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Young people from radiation-affected parts of the world meet in Marshall Islands

by Jumpei Fujimura, Staff Writer

Majuro, Marshall Islands – On February 28, a workshop opened for young people from radiation-affected parts of the world to meet and exchange information. The workshop held in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, is part of a project to make testimonies of people exposed to radiation in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and other places accessible via the Internet. On the first day of the workshop, students from Hiroshima and the Marshall Islands shared the experiences of relatives.

Two students from Hiroshima City University are taking part in the workshop: Kana Miyoshi, 19, a resident of Saeki Ward, and Mariko Oda, 20, a resident of Hatsukaichi, a city near Hiroshima. Both young women related the experiences of their grandmothers. Ms. Miyoshi showed a photo of her grandmother Yoshie’s smiling face. “My grandmother was exposed to the atomic bombing when she was 7. She lost her father and brother. Before I heard her story, I didn’t know that she tried to be cheerful to lift the spirits of her surviving family members,” said Ms. Miyoshi.

Four student from the Marshall Islands told about relatives who were exposed to the “ashes of death,” or radioactive fallout, and the hardships of still living, even today, as evacuees. After listening closely to the accounts from Hiroshima, Vercina Kallie, 22, a college freshman, said that, even though she knew the historical facts of the atomic bombing, it was the first time she heard about the experiences of A-bomb survivors. She expressed a desire to learn more.

The workshop will close on March 3. Students from Kazakhstan, where a nuclear test site maintained by the former Soviet Union was located, will join the event on March 1. Yasuyoshi Komizo, chairperson of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, will be a guest speaker.

The project has been spearheaded by Robert Jacobs, an associate professor of history at Hiroshima City University. Dr. Jacobs said that communities of nuclear sufferers are often isolated, and that if young people, who can make full use of the Internet, are united in friendship, they will be able to send strong messages for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

(Originally published on March 1, 2014)

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