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Tribute to Mr. Ugochukwu (Husband of Carol Ugochukwu)

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WOW International is grieving for the loss of Mr. Ichie Dalane Omeokachie, Ike Ugochukwu. We know that behind every good and noble woman is a stellar man who supports and loves her. Carol, we know how much you have always worked as a team with your husband, and we honor that partnership at this time. 


Mr. Ugochukwu was a selfless man who spent his life serving his family, colleagues, and anyone that he could help. For decades the Ugochukwu family has loved and led the women and families of Nigeria through the WOW Africa organization, an official partner of WOW International. Through this organization Mr. and Mrs. Ugochukwu have led with hearts full of charity and love, countless people to greater prosperity and freedom and have advocated for rights for all women and girls in Nigeria. 


The Ugochukwu family is a tight knit family, full of love and goodness. They are dedicated to loving God and family above all else. The children follow the example of their parents as they focus on living good lives dedicated to making the world a better place while also promoting family unity and love through their real life examples. The impact of the Ugochukwu family on their communities is a byproduct of the example and teaching of their father and grandfather. 


Ichie Dala Omeokachie , Ike Ugochukwu leaves a legacy of love, service, and leadership that will forever be a testimony of the goodness of his life and heart. 
We love you Carol and Amaka, and all your family, and we hope and pray for your comfort and blessings during this time when your husband, father, and grandfather has been called to return back to his Heavenly Father in his heavenly home. 


With Love, 
Nicholeen Peck, President of WOW International, and the whole WOW International Board 

Happy International Day of Families

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In December of 1989, the UN General Assembly Declared the International Year of the Family. The declaration came as the UN’s awareness and interest in the family developed during the 1980’s, and by 1989 the inclusion of families in the developmental process had officially been initiated. In 1993, the General Assembly set aside May 15, to be observed annually as International Day of Families.

2015 was historic for the family, Worldwide Organization for Women and other organizations who advocate for families. The UN Human Rights Council adopted an unprecedented “Protection of the Family” resolution. 2020 marks the 5 year anniversary of this document. Two important statements reaffirm:

…the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and state.

...the family has the primary responsibility for the nurturing and protection

Strengthening families is at the heart of WOW’s mission and work.

East Africa Needs Our Prayers

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The WOW organization has been staying close to women in East Africa and is concerned to find that the struggles in that part of the world might be going from bad to worse soon. Between the first locust attack on farmlands in many provinces, excessive rains and flooding that recently destroyed villages, and now quarantine for COVID-19 they have lost their crops and can’t work to get money for food that they need.

Quarantine in Africa means starvation for millions. Many buy food each day after they get paid for their day’s work. But, if the virus spreads the hospitals are in no way equipped to handle the pandemic. They are in a very bad situation. Prayer is the best option they’ve got.

COVID-19 Situation in East Africa

There are six countries making up the East Africa Community namely: Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic is a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China in December 2019. wikipedia.org.  

With the known mode of transmission, many countries made decisions to confine their citizens for protection against COVID-19.  The East African countries were equally affected.  As it is now, Kenya is having the highest number of people infected with COVID-19 among the East African Countries.  Kenya recorded its first case of the coronavirus outbreak on March 13, 2020.  COVID-19 has changed the way Kenyans live, love and express that love; COVID-19 has shaped social behavior across the country.  Today April 9, 2020, all the major newspapers had a similar heading “We are standing together with Kenyans”, media houses united on COVID-19 issue.  By March 20th, all schools in Kenya had closed, shortly after that, there was curfew between 7:00pm to 5:00am.  While the curfew was on, the President announced a lockdown of Nairobi Metropolitan Area on April 6th.  We are all hopeful that these measures will help Kenyans avert contracting of COVID-19 in large number.  A short while ago, the Minister for health has also announced that anybody walking out of their houses, must wear face masks.  The Kenyan Government has allowed major tailoring institutions to produce large numbers of face masks made from cloth material.  The masks can be washed and re used, the large numbers of masks will serve many Kenyans, some of the needy Kenyans will be given masks for free.   So far, there are 184 people infected with COVID-19 in Kenya. (107 males and 77 females) 3 are below 15 years, 49 are between ages 15-29; 119 are between ages 30-59 and 13 are above 60 years.

Tanzania reported their first COVID-19 on March 16th, 2020 and currently they have 25 people infected.  Tanzania, however, have their citizens go to work as normal without any restrictions, lockdowns or curfews.  Burundi announced their first two COVID-19 cases on March 26th, currently they have 25 cases.   Rwanda announced their first COVID-19 case on March 14th, 2020, currently there are 104 people infected by COVID-19 cases.  The government of Rwanda has taken several measures to curb the spread of this pandemic including total lockdown for 21 days. South Sudan announced the first COVID-19 case today April 9, 2020.  Uganda confirmed their first case of COVID-19 on March 21st and immediately implemented the measures to protect the citizens.  Total lockdown is what Ugandans are going through.  No work, no school and no business as usual.

