Japanese legend promises anyone folding 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish. Emma Perret’s third grade class at Makua Lani Christian Academy will send its wish to the people of Fukushima, Japan, for good health and good will from
Japanese legend promises anyone folding 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish. Emma Perret’s third grade class at Makua Lani Christian Academy will send its wish to the people of Fukushima, Japan, for good health and good will from the children of Hawaii.
On Thursday, sisters Hinata and Futaba Abe taught the class how fold squares of paper into the mystical creature. The sisters are in Kona for a three-month respite from radiation poisoning in Fukushima Prefecture from the 2011 tsunami and resulting nuclear power plant meltdown as part of the Fukushima Kids Hawaii project.
The third grade students learned about the nuclear disaster and the program that brings the children to Hawaii. Their goal is to send 1,000 folded cranes back home with the visiting sisters.
“Of the 300,000 children living in Fukushima today, 35.8 percent of them have developed thyroid cysts and over 100 have had thyroid cancer since the nuclear disaster in March 2011. Giving them a break from radiation exposure is beneficial to their health and the healing power of Hawaii can really help them,” said Fukushima Kids Hawaii co-founder Yumi Kikuchi.
For more information, or to sponsor a child from Fukushima, call 334-9616 or visit fukushimakidshawaii.com.
