There's a Japanese legend that lends the lesson of folding 1,000 origami cranes will result in one wish. This legend was made famous by the young Sadako, who was just two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped a mile away from her home near Hiroshima, Japan.
When she was 11 years old, swellings started to show up on her neck and she was soon diagnosed with leukemia. She was hospitalized in 1955. Sadako was given only a year to live, and she started to fold paper cranes - unfortunately she was only able to make 664 when she died in October 1955. Her friends and family made the rest and they still hang at Hiroshima Peace Park to this day, joined by others folded from across the world.
Sadako's story inspired students from Herbert Spencer Elementary school to hang 1,000 origami cranes they made at the Honour House Society on Dec. 18.
Craig Longstaff, the society's general manager, said the three 10-year-old girls, Lauren, Anna and Emily, folded the cranes after hearing about Sadako's story by their former Grade 4 teacher Brent Foster.
"They were so keen and spent so much time making the cranes," he said. "They did a fantastic job. They hung up cranes with the officers all over the house."
It took the three students many months of work to get all the cranes done, and the girls' fathers, Vancouver Police Department officers Matt Black and Chad Machiuk, joined them in full uniform to hang them at the Honour House.
"They contacted us to ask if they would be able to hang them in here at Honour House as a sign of peace and goodwill during the festive period," he added.
Longstaff said their teacher will be sending the photos of their cranes to Hiroshima Peace Park so a friend can take a picture of them at Sadako's memorial.