What is common with all the cases in East Africa is that the majority of COVID-19 cases travelled from outside their countries.  What is also common is that there are community infections going on within the mentioned countries after the first few cases were identified.  Culturally, there are Africans who seal the business deal by shaking hands. This is common among the groups who sell livestock in the open local markets for a living.  Due to COVID-19, some communities have innovatively started hitting the walking sticks as a sign of shaking hands in the process of agreeing on the price of the cattle to be sold.  Many open markets have been closed, making it difficult for the small businesspeople to survive and creating a lot of outcry.  Schools have also been closed.  Families are spending a lot of time in the house which is a very unusual experience.  It is emerging now that in some cases, there is increased gender violence in the homes.

More Trials Might Be Coming!

Jessica Corbett, who writes for Common Dreams reported on April 10, 2020. “While much of the world focuses on the coronavirus pandemic that has infected over 1.6 million people across the globe, East Africa is battling the worst invasion of desert locusts in decades—a monthslong “scourge of biblical proportions” that experts warn could get worse with a larger second wave already arriving in parts of the region.”

So many crops have already been lost to the first invasion of these locusts. Growers have reported to WOW that they are waiting for the second planting season of the year, which starts in about 6 weeks. Another invasion of locusts will make planting impossible again. It seems that food shortages will be imminent if crops fail. Additionally, vital sources of income will disappear with this next crisis.

WOW urges the world to pray each day, morning and night, for East Africa and for all those being sorely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a time when the world must band together in faith. We must share everything we can, but especially our faith.

“The Survivors Club” -How Do You Measure Up?

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Every second someone faces a crises. Why do some people survive and thrive and others do not and give up? The book, “The Survivors Club: the Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life”, by Ben Sherwood reveals why some thrive using studies, research, and interviews of people who have survived. Some study participants were from military elite survival schools and government airplane crash evacuation courses. 

Studies have shown that there are five types of survivors of adversity. These types are the fighter, the believer, the connector, the thinker, and the realist. 

“Fighters attack adversity head on with purpose and determination. Against all odds, they’re driven to succeed and won’t stop until they achieve their goals.”

“A believer puts their faith in God to protect and sustain them through their trials…Believers trust deeply that God has a plan for their life and will steer them through any adversity. Believers are convinced that the Lord will never give them a challenge they can’t handle…Even if death approaches, Believers find comfort knowing that God loves them and their life is in His hands.”

Connectors “overcome incredible adversity with the power of…relationships and bonds with other people.” Connectors “are deeply devoted to family and friends.” This devotion “motivates [connectors] to tackle enormous obstacles… Connectors…hold… relationships sacred and will go to any lengths to protect and preserve them.”

Thinkers” use their brain to overcome…obstacles. They rely on a combination of smarts, creativity and ingenuity to solve problems. Thinkers have street smarts and common sense.”

The Realist knows that “everything doesn’t go as planned. Realists take life as it comes and make the most of their situation, staying calm and collected.”

The twelve psychological strengths that the most effective survivors draw upon are adaptability, resilience, faith, hope, purpose, tenacity, love, empathy, intelligence, ingenuity, flow and instinct. According to interviews with survivors and discussions with experts, these strengths made the greatest impact in the most difficult situations. Some of these strengths even work together. 

Studies and interviews from the book showed that “faith is the most powerful and universal survival tool.” Speaking to people of faith, Sherwood says, “You trust that God has a plan and will look after you. You believe that a greater power will steer you through difficult times and guide your actions. In a crisis, faith gives you remarkable power and confidence to prevail.”

Sherwood interviews revealed that imprisonment and torture of some POW’s, deepened their commitment to God, country, and their fellow men rather than the opposite. Their experiences made them stronger. 

Even though I wasn’t interviewed by Mr. Sherwood, I have found through my personal experiences and observing the experiences of others that his conclusions about the power of faith are true. The experiences of my husband and I have strengthened our faith in God and His love for us and our family members and fellowman. Like many of the POW’s interviewed in “The Survivors Club”, looking back, we have appreciated the trials we have been through because they have brought us closer to God and strengthened our faith in Him.

Donate to WOW While Shopping on Amazon

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WOW has discovered an easy way for your regular Amazon shopping  to financially benefit our non-profit without costing you one dime. Open an Amazon Smile account and a percentage of your purchase can go to The Worldwide Organization for Women.  The Amazon Smile  Foundation is an Amazon operated website that offers basically the same shopping as Amazon, except 0.5% of the of the purchase price will get donated to an  eligible charitable organization of your choice. WOW is registered  as an eligible charitable organization.  At Smile.Amazon  you can use your same account and password as Amazon.com. Once you log in, and set it up, it looks and operates just like amazon.com.  It is free and so easy. Go try it right now.

Follow these easy steps:

  1. Go to smile.amazon.com. where you will log in with your amazon account.
  2. Before you begin shopping, you will be prompted to select a charitable organization. Just type in the words Worldwide Organization for Women. Our name will appear, so select WOW as the charitable organization of your choice to receive donations. You only need to do this once to establish automatic donations for future purchases.
  3. It wouldn’t hurt to bookmark smile.amazon.com. The hardest thing to do is remember to shop there instead of Amazon.com, but occasionally they will send you a reminder.

