Colorful Peace Cranes

SKU: k24106

$10.00

These colorful peace cranes are a fair trade product handmade in Kenya. They are hand carved out of stone, sanded, and dyed, all using simple hand tools. Sold individually.

The following is the inspiration behind our peace cranes:

Sadako Sasaki was a Japanese girl living in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan (August 6, 1945). In 1955, at age 11, Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia, a type of cancer caused by the atomic bomb.

While in the hospital, Sadako started to fold paper cranes. There is a belief that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, your wish will come true. Sadako spent 14 months in the hospital, folding paper cranes with whatever paper she could find. Paper was scarce so she used the paper from medicine bottles, candy wrappers, and left over gift-wrap. Her wish was that she would get well again and that the victims of the world would attain peace and healing.

Sadako died on October 25, 1955. She was 12 years old and had folded over 1,300 paper cranes. Her friends and classmates raised money to build a memorial in honor of Sadako and other atomic bomb victims. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial was completed in 1958. It has a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane. At the base is a plaque that says:

This is our cry.
This is our prayer.
Peace in the world.

How It's Made

We work with very talented artisans in Kenya. To see how some of our products are made, visit our How It’s Made page. To learn about some of the artisans, visit our Artisan Stories page.

Features

  • A fair trade product
  • Made in Kenya
  • Made of Kisii Soapstone
  • A story card comes with each crane
  • Sold individually

Additional information

Weight 0.1 lbs
Dimensions 2.75 × 2 × 1.25 in