My twin and I held a “1000 Paper Cranes” initiative, hoping to bring optimism to children in local hospitals after the pandemic. This project was inspired by Sadako's story of folding a thousand paper cranes after she contracted leukemia. Like Sadako, we wanted to spread hope to sick children.

Under our non-profit LinkCC, my team organized a children’s summer camp to fundraise money to donate to the Alberta's Children Hospital. I led three daily sessions of our camp–Python, athletics, and paper crane folding–by serving as a Python instructor, rhythmic gymnastic coach, and arts/crafts instructor. Initially, it wasn’t easy convincing other members of LinkCC to fold a thousand paper cranes. They thought the task was too strenuous.

"Do we NEED to donate a paper crane artwork alongside our other donations? Won’t the children in our camp find it extremely boring to fold cranes over and over again?"

My twin and I finally persuaded our team to try this initiative–it was so symbolically meaningful and a fun collaborating process. Reality surpassed our expectations. Children were not only captivated by the process of folding paper cranes but also enthusiastic about cutting the paper scrolls into origami squares. Our teamwork built great patience, immersion and understanding. These children allowed me to see other dimensions of the initiative that they found so fascinating. This project was empowering, not only to the children, not only to my community, but to me as well. It taught me that leaders could learn from those they led. Everyone has something unique to offer.

We wove together a beautiful artwork of 1000 paper cranes. Our team used the $1200 we raised from the camp to buy toys for sick children at the Alberta Children’s Hospital–our donation was also featured on CBC news. Through art and creative expression, we are able to pass on Sadako's hope to every sick child in the hospital. It feels so empowering knowing that each toy we donated falls into the hands of a sick child, each toy introduces a moment of happiness, and each toy brings a beaming smile to their face.