A Virtual Visit to the Hiroshima Peace Park

My friend, Ched Magaspar who teaches in Japan is a volunteer for the Hiroshima Peace Volunteers. For more than a year, their volunteer organization has conducted projects promoting peace in Japan. They have published books and stories online and have reached out to partner organizations abroad. Their  recent project involved the distribution of a story books about survivors of the Hiroshima bombing to schools in the Philippines.

Last weekend, Ched invited me as observer in a virtual walk through of Hiroshima Peace Park. The volunteers told stories of their volunteer work, the rituals in Hiroshima that they conduct to commemorate the dead and the victims of war and oral stories they gathered from those who have passed on. There was no hate. Only love. It was a restorative experience.

The event was in coordination with REAL Innovative Connections who organized a group of 5th grade classes in Hawaii and New Jersey. Teachers were touched and the families of the grade school students were thankful to hear these stories from an era that seemed too far off now. Yet, the issues of violence, racism, genocide and authoritarianism are so real to this day. How these issues destroy families, societies and thousands of lives. 

We need to hear these stories. We need to heal from the wounds of the past. The Hiroshima Peace Park Volunteers' stories need to be heard.

We are doing something about this.