The founder of the Peace Walker Society is calling on the Coast community to join him in making origami peace cranes to honour the memory of a Hiroshima bombing victim.
Derek Walker Youngs is organizing origami making and a peace walk through the labyrinth at St. Hilda's church in Sechelt July 24 from 2 to 4 p.m.
"I think it's important for us to remember," he said.
The cranes became a symbol of peace after a Japanese girl Sadako, who had survived the nuclear bomb attack, made hundreds of origami cranes while on her deathbed suffering leukemia. A school friend had given her a crane in the hospital, and told her it was a tradition if you make a thousand cranes, your wish will come true, according to Walker Youngs.
Sadako's wish was to continue living, but she didn't reach the thousand mark before she died. Since then, people have been making the paper birds in her honour.
"It's about keeping the spirit of peace alive," he said.
On July 24, he will show people how to make the origami cranes and then everyone will take their birds to the centre of the labyrinth to leave as a peace prayer, he said.
Then he will take all the cranes with him on his trip to Japan to place them at Sadako's memorial statue Aug. 6. He expects hundreds of thousands of people to be at the statue for the 60th anniversary of the bombing.
"It impacted me to think people around the world are making these birds," he said. He founded the Peace Walker Society a few years ago, which now has a small core of active members.
He has been walking for peace since 1986, in 18 different countries, covering 23,000 km.
"One of my dreams was to walk to Japan," he said. "This year I'm living that dream by going to Japan and by placing peace birds at the monument."
