"After college, I did a work exchange program for three years in Hiroshima. Primarily it was translation, interpretation, and events coordination on behalf of the local city government. Because it was Hiroshima, the ultimate goal was to promote peace. I was a part of that process and would translate speeches from the mayor or the head of City Council. On a couple of occasions, I interpreted the testimonies of A-bomb survivors to a foreign audience, like dignitaries or foreign officials from other governments.
It was an interesting feeling. A lot of mixed emotions. It was complicated knowing that my home country was tied into this history in a very negative way, especially from the viewpoint of a lot of local citizens. So, I was apprehensive at first… I felt uneasy about tackling that history head on.
But I'm glad that I did. It breathed life into the work I was doing in terms of spreading awareness about how important peace building is and sharing those messages with as many people as possible across the world and bringing people together and acting as a cultural bridge.
There was a quote that I heard from an A-bomb survivor once that the most effective way to do peace building is to build these one-on-one relationships with people all around the world. If you're serving as a cultural bridge, then the end result, the end product, is a more peaceful society. "
--International Student Advisor, Office of International Students and Scholars
