It is a great time to celebrate the lives of those to make us all remember how unique each person is; our friends with Down syndrome. October is National Down syndrome month and needs celebration.
Of the preborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome:
100% are aborted in Iceland
98% are aborted in Denmark
67% are aborted in the US
Some may say Iceland has achieved a miracle statistic of 0% babies born with Down syndrome, when in reality their 0% statistic is just them bragging about how easy it is to kill people who are different in Iceland. They have to abort 100% of Down syndrome babies to have 0% born with Down syndrome.
When did it become okay to kills someone just because they are different? When did the perceived inconvenience of raising a child who has different needs become a reason for murder of the innocent? We need to stop this senseless discrimination and killing. Doesn’t each person deserve a chance at life?
Who is really behind the normalization of killing babies anyway? The eugenics movement was the beginning of the abortion trend. The idea of promoting elective abortion to lower class, minority, and parents anticipating developmentally different children was the plan conceived by those hoping to develop a super human race and get rid of undesirables while also keeping the masses in check.
(Sarcasm tone for this next part.) Think how awful it would be if masses of people got a fair chance at life and decided to reach their full potential? Then, all the big businesses would have even more competition. Can all of this killing really be just for money and world control? Can people really be that heartless. Sadly, yes.
Join WOW as we express our gratitude for our friends with Down syndrome this month. Please share this post and video so that we can remind the world that all people have a reason to live.
WOW has always been dedicated to strengthening families to improve life for children and future generations. This past August at the UN Civil Society conference in Salt Lake City, WOW presented a session called “Cultural Parenting Revolution for a Socially Sustainable Future”.
If our future generations don’t feel empowered enough to control themselves they will always be in bondage to their behaviors and mistakes. What issues are facing children today? We are witnessing suicide, depression, disconnection, addiction, dissatisfaction with life, poor communication skills, fractured relationships, feelings of victimhood, and being overwhelmed.
As with any social problem, children’s issues are created by multiple problems. But, one thing social science backs up is that children who have strong families have greater gains as children and adults.
This Cultural Parenting Revolution combined parenting experts Nicholeen Peck and Dr. Jennifer Jensen, who talked about intentional things parents can do to create stability and safety for their children.
This event was a great success! The room was filled and people left understanding that strong families need to be and essential part of the UN conversation on sustainable futures. Reports of excitement from multiple conference attendees that their new focus would be on strengthening families, given to WOW from other NGOs at the conference confirmed that the message WOW and Gathering Families gave about being intentional and self-governed in our family relationships really hit home.
As a side note, WOW also collaborated with NAFFA, Native American Families and Fatherhood Association, for another event dedicated to honoring women and girls. WOW focused on the programs it is doing in Africa to help women and girls sustain their families and provide for children.
Children aren’t perfect, and neither are parents. However, parenting isn’t about being perfect. And, there’s no such thing as a perfect child. Of course, perfection isn’t the goal of my parenting anyway. My goal has always been to create joyful adults. Joyful adults are those that know what their mission in life is and they’re dedicated and eager to do what it takes to achieve this mission. They also have solid relationships with God and family.
The key to becoming joyful parents and joyfully parenting is learning how to parent with grace. There are two ways I practice grace during parenting. And in the process, it helps my children become who they’re meant to be.
Giving Hearts
The purpose of nurturing and guiding children is to train their hearts toward goodness. To touch the heart of a child, the parent’s heart must also be turned toward the child. In order for the child to trust the parent to guide his/her heart, there must be a feeling of goodwill and caring from the parent. How can parents maintain a soft heart while helping their child have a change of heart too?
To create an environment that feels safe for a heart to change, a parent must lead by principle — not by emotional reactions. Additionally, the parenting should be honest. This requires consistent, well-taught and predictable teaching. That includes proper correcting during interactions. But the most important part of creating a heart-changing atmosphere at home is keeping the parent’s heart in the right place.
This is important because people learn more from feeling than they do by logic. Logic is required to discover rational honesty in order to engage the will and brain in overcoming selfish desires and dangerous, uncharitable misconceptions. But it’s the feeling or tone that exists in any given situation that has the power to change the heart for the good… or bad.
