World Friendship Center, Recipient of 2011 Partners in Service Award
JoAnn Sims

Each year the Brethren Volunteer Service (BVS) recognizes an individual, project, or organization that has demonstrated exceptional commitment with BVS to share God’s love through acts of service. The BVS staff was unanimous in selecting the World Friendship Center for this honor. The award was presented at the Brethren Annual Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan on July 4, 2011. Masako Kido, a World Friendship Board Member (Riji), received the award with her husband, Lynn Llewellyn. They were visiting the USA and were pleased to accept the award on behalf of WFC. Masako’s acceptance speech follows this introduction.


The Partners in Service Award
Masako Kido

My name is Masako Kido and my home is Hiroshima, Japan.
I have had the privilege of being a member of the World Friendship Center for over 45 years. Today, I have the honor of representing the WFC, and accepting on their behalf the Partners in Service Award presented by the Brethren Volunteer Service.

The partnership between our two organizations on behalf of world peace has been strong and rewarding. The BVS has kindly provided the directors for more than 25years. I can not begin to tell you how much we appreciate the continuing support of the BVS. Without your guidance, wisdom and assistance, the WFC would not have been able to survive until today.

June 12th of this year would have been the 96th birthday of Barbara Reynolds, the founder of the World Friendship Center, and also special honorary citizen of Hiroshima. On that occasion, the center arranged a special ceremony and unveiled a beautiful monument in her honor. Many distinguished guests were present including both the past and current mayors of Hiroshima. The monument, itself, took over four years to be completed. I would like to describe it briefly to you.
The monument was erected on the south east side of Peace Memorial Park. Its design is very sophisticated and appealing. The front on the monument is white ceramic plate with Barbara’s picture, and wonderful calligraphy by Hiromu Morishita, our WFC chairman. The white ceramic plate is placed in black stone. Both the American committee and Japanese board members proposed ideas for the words engraved of the monument. Everyone thought the inscription should represent the spirit of Barbara’s peace activities and her desire for a better future. Those words are, first in Japanese and then English.

Watakushimo mata Hibakusha desu. Watakushino kokorowa itsumo
Hibakusha, Hiroshima to tomoni arimasu.

I, too am a Hibakusha


Hibakusha- they are the inspiration for all my peace efforts. My heart
is always with Hiroshima.

(For your information “Hibakusha” means “Atomic Bomb survivors”)

I should also tell you that Barbara’s daughter Jessica Renshaw, her husband, and her nephew, Anthony Reynolds, made a special trip from the United States to attend the unveiling of the monument. Jessica made a wonderful 15-minutes speech in Japanese for the event. I hope everyone in this audience will have the opportunity to come to Hiroshima and visit Barbara Reynolds’s monument.

In closing, I again would like to thank the BVS for this marvelous award. In two weeks, I will carry this award back to Japan to share the honor with the other members of the WFC and all the people in Hiroshima. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.





August 6, 2011 Commemoration in Hiroshima
Larry Sims

August 6th is the day the city of Hiroshima remembers those who lost their lives when the Atomic Bomb destroyed the city and those in it. The city also remembers those survivors of the bombing who die each year. The ceremony serves to help renew efforts to create a peaceful world free from nuclear weapons.

Approaching the Peace Park on the day of the ceremony one is greeted by Cub Scouts who give out fresh flowers to present at the Cenotaph at the end of the ceremony. The ceremony itself is brief and consists of short speeches, choir performances and the release of doves which circle around the park. For many of those in attendance, however, the most meaningful and powerful time is the moment of silence at 8:15 – the time of the atomic bomb explosion 66 years ago. Eyes turn skyward as if watching for the fateful B-29 with its weapon of terror.

Following the ceremony, many from WFC join others at the newly dedicated Barbara Reynolds Monument for a brief WFC Choir performance.

Another highlight of the day's activities was listening to Goro Nishida's A-bomb Survivor Story. About 50 people gathered in the morning at WFC to continue this long-standing tradition. Included in the audience were students from Ritsumeikan University, American University, WFC Members and friends from the Hiroshima community. A special guest was Professor Atsushi Fujioka from Ritsumeikan University. The telling of these stories continues to be an important part of the WFC mission. Thank you Goro!

In the early evening, the WFC group returns to the Park to assemble and float candle-lit lanterns on the river. Each lantern has a hand-written message of hope for world peace.

The day was filled with memories for all and a renewed strength to continue work for a better world without nuclear weapons.