Now you can shop with a smile, knowing that you are benefitting an important cause

Smile.amazon.com

WOW! Look What We’ve Been Up To!

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Happy New Year!

Look what WOW accomplished in 2018!

2018 started out with the WOW team fighting to protect life by meeting with many legislators to help them see that babies shouldn’t be discriminated against just because they have Down’s Syndrome. We also successfully stopped an attempt by lawmakers to institute Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Utah schools. Our Utah legislative team was happy to have Kursten Mason back as the Utah Legislative liaison for the WOW organization.

The Worldwide Organization for Women is growing! This year we brought many new team members into the WOW organization. Tepoerava Ka’Aumoana, probably the happiest Tahitian woman I’ve ever met, joined us as our head of WOW communications. This was a much needed post to fill, and WOW really enjoys working with her.

We also brought on Klarrissa Newman as a WOW chapter mentor. Klarissa is expanding our chapter reach in an effort to inform and empower more women around the globe.

We have also invited Jenipher Otieno, a professor from Nairobi, Kenya, to be part of the WOW organization. She is the new head of fundraising. Not only does Jenipher teach others how to fundraise, but has been helping families in Kenya for many many years as the head of the Family Resource Center there. We are so happy to have her wisdom and experience with our team.

Early on in the year WOW found out that our website had been hacked and damaged. It was beyond repair, so we had to fund the creation of a new website yet again, this time with heightened security. It is a sign that we are doing good things when malicious people go out of their way to try to stop us from doing our work. It was just one more confirmation that the work we are doing to strengthen families and protect women and children is very needed.

At the annual Conference on the Status of Women [CSW] at the United Nations, WOW presented about the importance of protecting religious liberties for women, nurturing basic life skills in girls and women in order to be more self-sustaining, and the importance of honoring mothers.

Our president, Nicholeen Peck, was instrumental in writing the Global Declaration of Mothers that was first released at the United Nations this year. This collaborative document acknowledges and empowers mothers all over the world.

In New York, the WOW organization spoke at a rally protesting UNICEF’s acceptance of and promotion of graphic sexual education to children around the world. The fight to protect the children from industrial sexualization is an on going fight for our organization.

Our president spoke to over 20,000 parents this year about how to improve family relationships and overall peace.

The KCCB [Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops] invited Nicholeen to speak for the Humane Vitae Golden Jubilee Celebration in Nairobi, Kenya. The celebration was all about protecting lives. The conference asked Nicholeen to address improving family relationships as well. Her talk was called The Family is the Key to the Success of the Humane Vitae.

While in Kenya, Nicholeen also spoke to a grass roots group of homeschooling parents who are trying to create strong families despite the troubles they face in society. She also made a special radio appearance for the Catholic radio station in the area.

While there, Nicholeen also did a some special presentations for the members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Nairobi area. Here is an excerpt from on of her talks.

Carol Ugochukwu, the president of WOW Africa, and her daughter Amaka, continue to serve the women, girls and families of Nigeria. They have had multiple activities to teach and benefit the people there. More information about these activities is included in a separate article.

WOW participated in the Protect Child Health Coalition conference in Omaha, Nebraska this fall. And, we maintained our partnership with the World Congress of Families, a global force calling for protection of the family and family values.

WOW exposed an international database scandal to the state of Utah and got the UEN [Utah Education Network] to take action to remove the content in the EBSCO database that was inappropriate for children. Here is a link to the news story done about this scandal.

Sadly, despite the great effort of the UEN the databases were not cleaned good enough by EBSCO and the work to clean up the Utah databases at libraries and schools is still ongoing. But, WOW is working very hard to inform people and get the problem resolved in order to protect Utah children.

WOW was asked to participate at the annual NAFFA [Native American Fatherhood and Families Association] convention, in Arizona, about strengthening family relationships and improving family communications.

WOW chapter meetings are continuing to happen, while more women are showing interest in starting WOW chapters in their areas.

Finally, WOW was honored to be asked to become the lead organization for the Empowered Families Coalition this year. The coalition is dedicated to advocating for families through the legislative process and through the education of leaders and families. This position will last for one year.

We Need Your Help!

WOW does so many things each year. But, we aren’t able to all we are asked to do because we don’t have enough funds to make it happen. Each member of the WOW board personally funds the majority of projects WOW is engaged in. We love the work, but can each only give so much out of our household budgets each year.

We need you! This year, 2019, we have already been invited to speak at the United Nations again, to speak at the World Congress in Italy, and to educate families and leaders in Benin and Nigeria. We simply cannot afford all these expenses alone.

If you believe in the work WOW is doing and are grateful to the time the WOW board gives without any recompense, then please help us continue this sacred work by making a donation to this mission to protect women and children by strengthening the family and society.

Donate here.

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