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High school students to visit France and call for nuclear abolition

by Junji Akechi, Staff Writer

A group of 39 students of Funairi High School in Hiroshima will visit a high school in France, a nuclear weapon state, to convey the damage caused by the atomic bombing to students of the same generation there. The second-year Japanese students will show pictures drawn by A-bomb survivors based on their experiences to convey the horror wrought by the atomic bomb, and to appeal for nuclear abolition. With their departure on March 22 imminent, they are in the final stage of preparations, checking their pronunciation of English used in the presentation.

During their nine-day trip until March 30, the students will visit Antoine de Saint-Exupery High School in La Rochelle in western France, spending the two days of March 24 and 25 discussing the issue of nuclear weapons with students of that high school. They will also visit a village where a massacre by the Nazis took place.

In their presentation, they will share the words of A-bomb survivors in English. The experiences of those survivors include being unable to rescue children who were trapped under rubble and cremating piles of bodies. The students will explain these experiences with the survivors' drawings projected on a screen. They plan to conclude the presentation by stating: "It lies upon us, the next generation, to learn from these experiences and never to repeat the same evil."

Ayaka Okumura, 17, has been in charge of organizing the presentation. She said, "As we prepared the presentation, we were shocked once again by the consequences of the atomic bombing. I hope we can provide an opportunity for French high school students to consider the issues involving nuclear weapons."

At the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, where the Nazis massacred local people, the students will tour ruins and listen to survivors of the genocide. During the cultural festival of Funairi High School in June, they will hold a photo exhibition and present what they have learned in France.

This exchange program was launched after students of the French high school visited Funairi High School in October 2008.

(Originally published on March 18, 2010)

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