Welcome Party after Barbara Reynolds Monument Unveiling Ceremony

Welcome Party photoshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

UNVEILING CEREMONY OF BARBARA REYNOLDS MONUMENT

PHOTO UNVEILING CEREMONY http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifOF BARBARA REYNOLDS MONUMENT




Date: June 12th, 2011 (Sun.) 10:00a.m.~ 11:00a.m.

Place : Hiroshima City Naka-ward, Nakajima cho (Peace Bridge West corner)
(The waiting room : International Conference Hall Study room 3F)

Organizer: NPO World Friendship Center

( Chorus : Kyouchikutou no Komoriuta : Lullaby of Oleander)
1. Opening Address
2. Organizer’s Greeting (Silent prayer for late Barbara Reynolds, A-Bomb v A-Bomb victims and radiation exposed people in Fukushima)　
3. Guest Congratulatory Addresses
The mayor of Hiroshima
The chair of Hiroshima Municipal Assembly
The specially appointed Professor of Hiroshima University
4. The director of Radiation Effects Research Foundation
5. The congratulatory telegram of the governor of Hiroshima Prefecture
6. Introduction of the guests
7. Introduction of the author “ Hiroshima Pilgrimage”
8. Introduction of the Monument Erecting Committee
9. The Report of the Progress
10. Unveiling : the family of Barbara Reynolds and others
. Unveiling (Chorus: The Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream)
11. Reading aloud of the monument words
12. Presentation of Testimonial
13. The Greetings of Barbara Reynolds Family
14. Presentation of the folded paper crane Lei and the Bunch of
flowers.
15. Chorus Sekai no Inochi = Hiroshima no Kokoro
( Life of the World = Heart of Hiroshima )
The poem by Dr. Tomin Harada, honorary chairman of WFC
16 . Closing Address

Barbara Reynolds Monument Unveiling ceremony
Jessica's speach

Dear Members of the Monument Committee, hibakusha, friends, and family,
We are happy to meet with you today. My husband Jerry and I have come from California and my nephew Tony, one of Barbara's grandsons, has come from Texas. We also represent my brothers, Barbara's sons Tim and Ted Reynolds, and her other 8 grandchildren who would have come if possible.
We are here at the invitation of the Dedication Committee to unveil a monument to my mother, who would have been 96 years old today. To me, it is amazing that the hibakusha of the nuclear bomb dropped by Americans would erect a monument to an American woman at their Ground Zero. I am so humbled by your forgiveness and desire to do this.
Many people whose lives have been touched by my mother's life call her a saint, even a "national treasure." But my mother would have been the first to say she was just an imperfect human being.
In September, 1964, my mother was 49 years old, reeling from the pain of divorce. My father had married another woman. My brother Ted had just gotten married. I had gone back to the United States. So she was alone. A friend of hers, a Buddhist priest, gave her permission to come to the temple on Mt. Rokko to spend time alone in meditation, fasting, and prayer. There, for a week, she lamented her failure to hold her marriage together and with loud cries to heaven questioned her purpose for living.
My mother believed in the God who is above all other gods. This God is not the work of our hands; we are the work of His hands. He has created us in His own image. She knew Him as Creator and powerful controller of the universe.
But until that week she did not know Him as a personal, living Heavenly Father. At the end of that week, the heavenly Father spoke to her heart and told her that He loved her and forgave her. Her tears turned to tears of joy and peace. Then He revealed to my mother that His purpose for her was to take His love back to Hiroshima and show the hibakusha how much He loves them by serving them.
Years before, my father had been part of a team sent by the American government to study the effects of radiation on Hiroshima hibakusha--to draw their blood and measure their height and weight and photograph them. But no one had asked them, "What was it like to experience an atomic bomb?" No one had listened to them or cried with them. Now, in obedience to her heavenly Father, my mother went back to Hiroshima, despite her sense of personal shame, to listen to them and serve them, to be God's hands and feet and voice. Out of her humility and obedience bloomed the World Friendship Center.
She was not only a voice from the heavenly Father to the hibakusha. Hibakusha told her they considered her a voice for Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the world. She took that responsibility very seriously. And as she came to know them, they taught her the value of each life. She came to respect the brave, suffering, patient survivors of the first two nuclear bombs dropped on human beings. She began to identify with them and hurt for them. And so she said, "I, too, am a hibakusha." She wanted to accurately convey to the world their message, "No more Hiroshimas!" to urge everyone on the planet to choose peace and prevent the horror and catastrophe of Hiroshima from happening to anyone else, ever.
Since 1945, starting in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the number of people exposed to the poison of radiation has grown through Chernobyl, Three-Mile Island and now Fukushima. Radiation does not distinguish between war and peace. Radiation from nuclear weapons keeps killing after the war is over, even affecting DNA and thus hurting later generations. Radiation from nuclear reactors causes increased numbers of lethal cancers in those who live near them, whether there are accidents in the reactors or not. We are here to assure all radiation-exposed people anywhere that we will not forget your distress. We will pass your message on from generation to generation: "No More Hiroshima!" "No more Nagasaki!" “No More Fukushima”
As you unveil this monument, my mother is just a symbol. She is a symbol of love, pointing to the source of love, the heavenly Father. She is a symbol of hope because anyone of us who humbles himself to listen to the "still, small voice" of our Heavenly Father can make a mighty difference.
Thank you for honoring my mother in this way.

