Paper cranes from Bermuda bring cheer to Japan quake victims
Photos
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Warwick Academy student Makenna Bearden, eight, holds an origami crane after the presentation by a Tokio Millennium Re team who went to disaster-hit Japan.
(Photo by Akil Simmons) -
Photo by Akil Simmons Staff from Tokio Millennium Re went to speak to Warwick Academy students about their trip to Japan yesterday, explaining their efforts to help the needy in Japan and clean-up operation. Warwick Academy student Daniel Simmons age 8 holds an origami crane outside the schools assembly hall, moments after the presentation made by Tokio Millennium Re. June 28,2011
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Helping out: Victoria Clipper, Bror Muller and Takeshi Iwaguchi, present a cheque from Tokio Millennium Re and MS Frontier to a representative for the Red Cross in Japan
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Lifting spirits: Victoria Clipper, Bror Muller and Takeshi Iwaguchi, deliver the paper cranes from Bermuda to children at Shimo Masuda Elementary School in Japan.
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Helping out: Bror Muller, Victoria Clipper and Takeshi Iwaguchi (far right), deliver the paper cranes from Bermuda to an unidentified man at Shimo Masuda Elementary School in Japan.
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Photo by Akil Simmons Staff from Tokio Millennium Re went to speak to Warwick Academy students about their trip to Japan yesterday, explaining their efforts to help the needy in Japan and clean-up operation. Warwick Academy student Makenna Bearden age 8 holds an origami crane outside the schools assembly hall, moments after the presentation made by Tokio Millennium Re. June 28,2011
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Devastation - House with car in side
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Outside the house
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Devastation - Containers on a beach
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Car over Canal
The idea behind paper cranes
Warwick Academy Year Four teacher Jeanne Hodgkins came up with the idea to make paper cranes while her class was reading the book ‘Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes’.
She told The Royal Gazette: “It’s a story about a little girl who got leukaemia from the radiation from the Hiroshima bombing, but the lesson is if you make 1,000 paper cranes and make a wish the wish will come true.
“We decided to make our own cranes and distributed them to the kids throughout the primary school. People gave donations of $2 per crane to write a wish and [the kids brought] it back to school.“
They raised $2,000 from the effort to go towards the Bermuda Red Cross’ Japan relief efforts and the cranes were hung up in the school quad.
Victoria Clipper, whose cousin attends Warwick Academy, learnt about the project. She asked if she could take the paper figures to Japan on a humanitarian trip her company, Tokio Millenium Re, was making there.
“That was a big surprise to us because we really did not know what we were going to do with them at that point,” said Ms Hodgkins.
She said the project taught Warwick Academy youngsters that if “they all work together and do something small they can make a difference in people’s lives”.
Nine-year-old Jaeshri Romeo said it was exciting making the paper cranes in class. “I didn’t know what was going to happen but it’s not just folding a piece of paper, it’s making a whole different life for another person.”
Ilhan Gibbons, 8, said: “It was rewarding. Just making a paper crane helped them. I am glad.”
Primary school students at Warwick Academy had no idea paper cranes they made in class could make a world of difference to earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan.
But that’s exactly what happened when three workers from reinsurance company Tokio Millenium Re agreed to take the paper figures to children in the disaster-struck nation.
Takeshi Iwaguchi, Bror Muller and Victoria Clipper travelled 7,500 miles to accomplish a three-fold mission on behalf of their company from June 11 to 21.
They handed over a cheque raised by a Bermuda milk carton fundraising appeal, gave out 1,000 origami cranes made by Warwick Academy students and helped volunteers with the Asian nation’s clean-up operation.
On March 11, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan causing more than 15,500 deaths. It triggered extremely destructive tsunami waves of up to 40.5 metres and led to the destruction of infrastructure and a number of nuclear accidents.
Ms Clipper, an underwriting assistant at the firm, said some of the paper cranes were left for disaster victims living in an evacuation centre, while others were given to students at a primary school located right on the edge of tsunami-hit area Sendai.
The cranes lifted the spirits of many of the students and one child wrote back to say: “Thank you very much. There were many painful and sad things on March 11. Some of our friends died and some lost their family or house.
“However, from your message we found out that people from all over the world cheer and support us. These messages mean a lot to us and provide us with a great sense of support.”
Mr Iwaguchi read the child’s letter at a special assembly held at Warwick Academy yesterday morning.
His co-worker, Ms Clipper, told the local students: “A lot of people around the world had made cranes for Japan, but the Warwick Academy cranes were the only ones we saw with messages on them for the Japanese people.
“A man from a Japanese newspaper came with us [to the primary school] and wrote a story about Warwick Academy and their cranes and he put a picture of us in the paper with the children.
“The children were very excited to see us and couldn’t believe that there were children on the other side of the world thinking about them.”
The Tokio Millenium Re employees said the visit with schoolchildren in Japan was the most meaningful part of the trip.
Mr Muller said: “These kids hugged me warmly when we left the school and only 100 metres away were the remains of their houses and tortured metal that had once been cars. The contrast made a big impression on me.”
The Bermuda-based volunteers said they were always aware they were not only representing their company but also the people of Bermuda.
A company spokesman said: “They all came back feeling proud that Bermuda had made a difference in the lives of the people with whom they worked and that they had been able to convey a sincere message of empathy to people so far away.”
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Published Jun 29, 2011 at 8:00 am (Updated Jun 29, 2011 at 8:59 am)