Hiroshima has become a well-known city around the world since World War II. As the site of the atomic bomb in 1945, it holds importance for the Japanese people, in particular, especially bomb survivors. Sister Ruth Mori is one of those people. The bomb killed her eldest sister and wounded her parents and younger sister. To help cope with the loss, Sister Ruth has become involved with the Japan Cultural Program, which allows her to share her stories.
Sister Ruth Mori became a member of the program in 2014, but she has worked with the program since its inception in 1980. She has used the program to educate more than 130 School Sisters of Notre Dame from the United States, Canada, Africa and Honduras. Participants live in Japan for three weeks while learning about SSND life, Japanese culture and visiting historically significant places such as Hiroshima. Sister Ruth uses this opportunity to share her own experiences.
“As a member of the Japan Cultural Program, I had to share my family’s experience of the Atomic bomb with the participant sisters,” she said. “Every time I spoke with many tears. They were not from anger. My tears were from the deep sorrow in me. I came to realize that I was looking for the meaning of [the] deaths of all these people by [the atomic] bomb.”
Read more about Sister Ruth's war time experience and recovery from the bombing on the Central Pacific Province website.
