[Raffle draw prize No. 5]

Item: 連鶴ー祈りの輪（RENZURU－Inori no wa ($200 value x 1)
Donated by Noriko Ikaga

Noriko's comment :
March 11th was a day of fear and uncertainty, and one that no Japanese person can forget. This was the day of the Japanese tsunami and nuclear disaster.
At school the following Monday, my students asked me “Can we do anything to help?” That made me realise that by getting depressed or crying wouldn’t help anyone. So we had better do something. This one question set in motion of flurry of activity that continued over many months, including organising a number of fundraising activities including the following.
https://www.facebook.com/events/715228071920927/?active_tab=posts
I didn’t have any personal connection with the affected area but I felt that we all need to do something because we are all guilty of not doing enough to stop the nuclear power plants. I just felt so bad for the people living there, especially the kids who get affected the most. The earthquake itself is a natural disaster and there is nothing we can do to stop that happening but the 2nd disaster happened in Fukushima was preventable. In January 2012, I visited Fukushima to pass on the messages from my students, gave them Koala clips and left the money we fund-raised for the volunteer centre in Minamisouma, the city closest to the nuclear plant.
The following year, I had a chance to help the program, organised by Peace Boat and JFP, who invited twelve Fukushima students from Minamisouma to spend time in Melbourne. I was fortunate to have them visit our school and spend time with my students. This cultural exchange was very meaningful as many of our students understood the feeling of loss and destruction as many of them had just experience the ravages of bushfire. Students were able to just enjoy a day together before the realities of life crept back in. I was proud that my students worked tirelessly to create 6,000 paper cranes for them to take back to their six schools in Fukushima.
https://www.facebook.com/events/567823103229194/
http://www.pozible.com/project/18590/
Many people would know paper cranes are transformed into the symbol for peace.
This type of paper crane is called “連鶴RENZURU”. It was created by a monk in Japan and his book was indeed the oldest published book of origami in 1797. 連 (ren) from “ 連鶴(renduru)” means to connect. RENZURU is not many paper cranes joined together but is in fact 36 paper cranes made from a single piece of paper. This particular piece “祈りの輪inori no wa” was designed by Soichiro Ikeda and he was inspired to design this after the earth quake. 祈り(Inori) means praying and　輪(wa) means circle. It is expressing a never ending hope for the recovery from earthquake damage.
The earthquake, the following tsunami and the nuclear disaster were terrible things to happen. However, I have to admit that through these events, I became connected to so many incredible people (I joined FB on the day the earthquake in fact). I have also been fortunate to meet so many wonderful people who donated their time, money, art work and held performances in order to help others. I feel humbled and would like to thank these people here again for their generosity.