BEING ABLE TO SERVE: A TESTIMONY TO THE SCHOOLS OF AFRICA AND OTHER WFWP PROJECTS

As a first time participant at the WFWP Assembly, I was amazed at how the whole assembly went – from the Bridge of Peace to the Schools of Africa Gala. To see all these women come together and support each other really brightened my heart. It was a lovely weekend indeed.

The gala was full of heart-warming testimonies, wonderful video presentations, and amazing performances. But what really touched my heart were the young people from the GO (God’s Own), program in New Jersey. As part of their service work that they do within the program, they decided to create handmade Christmas cards and sell them as part of a fundraiser to foster children in Cambodia and pay for their schooling for a year. And what was even better was that they raised $1600! As an advocate of service projects, I was very proud of them. The kids from GO are constantly sending letters back and forth with the children in Cambodia. They really wanted to know about these kids from a different country and really invest their time getting to know and love them. I couldn’t be more proud of the GO program and a big thank you to Denneze Nelson, Cienna Tardy and Stephanie Eby for working with these kids.

Of course, I appreciated the work Women’s Federation for World Peace has done with different schools in different countries of Africa. But seeing the youth take on this kind of mission made me feel like there is hope in the younger generation. I realized that although we are living through difficult times, there will always be a beacon of hope guiding all of us to a brighter future. Now is the time to show humility and compassion towards others of different backgrounds. That is what service is all about, not just doing work with no higher purpose. If we can all learn to serve as the young people in the GO program did, we can serve humanity and make this world great again.