So, to manipulate a heart you use controlling or fearful feelings. But to honestly transform a heart, you have to use genuine honest feelings. Yes, there are different kinds of feelings. There are dishonest, selfish feelings and there are honest, duty driven, charitable feelings. Real understanding, compassionate, service-oriented love — for instance — is a kind of feeling that makes us better people and lets others know they really matter to us. But, passion-driven, preference oriented, physical love is really only about one person wanting another to comply with them for selfish reasons, which is manipulative.
When a parent or a child has a genuine, heart-felt love for the other, then he/she gives their whole heart to the person, nothing wavering. This means they don’t talk in ways that attack others. They don’t think the worst of the other or gossip about the other. It’s this feeling of giving the whole heart that makes any teaching or accepting of a correction feel safe, honest and unified.
Grace Moments
Fully understanding and applying grace is a lifetime pursuit of mine. It’s more than can be taught in this short article. So, for this parenting lesson I’m going to focus on two aspects of grace that can be easily applied to our parenting moments:
Seeing them through it.
Giving them heart power.
First, seeing them through it could mean helping children through their life’s challenges as a loving, always-there-for-them support. Or it could mean no matter what behaviors we see on the outside; we should take the time to see the “real” them on the inside. Both of these applications are important for transforming our parenting moments into moments of grace.
I see so many parents emotionally turn against their children when the hard moments come. They feel the bed wetting, the teasing, the emotional barriers, and the attitude problems are too much to handle. As a result, parents then end up feeling frustrated and alone. Frustration and loneliness are two signs that the heart isn’t in the right place.
Home should always be the safest place to make mistakes. We must not take mistakes personally. If any mistake is okay to work through, then parents are properly supportive.
Seeing children through it also means seeing their true value despite their behaviors or mistakes. This is the most important focus a parent can have. When children don’t meet expectations, it’s easy to obsess over bad qualities and become bothered by the children. It’s not a parent’s job to focus attention on what they’ve done wrong as much as it is to focus attention on what they need to learn in order to do right. Both focuses require correction, but only one focus is productive.
Second, parents should focus on giving their child heart power. To really have grace is to share this heart power. This means a parent wouldn’t be content with keeping all the love, all the truth, all the correct behaviors, all the understanding, or all the attachment to themselves. Rather, they would willingly do all they can to help the child develop these strengths as well.
The best way to help others feel empowered to become their best is a process I think of as touching hearts. Every time a parent teaches their children about life, family, corrections that need to be made, and the purpose of it all, they must do it with heart. They look into their child’s eyes and think, “I love you. You are a great person who I feel privileged to teach. I love you.”
These thoughts come through, even when a parent is telling a child to do a chore or fix a mistake he/she has made. This feeling never stops. This is a feeling that never, ever gives up on the child — no matter how bad the choices are that the child makes. I know it’s easier said than done to feel this love during corrections. But trust me; it is possible.
It’s my goal to bring every interaction and relationship I have up to this level. The work is slow; and my imperfections are apparent. But, when I have moments that feel like parenting grace, I am motivated for a lifetime! Nothing can compare to the increased love I feel for my child and for God during these moments. For I know that without His love and understanding for me, I wouldn’t have enough power to show love to others in this way.
From the beginning of his presidency, US President, Donald Trump, has been clear about his opposition to Planned Parenthood taking federal dollars to increase the number babies being killed by abortion. This week he announced that the government is going to be checking up on Planned Parenthood and others by enforcing the rule that health clinics who receive US title X funding for health care, cannot promote or encourage abortions.
We are mid way through a year fraught with abortion debates starting with some states declaring infanticide legal and other states combating these extreme full term and post birth abortion laws with more restrictive abortion laws which decrease the legal weeks allowed for abortion and disallow discrimination based abortion of Down’s Syndrome children solely because they are diagnosed Down’s Syndrome.
Now Planned Parenthood has answered back by declaring they will no longer take any title X funding provided by the US government for their clinics around the country. This is great news for our future society. Planned Parenthood has used government money as they have coerced low income and minority women to terminate their babies for far too long.
