 3-5
Booth Display at the 8th Mayors for Peace General Conference
In conjunction with the 8th Mayors for Peace General Conference, a booth was set up at International Conference Center Hiroshima to show the Peace Club activities as well as to gather messages for peace.
Mayors who participated in the General Conference left warm words of encouragement for the Peace Club such as
"It's wonderful that high school students are taking the initiative to implement peace activities. This is typical of Hiroshima. Keep at it" as well as peace messages.
This reaffirmed the importance of continuing with activities to communicate peace.
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Representative of Malakoff City, France, Mr. Michel Cibot, writes a message
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August 5
Peace Gathering by Hiroshima's Young People
The Peace Study Session held in the Chugoku Shimbun Company Building was attended by 86 junior high school students from eight municipalities.
After listening to an A-bomb witness lecture by Mr. Syoso Kawamoto, there was a group work session with the Peace Club members acting as facilitators.
Discussions were held on the topic of "A Forecast of our Future－2045", and the groups talked about what the world might be like in 2045, 100 years after the dropping of the atomic bomb, and what should be done now to ensure that the world at that time is a peaceful one.
The discussions in the groups ranged from subjects close to home such as "eradicating bullying", to more globally-focused discussions on "getting rid of national borders", with various opinions presented.
Through these discussions with junior high school students from many different municipalities, participants were able to learn not only about abolishing nuclear weapons, but also about the importance of thinking about peace from a broad perspective.
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Peace Club members (in the blue shirts) act as facilitators
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August 6
Sadako and Paper Cranes Poster Exhibition
The Sadako and Paper Cranes Poster Exhibition was held at the main building of the Peace Memorial Museum.
The purpose of the exhibition was to communicate the actual damage of the bombing by telling the life story of Sadako Sasaki, the girl who lost her life to leukemia ten years after the atomic bombing.
Peace Club members took special measures to make sure that the damage from the bombing was communicated clearly, such as using models to explain the mechanism of the atomic bomb, for example.
Some club members provided explanations in English, and this meant that the truth of the bombing and the importance of peace could be communicated to many people from Japan and overseas.
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Explaining the mechanism of the atomic bomb using a hand-made model
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At the paper crane section set up at the venue, people who empathized with the Peace Club's message of peace made many paper cranes.
Some of the warm messages from participants included
"It is important that the children of Hiroshima are involved in activities to communicate peace. I definitely want them to continue",
and "Up until now I had avoided coming to this place on August 6 (because of the sad memories), but now I want to come again next year (from an A-bomb survivor)".
There were also encounters with many different people, including a visit by the Hiroshima-born pianist Ms. Mami Hagiwara, and the students learned much from the event.
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August 8-10
Training in Nagasaki
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Peace Club members participated in the Youth Peace Forum held in Nagasaki City.
This Forum is a learning session where peace delegations from all over Japan, visiting Nagasaki to participate in the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Ceremony on August 9, gather together to think about the preciousness of peace.
The Forum is run by young volunteers (aged 15-30) from Nagasaki City.
With a 5-hour bus ride from Hiroshima to Nagasaki, the trip was not an easy one, but the students held discussions on peace with young people from all over Japan and learned about peace activities being implemented by young people in Nagasaki City, and the event was extremely worthwhile for them.
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Handing the message board from the Peace Club to Nagasaki Mayor Taue (left)
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Through activities to date, the Peace Club members have a greatly heightened interest in peace activities, with comments such as
"I want to hold activities to communicate the truth of the atomic bombing to more people" and
"I want to learn more about damage from war other than atomic bomb damage, and communicate to people the importance of peace".
The Peace Club will continue to communicate the truth of the atomic bombing damage, and the desire for peace, and are planning various activities to do so, including a concert of pianos that survived the atomic bombing.
The Club would also like to increase its membership, building networks with young peace volunteers from Nagasaki City and high school students involved in peace activities in other prefectures, so that the young generations can build the momentum for peace.
We appreciate continued warm support.
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| (Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Outreach Division) |
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