Just a piece of paper in front of me.
My fingers itch. My eyes dance.
Slowly, point to point, line to line.
Folding, unfolding.
Opening, closing, sliding, turning,
and creasing.
Each decision made with tips of my fingers.
Pleasing to my eyes, encouraging to my heart.
Two dimension to three dimension,
death to life,
vision realised.
We have a tradition in Japan,
when somebody is sick
we make 1000 cranes to wish him or her well.
So as a human being, most of us want to be
valuable, useful.
We want to contribute to a better society.
I'm using origami to interact with children.
They come from very difficult backgrounds.
I also have painful memories as a child.
My father was quite strict with money.
So I was always wearing hand-me-downs.
I felt like everybody knew what I was wearing
and I was very embarrassed.
I felt like I was the only poor child.
I used to get called 'beggar'.
So those memories were very hurtful.
I can't change the past,
but because of that painful memory
I can relate to children who are sad.
I'm able to use that painful memory
for something better.
Teaching origami - what I want to create is that
awareness that our situation can transform,
just like paper.
When you have a sad memory
it is a scar that remains in your heart.
And it's the same as paper,
once you crease it, it remains.
It never goes away.
But you can use that line to make another shape.
So in a way, it's necessary to have that line.
Paper is a metaphor for life.
You only have one piece of paper,
like you only have one life.
So you make use of what lines
and points there are.
And you can create something out of what you've got.
We all have infinite potential.
Hopefully the children will also be inspired
that this old person,
not a very good housewife,
but she can still do something.
I want them to have a sense of hope.
They are a part of something good,
something better, something valuable.
When I do origami, like 1000 cranes,
what I've learnt is that we do bit by bit.
If everybody does little bit,
we can make a difference.
Not one person doing 1000 cranes,
but if there are 100 people, it's only ten cranes each.
So then we can make the world better.
If 1000 people, one crane each, is 1000 cranes.
So that's a collective effort.
And I think I believe in that.
Every day, little by little.
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