Jacqueline Ayers, vice president of government relations & public policy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said Planned Parenthood is not going to stop encouraging abortions.
“It is unethical and dangerous to require health care providers to withhold important information from patients,” Ayers’ statement said. “During this period of limbo while we wait for the court to rule, our affiliates are not using federal Title X funds to provide care. We are continuing to fight this illegal rule in court and to provide care to all people — no matter what.”
Planned Parenthood says it will be using some of it’s own savings to continue to offer abortion services to women. Women still pay to have abortion procedures at the Planned Parenthood clinics, so it doesn’t seem that Planned Parenthood will lose too much of its savings. NPR reported that, “Officials say about 40% of Title X recipients nationwide receive health services at the group’s clinics.”
This very well may be the second most memorable abortion year on record in the United States, second only to 1973 when the historic Roe V Wade decision was made. It is a very good thing that the momentum in the abortion and life debate is swinging toward respecting lives, no matter their socio-economic class. The United States, and other countries, need to stop discriminating against low income and ethnic minorities around the world by funding the killing of their babies. It is time to return to common sense and overturn Roe V Wade.
It’s ironic that in a time of woman power, that women in Europe are being persecuted for doing what women have always done, protect children. What does a woman do when she knows she needs to stand up for the right but she literally fears for her life and the life of her family? She lets someone else tell her story, which is what this British woman is doing. We recently met an inspiring British woman who was looking for a place to live outside of her homeland, because Britain doesn’t seem as family friendly or even as woman friendly as it once did. What could be so bad about Britain, the legendary example nation to the world? Well, they are silencing women who speak out against the mistreatment of children. Here are the real words of a real British woman who, sadly, must remain anonymous for her safety.
From One of the Voiceless
It might surprise you to be reading this article – in all honesty, it surprises me to be writing it. Perhaps, when you read the title, you imagined its author living in some cold, bleak, post-Soviet bloc, where the hangover from Communism still causes women to be afraid? If that is the case, you’d be wrong. This author speaks to you from rural England – that bastion of freedom – that land of the Mother of all Parliaments.
You might have heard, in recent years, of our crackdown on Free Speech: you’ve probably heard of high-profile cases, like that of Tommy Robinson, the activist-turned-journalist who, at the time of writing, has just been sentenced to six months in gaol for exposing Moslem child rape gangs. I’d be willing to bet, however, that you haven’t heard of Melanie Shaw, the whistle-blower who, in 2014, tried to highlight the paedophilic rape being perpetrated by members of the British Establishment and who, following a secret trial in 2017, has been illegally imprisoned, in solitary confinement, without access to medical treatment or legal advice, ever since. Ms. Shaw was herself a child in care who had been subjected to sexual abuse; as an adult she worked with children in the care system and attempted to shine a spotlight on the horrendous exploitation of vulnerable young people.
We aren’t sure where Melanie is now. In recent hearings, she hasn’t been in attendance. She has, to all intents to and purposes, been ‘disappeared’. Melanie Shaw has been silenced.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that this is far-fetched, conspiracy nonsense – I did, when I first heard about it. Sadly, though, this is not the case; Ms. Shaw’s plight is well-documented and can easily be researched – but she isn’t the only one.
In March this year, Catholic mother and journalist Caroline Farrow was arrested and detained for saying that the administration of hormonal treatment to teenagers which causes them to change sex is tantamount to child abuse. She argued that this insane practice of socially engineering children is a form of child cruelty – which it is. There can’t be any doubt about that. Those studies which it has been possible to research have shown that hormonal treatment has devastating, long term effects on children, leading to increased mental health issues and even suicide. In the very same month that Mrs. Farrow was arrested, five whistle-blowers from the taxpayer-funded Gender Identity Development Service NHS clinic quit their jobs after revealing that children as young as three were being subjected to unnecessary gender-reassignment treatment.
Since her arrest, Caroline Farrow has been subjected to death threats and doxxing; her husband and children have been attacked. Farrow has received very little support from the Police in the face of these dangers – her opinions have rendered her an ‘unperson’ – Mrs. Farrow and her family, it appears, are not worth saving. Caroline Farrow has been silenced.
