In the Spring of 2007, Ja Eun Huh and Esteban Perla from ASIAC (AIDS Services in Asian Communities) present the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania with a gift of 1,000 paper cranes as a symbol of gratitude and appreciation for the work that we do. An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane in Japan, along with the dragon and tortoise, is one of the mystical or holy creatures, said to live for a thousand years. In Asia, it is said that folding 1,000 paper origami cranes makes a person’s wish come true. The Thousand Origami Cranes has become a symbol of peace through the story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who tried to stave off her death from leukemia as a result of radiation from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II by making one thousand origami cranes. She folded only 644 before she died, but her friends completed and buried them all with her.
