In May 2009 Nassrine Azimi the first director of the UNITAR Hiroshima (2003-2009) planted some trees in a corner of Motomachi Elementary School in Hiroshima with the aim of fostering a spirit of peace and harmony. The area set aside for the tree planting was named “Friendship Forest”. The trees included a phoenix-tree and a hackberry tree which were the second or third generation “offspring” of trees that were exposed to the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima on 6th August 1945.
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On 19th October, Tomoko Watanabe, (representing ANT-Hiroshima), and Nassrine Azimi’s mother (representing Nassrine Azimi) attended a ceremony to mark the opening of the garden for the school children. Songs were sung and the school children read some small speeches about their hopes for peace and Tomoko-san talked to them about peace and the Friendship Forest.
Nassrine Azimi is hoping to plant more “friendship forests” in other places beyond Hiroshima in the future.