In December 2018, Kate Scottow faced similar treatment, having been embroiled in a Twitter spat with a Stephanie Hayden, a transsexual woman. During their exchange, Scottow referred to Hayden by her former name, a process known as ‘dead naming’. For this crime, Ms. Scottow, a young mother of two small children, was arrested. She was taken away from her family and placed in Police custody; unable to breastfeed her infant child, she was denied access to sanitary protection products and had her computers and mobile devices seized. Ms. Scottow’s computer has still not been returned, thus making it impossible for her to complete her Masters’ degree in Forensic Psychology.
I wish I could say that it stops there – that this madness is a recent phenomenon from which we will soon recover but it is not so.
In November 2012, an unnamed couple from Rotherham, a town in the north of England, were involved in actively campaigning for the UK Independence Party (UKIP). At the behest of Rotherham Social Services, the couple’s three foster children were removed from their care. Not because they were poor parents – indeed, the opposite is true and witnesses testified to their kindness and dedication – their children were removed because of their politics. This family was ripped-apart by ‘wrong-think’, their children stolen by a council which has, since, become synonymous with scandal and cover-up after it transpired that it had actively hidden decades of rape and abuse of more than twelve-hundred white, Christian girls by Moslem child rape gangs. In an act of pure vindictiveness and spite, Rotherham Social Services destroyed that family and silenced those parents, forcing three vulnerable children back into the care system.
As I sit here, writing this, I am filled with shame at what my country has become. I know that my views – normal, rational, traditional views – are commonly held by most of the women in this country – but I also know that most of the women in this country are afraid to make their voices heard. We all know that the trans agenda, for example, is utter folly: of course hormonally treating children and rendering them permanently damaged and infertile is abuse. Obviously this is the case! Of course allowing half-naked men in bondage gear to twerk with young boys on the streets of our cities is paedophilic – of course it is sick – but who dares to say it?
Naturally, an immigration policy which promotes open borders to those who do not share our values and then a two-tier legal system which grants immunity to those who abuse our children is untenable and unsustainable.
Obviously a school curriculum which teaches infants about masturbation before they can read or write is immoral; naturally, teaching children about any form of sexuality, let alone homosexuality, transsexuality and onanism before they have even reached double figures is unethical. Equally, it goes without saying that promoting the Royal College of Midwives’ advice to young girls that abortion up until birth is just another form of contraception is not only inaccurate but evil.
Clearly, a Government which covers for paedophilic Establishment and Moslem rapists whilst imprisoning those who speak out against it is corrupt to its very core.
Yet who would dare to speak these truths?
So here I am, pregnant with our first child – and I write this under cover of anonymity. This isn’t because I have a taste for the dramatic or am being sensationalist – I am not doing it for effect. I am anonymous because I have a genuine, rational fear that my telling you all of this could lead to my arrest. I could be imprisoned … our child could be taken away. It is no exaggeration for me to tell you that my husband and I already have a contingency plan that I might, one day, have to seek refuge in Hungary with our daughter and that he would join us later. I have a very real fear too that my identity could be released, my businesses and reputation destroyed. There would no comeback – no defense in the Press. Our lives would be ruined. I would be done for.
I am not a high-profile celebrity, vying for attention … I am just a normal woman, a business owner, a wife, a Catholic, soon to become a mother … and I am telling you all of this because I am afraid – but I have not, yet, been silenced.
This year at the World Congress in Verona, Italy, WOW uncovered the international database scandal that is targeted at children all over the world. Here is a video of the presentation done at the congress.
Database companies in schools, libraries, even online homeschools are subjecting innocent children around the world to pornographic content and calling it “safe”. Sadly, teachers and school officials don’t know this problem exists, so children get exposed without anyone stopping the exploitation.
We call upon responsible citizens and leaders of governments, churches, and communities everywhere to hold these database companies accountable for the harm they are doing young people via schools, libraries, universities, and more. We need to remove EBSCO, Hoopla, Cengage, Gale, etc from our services until they actually clean up their databases.
