Last year the second grade students at my junior high school went to Okinawa on their school trip.  A few weeks after they returned, the students gave a presentation about their trip in the gym.  They talked about Okinawa’s history and about peace.  At the end of the presentation, the students played a video about children who have been injured in war.  Some of the children in the video were fourteen or fifteen years old.  Others were only five or six.  All of them were badly hurt in war zones in their countries.  Some of the children did not have two arms or legs.  Others were badly burned all over their bodies.  A few could not hear or see.  They were all poor children from countries that do not have enough doctors or hospitals. They were all helped by the Germancharity called Peace Village International.  The video was the saddest I have ever seen, and many students and teachers cried.  Since then I have learned about the group and the children it helps.  Today I would like to share the information with you.

  Peace Village International was founded in Germany in 1967.  At that time there was war in the Middle East and in Vietnam, and many children were hurt.  Some people in Germany wanted to help the children, so they started the charity.  Peace Village flies children to Europe and gives them freemedical care.  After they leave the hospital, the children stay at Peace Village in Germany until they are ready to go home. While the children are at the village they go through rehabilitation.  They also go to school.  Many people are needed to help the children, and volunteers from around the world, including Japan, work hard there for no pay.  In 1999 a Japanese actress visited Peace Village with a television camera crew.  People in Japan learned about the charity, and there was a Peace Village boom in the country.  Peace Village International now has an office in Tokyo, and its web-site has been translated into Japanese.   There are many things we can do at home or at school to help the group.  If you would like to learn more about what you can do, please visit Peace Village International’s web-site, www.friedensdorf.de/welcome.html.

＜注＞
Peace Village International（国際平和村），presentation（発表），gym（体育館），at the end of〜（〜の終わりに），war（戦争），badly（ひどく），zones（区域），legs（脚），burned＜burn（燃やす，焼く），doctors（医師），German（ドイツの），charity（慈善団体），share（共有する），information（情報），founded＜found（創設する），Germany（ドイツ），the Middle East（中東），Vietnam（ベトナム），flies＜fly…to〜　…を飛行機で〜へ運ぶ，free（無料の），medical care（医療），ready（準備ができて），go through rehabilitation（リハビリを受ける），including（〜を含めて），for no pay（無給で），actress（女優），crew（担当者），boom（ブーム），web-site（ウェブ・サイト），translated＜translate（翻訳する）