Through the association of Ms Takigawa Yoko, a member of the Association for the Preservation for the UN Peace bell who taught Japanese in Kosovo, we decided to present the Peace Bell to the Republic of Kosovo. 11.7.2024, Mr Akiyama Shingo, Director of the Kosovo-Japan Friendship Association, Mr Takai, Director of our association and I visited the Embassy of the Republic of Kosovo in Japan, We presented a 4 kg Peace Bell to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Sabri Kiçmari.
There was an interpreter at the embassy, Kikuchi Yuki, so we explained to him the origin of the Peace Bell and asked to ring it every day. The Ambassador immediately rang the bell three times with a smile.
The Ambassador also gave us a lovely figurine in the shape of the country of Kosovo, made from a mineral that is a speciality of Kosovo, as a commemorative gift. The embassy was decorated with a picture of a statue of Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to helping people suffering from poverty and disease. Mother Teresa was Albanian, born in Skopje, and we learned that the Mother Teresa statue was there because her mother had been from what is now Kosovo.
