A story of peace and hope

“I will write peace on your wings, and you will fly all over the world.” – Sadako Sasaki

We’ll start by telling you the story of Sadako Sasaki…

Sadako was a Japanese girl who was exposed to radiation when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. She was later diagnosed with Leukaemia and heard a myth that making a thousand paper cranes will grant you one wish. On hearing this, she began folding 1000 origami cranes to be granted her wish of being healed. She unfortunately continued to grow weaker but importantly she never gave up hope.

In Sadako’s memory, origami cranes are now seen as a symbol of hope and peace across the globe.

Inspired by hearing this story and recognising the current challenges our world faces, two young sisters from the British International School HCMC primary school, Khanh Linh and Tu Anh decided they would take it upon themselves to make 1000 paper cranes just like Sadako. Their wish?

So Khanh Linh and Tu Anh started work on making their wish come true. After learning how to make the intricate origami cranes, the girls dedicated their spare time outside of Virtual School to create 1000 paper birds in an array of beautiful colours. The results are simply stunning…

We are so impressed by the girls’ act of kindness and compassion for those less fortunate than themselves. At the British International School HCMC we encourage every child to care about the world in which they live and to take action for peace just like Khanh Linh and Tu Anh.

Through our embedded community service programme and our collaboration with UNICEF our students have their social consciousness raised so they care more deeply about the world and the people in it. In fact, as part of the Global Campus Xtra Challenge, students from Nord Anglia Education’s 66 global schools have been posed a BIG question over the past two weeks: What does hope mean to you and how could we inspire hope and happiness in our community?

The 1000 paper cranes project by Khanh Linh and Tu Anh is the perfect example of how our students are inspiring hope and happiness in our community.

Ready to join this beautiful message of hope?  Instructions on how to make your own origami cranes have kindly been provided by Khanh Linh and Tu Anh: