As Mrs. Mari Sakaguchi and her husband Mr. Denis Pesavento who live in Villaverla in the province of Vicenza, Italy participated in the tree plating ceremony at the Villa Venier Park in Sommacampagna, held in 2004, they wanted to organize the project in the province of Vicenza. They consulted with Mr. Rosario Manisera who led the project in Brescia and contacted the person in charge of cultural programs at the Villaverla city hall in order to proceed with the project. Their original plan was to plant the tree at one site in the city, however, the matter was even discussed at the provincial assembly and at the end it became a big project with 10 tree planting sites in the province of Vicenza.
Following the tree plantings at Scuola Elementare Sarcedo and Zugliano Elementary School on 21st of April, and at the Montecchio Precalcino Library and Dueville Middle School on 22nd, the tree planting ceremony at Arnaldo Fusinato Elementary School took place at 9am and Arnaldo Fusinato Middle School at 10am on 23rd.
At the elementary school, 150 children attended the ceremony held in the gym. Following the speeches made by the principal, cultural councilor and Mr. Ebinuma, there were songs and performances by the children. Above all, the song “We are the world” sung by the fifth graders was so beautiful that some of the participants were moved to tears.
After the ceremony at the elementary school, they all moved to the middle school. The students made a presentation of their study on the atomic bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima which was followed by a Q&A session. There were very serious and deep questions such as “Is radioactivity still detected in Nagasaki?”, “Does Japan possess atomic bombs?”, “Are those people with the atomic bomb disease still alive?”, “What are the effects on children of the atomic bomb victims?”. In the corridor that leads outside, art works with a theme of persimmon tree were displayed. Tree planting took place with 80 students from the middle school. Each student took turns covering the tree with soil. The ceremony’s atmosphere was a little bit more mature compared to the one at the elementary school.
