Hiroshima citizens donate children's library to Cambodia+

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 29 Kyodo -
A facility established by Hiroshima citizens in Cambodia's capital to
facilitate exchanges for promotion of peace opened a library for Cambodian
children on Sunday.
Hidetoshi Ito, general manager of Hiroshima House located in central Phnom
Penh, said at an opening ceremony that the library was donated by Hiroshima
citizens.
He said about 210 illustrated children's books, mostly on Japanese folktales,
have translated into Cambodia's Khmer language since last November by some 38
Cambodian students studying Japanese.
The number of donated books will increase over time to around 500.
Among the 100 or so people attending the ceremony were Takashi Hiraoka, a
former mayor of Hiroshima City, and Katsuhiro Shinohara, a former Japanese
ambassador to Cambodia.
Hiraoka, who now serves as director general of the Association for Exchange
between Hiroshima Citizen and Cambodian, said at the ceremony that Cambodia's
future depends on its children and ''reading is really important'' for them to
acquire deep knowledge and contribute to the country's development.
Shinohara, who speaks fluent Khmer, said he was happy to witness the new
opening of the library, which Cambodian children can use to absorb more
knowledge after their regular school hours.
Hiroshima House is located near the Royal Palace in a monastery complex that
serves as the headquarters of Cambodia's Theravada Buddhism.
Designed for multifunctional use, including for language teaching and
educational exhibitions, the five-story building was constructed little by
little by Hiroshima volunteers visiting the country between 1995 and 2006, when
it was completed.
According to organizers, Hiroshima citizens, whose city experienced the atomic
bomb, began the project to help Cambodians overcome the devastation, hardships
and sorrow left by the Khmer Rouge's genocidal rule in the late 1970s and
decades of civil war.
In addition to providing lodging and various courses for Cambodians, it has a
museum and a Japanese library.
Though small in scale, the idea is to promote the self-sufficiency of the
Cambodian people, rather than simply and temporarily providing them with money
and goods.
==Kyodo
2010-08-29 23:45:37


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