WFC News
Honorary Chairperson Hiromu Morishita will receive the 33rd Pestalozzi – Education Award from the Faculty of Education at Hiroshima University. The award ceremony will be held on January 30.
“The Pestalozzi – Education Award was established in 1992 to recognize individuals or organizations that are carrying out outstanding educational practices in the face of extremely difficult educational conditions in our country. The award is intended to provide an opportunity to reconsider contemporary education by recognizing individuals or groups whose educational practices are in the spirit of Pestalozzi.
On December 11, Ms. Hiroko Nishimura of the Group for Learning from Floyd Schmoe visited WFC. Ms. Nishimura has lectured several times at WFC’s “Pass-on Project Lectures” and has helped us learn more about Floyd Schmoe.
Shortly after their assignment, directors Bradley and Susan also visited the Schmoe House in Eba with their guests. Bradley and Susan had never heard of Mr. Schmoe before coming to Hiroshima, but they were very interested in learning more about him.
Barbara, the founder of the WFC, and Mr. Schmoe, who arrived in postwar Hiroshima to construct houses for hibakusha with his colleagues, share several similarities. Both are special honorary citizens of Hiroshima City, have ties to Eba, are Quakers, and have collaborated with individuals from diverse backgrounds while living close to the hibakusha. The WFC also gives tours of the Schmoe House to guests from overseas. We will continue to work with the Schmoe Study Group to tell the stories of those who worked for peace.
On December 5, our Directors, Bradley & Susan visited the Sotoku High School Newspaper Club. Four members of the Sotoku High School Newspaper Club participated in the Korean PAX in the spring of 2024 and the club covered various activities of WFC and published articles in the Sotoku Gakuen Newspaper.
It was very interesting to visit a Japanese high school and hear about its activities from the students in the newspaper club. Incidentally, the students are very interested in the newspaper club at Suntoku High School, and about 10% of the entire school’s students are members of the club. In October, the club won the “Gold Prize” in the National High School Newspaper Contest. Bradley and Susan were surprised to learn that the newspaper club is active every day after school until late, except during test periods. The directors expressed their hope that our new facility will serve as a place where guests from abroad can hear A-bomb testimonies from hibakusha and think about peace.
On November 24, WFC participated in the “Activities Introduction Corner” at the “International Festa 2024” organized by the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation at the International Conference Center Hiroshima.
This year, we decided to focus our introduction on the PAX (Peace Ambassadors Exchange Program) between the U.S. and Korea. In addition to the new directors, board members, and members participating in WFC activities, we were joined by PAX participants who visited the U.S. fall in 2023 and Korea in spring 2024. A total of 120 people stopped by the WFC corner. We were able to publicize PAX, WFC’s activities, and the open house scheduled for December 7 to a wide variety of people, from those familiar with WFC to those new to WFC, and from children to the elderly, who stopped by. We hope this will lead to future activities.
The WFC had a visitor from the U.S. on November 15. He is Joel H. Rosenthal, president of Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. It was the first overseas visitor for newly arrived directors Bradley and Susan Cox, and we were grateful for the opportunity to introduce him to WFC’s founder, Barbara Reynolds, as well as the history and current activities of the WFC. Mr. Rosenthal was interested in passing on the A-bomb experience, and we explained to him about our efforts in Hiroshima to pass on the A-bomb experience (activities of A-bomb legacy successor, activities by family members of hibakusha to pass on their experiences of the atomic bombings by Hiroshima City, activities of high school students, and WFC’s A-bomb testimonies and activities to pass them on). We would like to thank Mr. Nobuhiro Mitsuoka (Fellow, Harvard Graduate School of Design) for introducing the WFC to Mr. Rosenthal and for accompanying him to the WFC, and we hope that the WFC will continue to serve as a bridge for visitors from overseas to meet HIbakusha, learn about the reality of the bombing, and engage in dialogue in order to build peace.
