Collaborating With Teens Across the Globe

On December 23rd, Teens4Disarmament visited the city of Hiroshima for the first time. Despite the heavy snowy weather, Saya and Yuki, two teens from Hiroshima Jogakuin, kindly agreed to be our guide to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Throughout the tour, both students educated us about Hiroshima’s legacy as the first city to suffer an atomic bomb attack. We first visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, where we had the opportunity to visualize in person the artifacts and documents from the aftermath of the bombing. In the museum, Saya and Yuki guided us through the building’s dark and quiet hallways, showing us the powerful yet sorrowful belongings and testimonies left by the victims. Many paintings spoke of the “cries of the souls” of parents, children, and people exposed to the horrors of the bombing. Those sufferings include dreadful losses and discoveries of their family members, unbearable diseases, and improper functioning bodies was only a small fraction of the total picture of what happened that day. Together, we all stood there silently, reflecting on this horrible and heart-breaking event, vowing to strive for a nuclear-free world. In addition to the museum, we also visited other structures located in the park. The remaining structures directly showed us the effects of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima’s infrastructure. The most striking building to us was the Atomic Bomb Dome because it displayed the horrific effects of the atomic bomb. As stated in the Peace Memorial Museum, “Given the inhumanity of nuclear weapons, the international community must cooperate to promote nuclear disarmament.” Teens4Disarmament was very grateful and fortunate to meet Saya and Yuki; we personalized our experiences and bonded through the same goal of nuclear disarmament. We greatly cherished our time and experience shared with Yuki and Saya, and we strive to work together again in hopes for a nuclear-free world. With the collaboration of teenagers from all over the world, we will make the change. Nuclear weapons are humanity's biggest enemy. We must all thoughtfully reflect on our past mistakes and ensure that there will never be a “Hiroshima” again.