July 6, 2008 - 11:42pm — kimannie0809
Legend about the 1000 Cranes
Hi! I just joined youth venture last week and I am very excited to get started on a project that can benefit other people in my community, especially children. Since my project is called 1000 Cranes, I wanted to tell everyone what the story behind the legend is. Basically the legend states that if someone folds 1000 cranes, they will be granted a wish. The first time I heard about this legend was in elementary school and I loved the story about Sadako and the 1000 cranes. Sadako was a young girl who lived near Hiroshima, Japan and when she was only two years old, the atomic bomb was dropped. She was completely fine during the time, but years later she was diagnosed with leukemia since the radiation from the atomic bomb had affected her. When her best friend found out that she had leukemia, she decided to fold her 1000 cranes. She wanted Sadako to get better and the legend said that if she pleased the gods by folding 1000 origami cranes, she would get her wish. However, Sadako died before her friend could ever finish folding those cranes.
Basically that is the story of the 1000 cranes and the story that we based our venture idea on. We want to help the youth in our community, especially the underpriviledged children and we want to get 1000 people to be involved with our project, so to keep track, i will give one crane for every donation. Hopefully, we will be able to fold 1000 cranes and we hope that one day our wish will be granted. ^_^ Therefore, this is the story! =) Enjoy!
Re: Legend about the 1000 Cranes
I think it's great how Sadako Sasaki's story inspired you to help children in hospitals. Have you been to Hiroshima? I was just there a few weeks ago and that was the first time I heard the story of Sadako Sasaki. They built the Children's Peace Monument with a statue called "Tower of a Thousand Cranes" in Hiroshima's Peace Park. At the top of the statue is of a young girl holding a folded paper crane above her. Around the statue are several glass cages where paper cranes folded by schoolchildren are housed. Schoolchildren all around Japan and around the world send paper cranes to symbolize their the desire for world peace and for a world without nuclear weapons. The paper cranes that people send are eventually recycled to make notebooks, bookmarks, pens, etc which are sold to raise funds to support peace efforts. Isn't that cool? Paper cranes serve so many different purposes!
Have you thought about working with your friends and the children you will be helping to fold cranes and send to Japan? Maybe you can tell the story to your donors and find out if they'd like to donate the crane you would make for them back to you so you can send it to Hiroshima. This way you can help children in hospitals and promote peace at the same time! :-)
Here's a link to more info about how you can send paper cranes to Hiroshima:
http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/crane.html
Anyway, good luck with 1000 Cranes and let me know if you have any questions about YV or this site... ^_^