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A Thousand Cranes for Peace

The Japanese legend has it that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes will have their wish fulfilled by the Gods...

Estimated reading time: 1 minute and 50 seconds

© Helder Berenguer

I wake up, still very sleepy and somewhat with a hoarse voice. It’s 5 AM. Early for who is not used to it, but today there was work to do.

I follow my normal path, it’s already mechanical after so many times. But this time, I’m carrying a ladder on my back. Today, September 21st, it’s the International Peace Day, and Agora Aveiro had something planned: hang 1000 paper cranes on the most beautiful street of Aveiro, Rua dos Mercadores, right in front of our headquarters. The result? A mixture of colors and shapes that didn’t go unnoticed by anyone!

The idea came from Sadako Sasaki’s story, a child victim of leukemia as a result of exposure to radiation caused by attacks on Hiroshima, in Japan.  Sadako,during her last months alive, dedicated herself to folding 1000 paper cranes (tsurus), in exchange for a wish, and we, inspired, also wanted to ask for one. 

But easy! To fold so many papers, we had to have a good plan, a lot of colorful paper, and many working hands. Thanks to Índigo Paper Lab, who offered us so many origami papers, we were able to send hundreds of colorful paper sheets to various parts of the country (even to Madeira island) where they were received by our members who readily accepted the mission of building up this project. A proof that, even in isolation, we don’t stop doing our work!

And today, International Peace Day, our wish is that everyone can contribute to this cause. That you plant it and make it grow on others. That you understand that change is possible if everyone works for it. So that no more children have to die, so that no one else has to be afraid or be a victim of a war they don’t understand. The line, imaginary, that separates peace from its antagonist, is sometimes as thin as a sheet of paper.

This project was sponsored by Índigo Paper Lab and had  the support of Câmara Municipal de Aveiro and Instituto Português do Desporto e Juventude I.P..

Nuno Brízida