Students in Sandy Lockerby’s Grade 5/6 class are pictured above with 1000 cranes, which they they made in memory of the victims of the bombing of Hiroshima. The cranes will be sent to Japan to be displayed at the Children’s Peace Monument located in H

TATAMAGOUCHE: The students in Sandy Lockerby’s Grade 5/6 class were inspired to fold 1,000 origami cranes after reading a story about a young girl named Sadako Sasaki.
Sasaki was only two-years-old when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. However, it wasn’t until nine years later that the true effects of her exposure to the bomb became apparent.
Sasaki was in sixth grade when doctors diagnosed her with leukemia. While in hospital, she was told of a Japanese legend that said a wish would be granted to anyone who folded 1,000 paper cranes. Sasaki made it her mission to do just that, folding any paper she could find into a crane.
Unfortunately, Sasaki only made it to 664 cranes before passing away eight months after being admitted to Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. Her friends finished the rest in her honour and she was buried with all 1,000 of them.
The idea to make the cranes originally came from teacher Heather Forbes who has been reading the book Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes with her Grade 1/2 for years.
After learning the story of Sasaki, the students in Lockerby’s class decided they too wanted to complete the task that Sasaki could not. After about two months of folding, the students finally reached their goal.
The students say they made the cranes as a symbol of peace so the victims of the Hiroshima bombing will not be forgotten. While they enjoyed making cranes as part of their lesson, they also admitted that it was a welcomed break form their regular schoolwork.
The cranes have been sent to Japan to be displayed at the Children’s Peace Monument located in the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima.
Approximately 10 million paper cranes are offered in Sasaki’s memory every year and are draped over a stature of a child holding a crane as a symbol of peace.
The park, which spans across more than 120,000 square meters, has become one of Japan’s most popular tourist attractions.