New Directors

Larry & JoAnn are pleased to be the current Volunteer Directors of the World Friendship Center. We have been working for peace since our marriage 47 years ago. We met members of WFC during the last ten years when two PAX (Peace Ambassadors) teams stayed in our home on their visit to the United States. We enjoy hosting guests at our home near Portland, Oregon and now we can enjoy hosting guests from all over the world. We are honored to tell the story of World Friendship Center and its work for peace and nuclear weapon abolition. Larry is a retired Environmental Engineer and JoAnn is a retired elementary teacher and college professor.

WFC Awarded “Partners in Service”

WFC Awarded “Partners in Service”

By Dan McFadden

The Partners in Service Award was started by Brethren Volunteer Service in 2007 to recognize an individual, project or organization that has demonstrated exceptional commitment with BVS to share Gods love through acts of service. BVS is pleased this year to recognize the World Friendship Center of Hiroshima. Japan. WFC had been a long standing partner with BVS to share with the world the horrors of nuclear war and the critical need for peace in the world. BVS has long appreciated the support of the Riji in Japan and the American committee in the United States for the ongoing opportunities offered the volunteers who have served as the co-directors of the WFC. This award will be presented at the Brethren Volunteer Service luncheon, July 4, 2011, held during the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. BVS is blessed this year to have former WFC directors, Alice and Larry Petry, as the luncheon speakers. A number of other past directors may be present, including Ron and Barb Siney, who are the current directors of the center.

The Barbara Reynolds Memorial Monument

Barbara Reynolds Monument

Fund-raising Campaign

Monument Committee

We are pleased to announce that the long-awaited monument honoring Barbara Reynolds will be erected soon. Friends of World Friendship Center , especially those who love Barbara, are invited to make donations to commemorate her loving concern for hibakusha (survivor of the atomic bomb) and citizens of Hiroshima as well as her ardent wish for world peace. We hope that these memories may be passed down to next generations.

Barbara Reynolds, an American, dedicated her life to the cause of “Hiroshima” and world peace. She empathized with hibakusha, who desired a safe world, setting aside their own past misery, wretchedness, and anger. She supported hibakusha with a strong will and continued an appeal for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. Especially at this time, as Japan struggles with one difficulty after another – the devastating earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear power plant failure – we are reminded of Barbara’s concern for those who have suffered catastrophe.

In October, 1975, Barbara Reynolds became a special honorary citizen of Hiroshima because of her accomplishments. Her endeavors included a voyage to the restricted zone of a nuclear test area off Hawaii on the yacht, “Phoenix of Hiroshima”, world tours with hibakusha and dispatching Peace Ambassadors between America and Japan. In 1965, as a bastion of peace movements, she founded World Friendship Center. Even now WFC is in operation by the principles that person to person communication is the basis of peace. The monument is to show younger generations what Barbara did for the sake of world peace.

The Barbara Reynolds Memorial Monument is scheduled to be erected in June of 2011. It is to be placed at the south-eastern corner of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, Japan near the monuments of Norman Cousins and Dr. Marcel Junod.

Friends of WFC and Barbara Reynolds can make contributions toward the cost of the monument that will be placed in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. If you live in North America, and you want to make a donation, please send your check to the treasurer of the American Committee. His address is Dennis Horn, 3953 South Bailey Road, Wabash, IN 46992. Be sure to include ‘Barbara’s Monument’ on the memo line. Thank you for your generous and kind consideration for donations.