Donation ceremony of the second-generation A-bombed Ginkgo seedling on the International Day of Peace

September 21, 2019 [La Rochelle, France]

This year, more than 100 cities in France held events to commemorate the International Day of Peace of September 21.

In the City of La Rochelle, a member of Mayors for Peace since 2004, about 300 citizens participated in a peace march in support of “Climate Action for Peace”, which is the theme of this year’s IDP.

After the march, the citizens observed a donation ceremony for a ginkgo seedling whose mother tree was exposed to the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The seedling had been grown for three years by the City of Malakoff, a Vice President City of Mayors for Peace and the Lead City of the French Chapter. It was presented to the Mayor Jean-François Fountaine of La Rochelle by Mr. Michel Cibot, the Executive Officer of AFCDRP-Maires pour la Paix France and Mrs. Miho Cibot, a Hiroshima Peace Ambassador. Following Mayor Fountaine’s speech, Mrs. Cibot recited “We Shall Bring Forth New Life”, a poem by an “A-bombed poet” Sadako Kurihara, in French.

The donated seedling is scheduled to be planted in the ground in November.