Today was day 500 on the Walk for Peace. As my host and friend Miriam Linderman and I researched some of the Peace related organizations and events in the area, we found a park not far from our starting point that is called the Seaforth Peace Park. We made the decision to go to the park, and the photograph above is of a bronze statue that stands at one end of the park.
The statue is of a sixteen year old nurse named Kinuko Laskey, who survived the Hiroshima bombing. She moved to Vancouver in 1954 and remained silent about her experience until 1982 when she broke her silence and began her life’s work as a Peace educator and activist.
The park also had a post with the same quote as the one in Seattle I shared about recently – “May Peace prevail in our homes and Communities”.
Further into the park is a monument donated by the first Latin American community to settle in Vancouver, in gratitude to Canada for providing a place where there is a chance to give their children and families a better future. The monument holds a time capsule which chronicles the Latin American community. It will be opened in 2062 (50 years after being placed in the monument), and displayed thereafter at British Columbia’ history museum.
There is a fountain memorial honoring the victims of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima. The memorial has a water-filled (no water today) bronze cauldron on a granite base with an eternal flame (no flame today).
Also, there is a Peace grove of twelve Katsura trees, planted by students at the time of the dedication of the park.
The park was a reminder to me of the way a community can come together snd create something that honors Peace; evolving with time and attention, acting as an outward sign of healing and reconciliation.