“Go long Porter!” said Dad to his 15-year-old son as they played Frisbee in the circle in front of our home. Dad and Porter throw Frisbees regularly in the evening. Am I mad that my husband is playing games with his son instead of helping me with the dinner preparation? No way! That play time is more vital that even he realizes. In fact, it’s because of that play time that Porter wants to work with his dad and be like his dad one day. It’s also one of the big factors in Porter’s confidence and high standards.
Sometimes dads are given criticism for being a little bit too light-hearted, playful, or getting the children all wound up at the wrong times — like when it’s time for bed.
When I was a little girl my dad would say, “Time for bed. How are we getting there tonight?” At this point, we knew we could choose piggy back rides, shoulder rides, football carries, or the family favorite: the “sack of flour.” The “sack of flour” was when Dad would throw us over his shoulder and carry us like a sack of flour down the hallway to our beds. Then he would flip us off his shoulder onto the bed in one smooth and powerful motion.
After being flopped in our beds, Dad would tickle us and sing funny songs while dancing around our rooms. Finally, he would hug us and stroke our hair and pretend he was eating our face off or blow “zerberts” on our cheeks (which made the loudest noises). There was nothing more fun than going to bed when Dad was home. Even though I wouldn’t trade the night time ritual for anything, I have to admit that after getting all wound up before bed that it was sometimes a bit hard to fall asleep.
Struggling to go to bed was worth it for what I got out of those night-time antics. I also benefitted from our deep daddy/daughter discussions, daddy dates, work projects with dad, and being on Dad’s team when he coached T-ball. I’m not sure I experienced much more felicity as a youth than when I was playing catch with my dad in the backyard.
My dad made confident children. He taught us we could do anything. But he didn’t really use words to instill confidence in us, even though he did talk about confidence a few times. He raised us strong and confident by playing with us and constantly exposing us to things outside our comfort zones — things we weren’t sure we could actually do. We soon learned that with Dad by our side, all things were possible. We knew he loved us and that we could trust him.
The Data About Dads
Pat Fagan, a child and family therapist who founded the Marri Research Institute, has studied the critical role fathers play in the lives of their children. His findings point strongly toward the vital importance of having Dad as a playmate for building self-confident children.
While Dr. Fagan acknowledges the vital role of mothers in the lives of children, he also said this about fathers of young children: “The embrace and horseplay that father and child engage in develops his [child]’s trust and confidence. The task is friendship, the method is play: Anything and all that the [child] enjoys with his father. It can be tiddlywinks or football, drawing or singing, reading or baseball, fishing or hiking: whatever brings joy to the child in playing with his father.”
Speaking of children ages three to nine years old, Fagan said, “The goal is confidence in Dad as a source of fun and protection. The horseplay is for the enjoyment of the child — not the father… If a son knows that his father revels in his presence and in playing with him, the father has given him a great gift… “I am lovable” and “I believe in myself because he believes so much in me.”
When speaking about the future effects on the father’s children, Dr. Fagan said, “To be affirmed in his strengths by his father is one of life’s great experiences for a boy. It lasts a lifetime and shapes his relationships and his professional [work] life for years and years to come.”
Dr. Fagan’s work also shows that as children grow into adolescence, they learn from their fathers about taking responsibility, bravely stepping out into the unknown, acknowledging strengths and weaknesses, and working on self-improvement.
Adolescents also learn to respect and care for the opposite sex from their fathers. When father loves mother and mother loves being nurtured by father, then children develop a healthy view of human relationships and the potential for marital and sexual success.
Fathers teach their sons, by example, to honor women. And they teach their daughters, with wisdom, to honor men. Think of the abuse situations and harsh words that wouldn’t happen in marriages worldwide if fathers knew the power they have with raising their children.
When speaking of a father’s influence on relationships with the opposite sex, it’s important to note that children that have solid relationships with their fathers, including lots of talk and play time, are oftentimes more confident when talking with people of the opposite sex and in making new friends.
Don’t Dismiss Dads
Not all families are perfect.
