Primary school students at Warwick Academy had no idea paper cranes they made in class could make a world of difference to earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan.But that’s exactly what happened when three workers from reinsurance company Tokio Millenium Re agreed to take the paper figures to children in the disaster-struck nation.Takeshi Iwaguchi, Bror Muller and Victoria Clipper travelled 7,500 miles to accomplish a three-fold mission on behalf of their company from June 11 to 21.They handed over a cheque raised by a Bermuda milk carton fundraising appeal, gave out 1,000 origami cranes made by Warwick Academy students and helped volunteers with the Asian nation’s clean-up operation.On March 11, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan causing more than 15,500 deaths. It triggered extremely destructive tsunami waves of up to 40.5 metres and led to the destruction of infrastructure and a number of nuclear accidents.Ms Clipper, an underwriting assistant at the firm, said some of the paper cranes were left for disaster victims living in an evacuation centre, while others were given to students at a primary school located right on the edge of tsunami-hit area Sendai.The cranes lifted the spirits of many of the students and one child wrote back to say: “Thank you very much. There were many painful and sad things on March 11. Some of our friends died and some lost their family or house.“However, from your message we found out that people from all over the world cheer and support us. These messages mean a lot to us and provide us with a great sense of support.”Mr Iwaguchi read the child’s letter at a special assembly held at Warwick Academy yesterday morning.His co-worker, Ms Clipper, told the local students: “A lot of people around the world had made cranes for Japan, but the Warwick Academy cranes were the only ones we saw with messages on them for the Japanese people.“A man from a Japanese newspaper came with us [to the primary school] and wrote a story about Warwick Academy and their cranes and he put a picture of us in the paper with the children.“The children were very excited to see us and couldn’t believe that there were children on the other side of the world thinking about them.”The Tokio Millenium Re employees said the visit with schoolchildren in Japan was the most meaningful part of the trip.Mr Muller said: “These kids hugged me warmly when we left the school and only 100 metres away were the remains of their houses and tortured metal that had once been cars. The contrast made a big impression on me.”The Bermuda-based volunteers said they were always aware they were not only representing their company but also the people of Bermuda.A company spokesman said: “They all came back feeling proud that Bermuda had made a difference in the lives of the people with whom they worked and that they had been able to convey a sincere message of empathy to people so far away.”