One of my favorite Christmas stories, “A Christmas Tree for Aaron,” is about a single widowed mother and her two young boys who didn’t have enough money for a Christmas tree. The seven-year-old older brother remembered that his father used to tell him that he was the man of the house if his father ever left. That meant he was going to be the man of the house after his father died. Therefore, it was his responsibility to get his brother a Christmas tree. And, through great planning, hard work, and the help of a father who lived near him, he did.
Even though Aaron’s family didn’t have a father in the home anymore, the spirit of father was still there. They didn’t move on as if they didn’t need a father. They knew they needed a father. Alma, the older brother, and the neighbor both stepped up to fill that role for the family.
Even if your family structure doesn’t currently include a father, bring the idea of father into your home by reading books and watching movies about strong father figures. Also bring other strong father figures into the family culture to give the children what they need for proper relationship and personal development.
Fathers are a vital part to developing self-confident young people and future adults. That rough-housing, ball bouncing, and those silly stories and songs are doing more than we might know. The safety, identity, and confidence of the children depend on having those stories, games and songs with Dad — even if it’s just a Frisbee or a “sack of flour” ride in the evening.
Recently, while texting with my oldest son, he asked, “Hey, what do you want for Mother’s Day?”
I shouldn’t really admit that I don’t like those kinds of questions, but the truth is I don’t. Maybe it’s because my love language isn’t gifts, or maybe it’s because I never know what to say. The most likely reason, however, is that deep down I always hope they already know what matters most to me.
What Matters Most
Obviously, what matters most varies from person to person. But by and large mothers, who focus the majority of their lives on developing good relationships with their children and willingly give up any possibility for real free time to teach and nurture their children, all agree on one thing: The power of the gift comes from the heart behind the gift, not the gift itself.
Since my son recently started his own family, I felt it was a good time to give him a gifts-to-Mom rule of thumb for the rest of his life.
This is what I texted back to my son:
“Well, I don’t usually make lists of things I want… As a general rule what I want is a deep display of the love my children have for me. This means a thoughtful or personal card is just as valuable as my favorite flowers, yard work service, a book I would enjoy, a new spring skirt, etc. Whatever shows me your love will always be what I want for Mother’s Day, or any other occasion for that matter.”
I don’t know if I made Mother’s Day harder or easier on my son. Hopefully he learned that money doesn’t make a good gift. He could even tell me what he wished he could get me and why, and I would feel his love more than if he actually spent too much money and purchased that item.
Relationship Strengthening
In the end, the thing that matters most in relationships is talking about the relationship. Holidays give us a chance to talk about what we love most about our relationships and a chance to give praise, acts of kindness, and love to those we most often take for granted. It’s strange that the people we most love are often the ones we seldom tell how much we love and appreciate.
I don’t know about your mother, but for me words, actions or items of deep love are all I want. These gifts give me what money can’t buy; a reminder and rekindling of a relationship that is more important to me than any worldly possession.
“Unplanned”, the sensitive, caring for all sides of the debate, but brutally honest movie about what abortion really looks like from an insider’s view is healing hearts, causing hundreds to quit their jobs at Planned Parenthood, and giving a welcome message to discuss.
Pro-life movies have been made before, but none have been made after some states in the United States came out openly in favor of infanticide and killing full term babies. The family-loving portion of the United States was sick, although kind of quiet and non-confrontational. But, when it came to showing support for life at the box office, “Unplanned” came at the perfect time.
I guess it’s strange to thank the extreme feminists for something, but when it comes to making a pro-life movie a box office hit, they did play their part.
The movie, which came out over a month ago is still showing across the nation in selected theaters. Go see it! Or, go see it again! WOW has never endorsed a rated R movie before, but this movie wasn’t rated fairly. It is obvious that the folks who rate movies had a bias on this one. Many parents are even using this movie to prepare their teenagers for a world where life is devalued and Planned Parenthood is brainwashing the children. WOW recommends taking older children to see this movie and then discuss with them the topic and how easily people get fooled into killing innocent people.
The discrimination against babies is no different than the discrimination against Jews during the Holocaust. They all get to die to help someone else feel better about themselves.
Not only are babies discriminated against, but the producers and actors in the movie have been discriminated against by social media platforms. Just when we thought American was the land of free speech, it is obvious there is censoring going on. The production company made a formal legal complaint and explained how on some of their social media accounts followers were removed and pages were taken down. And, the logo for the movie which is attached to this article was judged as not appropriate for social media as well and removed.
Well, even though some media elites are doing their best to shut down “Unplanned”, we can still show them what America really thinks. See it again. Tell your friends! You’ll all be touched and transformed. It’s worth it!!!
Mid March is when WOW and WOW Africa join in New York City with other faith and family NGO groups to stand up for women (including mothers), children, and families at the Commission on the Status of Women, CSW.
This year WOW sponsored an event, featuring a very diverse panel of women leaders from around the world to address different ways women and girls can find happiness amidst the pressures and challenges they face during day-to-day living.
We had a powerful panel of speakers, including a representative of Her Excellency, Dr. Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano, Wife of the Executive Governor Anambra State. Founder and Initiator Caring Family Enhancement Initiative CAFE who spoke about the various programs CAFE provides for the Nigerian state Anambra. These programs empower the citizens by encouraging higher education, community service, and a higher standard of living.
As well as our honored guest, WOW was also pleased to have WOW treasurer and UN Liason, Yvonne Averett address the formal and informal social structures societies need to promote happiness and social sustainability among their people.
Following Yvonne, Amaka Akudinobi, an attorney who practices law in California and Nigeria, a leader in the WOW Africa organization, and a mother and wife, spoke about empowering local citizens through government freedoms to strengthen their governments and families.
Next Nicholeen Peck, president of WOW, spoke about the roles the family and moral standards have in promoting personal freedom and happiness. She emphasized the power a person has to choose how they want to live and how they want to feel and explained the peace that comes when a person chooses to live a life dedicated to standards such as honesty and taking responsibility. A free guide was provided as a resource for attendees and the young people they serve in their various communities.
Finally, Amy Fa’ataofe, Executive Director NAFFA, Native American Fatherhood and Family Association, spoke about the programs NAFFA provides for Native American communities around the United States. They help rehabilitate families who have been traumatized due to incarceration and trauma and give program participants an increased desire to take responsibility for their family happiness and roles in the family.
Finally, at the end of the panel presentations the event concluded with a brief question and answer session where multiple questions were asked about how to be happy when a severe trauma, such as the death of a child, which one woman was facing, occurs. There were tears of love as panel members explained how they had made it through similar situations and how powerful it is to turn to God in such times. Another woman asked why WOW doesn’t focus on single parents in the presentation. WOW explained that we understand there are many situations that are not ideal, but that we simply didn’t have time in the one hour presentation to address all different family dynamics. Discussing the struggles single parents have is a great topic for it’s own parallel event.
As always, there were some angry groups of people who try to oppose any family advocacy that occurs relating to events or the outcome document at the UN. At the WOW event there were a few young women who voiced their disapproval of WOW’s lack of LGBT emphasis in our program. We calmly explained that WOW is for all women and doesn’t purposefully seek out women based on their sexual choices. These same young women also felt our organization wasn’t focused enough on the youth. This was interesting to us, because a special youth group or youth leadership in an organization doesn’t necessarily make an organization wiser or better. We pointed out however, that we did have a group of WOW youth at the UN with us in our event even though they weren’t on the panel, and it seemed to take the wind out of their sails. These girls also had a hard time with a statement WOW made on a brochure about how it is proven that children are happier and show greater gains when they know both their mother and father.
Despite this slight bit of opposition, which seemed to be an effort to look for what we didn’t have that they wanted instead of what we did have that was wrong, WOW had a very productive year at CSW. We participated in multiple events through discussion, and did a lot of networking, education, and advocacy work. And, we are already working on our CSW events and plans for next year.
Your donations to WOW help us go to UN conferences and provide free resources for the world leaders we try to help and influence. Thank you for helping us. We couldn’t do the work we do without you. Donate how ever much you can spare here. https://worldwideorganizationforwomen.org/product/donate/
