I am so glad to be back here in the Philippines. I was here in 2017 for the Global Peace Convention and met so many beautiful women.
After that, we experienced COVID-19 difficulties around the world. So this is actually the first time that we are actually seeing so many of you in-person. Which I am very grateful and very happy to see all of you.
“Magandang hapon,” good afternoon. I am delighted to be here with all of you today in Clark, Pampanga, Philippines. Just a year ago, we were unable to travel freely to see each other. But today, we are here together in person. Let’s appreciate this special moment.
I would like to start by recognizing my dear friend and Tita, Dr. Nona Ricafort. Not only is she a champion of Global Peace Women, but she is also a key organizer of the Global Peace Festival 2022 in the Philippines, and specifically this Women Empowerment track. Let’s give our appreciation to Dr. Nona Ricafort. These are only some of the many things that she does for peace.
We have many other distinguished guests today. Ambassador Manalo, thank you for bringing your experience and insights to bear on this momentous occasion. Dr. Dy, Mrs. Murray, thank you so much for sharing. Additionally, my gratitude goes out to the members of the organizing committee.
1. Global Peace Women, Philippines – Vice President Conchita T. Changyunco
2. National Council of Women of the Philippines (NCWP) – President Cecilia M. Dy
3. IWCPI District 380 – District Chairman Maricor P. Gamboa and Immediate Past District Chairman Noemi D.A. Verano
4. Inner Wheel Club of Central Ortigas – Past President Helen Prado
5. All Nations Women’s Group – President-Elect Michelle D.O. Ballesteros and President Nominee Prescy V. Yulo
6. Zonta Club of Greater Rizal I – President Julia M. Choy
7. Rotary Club of Makati Ayala Triangle – President Marilyn De Mesa
8. Rotary Club of San Miguel Manila – President Mary Co
9. Rotary Club of Manila San Marcelino – President Domarie Suñiga
10. Rotary Club of Marikina Valley – Charter President Julieta C. Malaya
11. Rotary Club of Manila Maharlika – President Maricor M. Malitao
12. Kapampangan Development Foundation Inc. – Executive Director Sylvia M. Ordoñez
Wow! All of these women's organizations came together to create the Women Empowerment track. I heard the list was growing even to the last day.
Everybody, look around on the beautiful faces! This gathering is a beautiful expression of who we are as women. So many women from across this great nation and around the world are here today, united, and ready to invest in a vision that speaks deeply to each of us and the theme of the 2022 Festival: “One Family Under God: A Vision for a World of Freedom and Peace.”
Moreover, we are here today to deliberate on how we can work on “Empowering Service-Minded Women: Building a World of Freedom, Harmony, and Peace.”
It is very fitting that we are gathered in the Philippines on the eve of your winter celebrations. I heard that in the Philippines, Christmastime lasts for nearly three weeks. That’s a very long time. Your families gather from around the world to spend time together to strengthen your faith, remember the grace and love of God and serve your fellow Filipino families in charity.
What a beautiful way to end the year and prepare for the new year. What a meaningful time to consider the work we have ahead of us as a global family to secure peace.
We can find seeds of peace all around us. “Maka-Diyos, Maka-tao, Makakalikasan at Makabansa.” That means, for God, People, Nature, and Country. Even your national motto describes how you strive to honor God and all the faiths that seek to connect us to Him, cherish family and deeply treasure the life of every person, male and female, and preserve the environment that sustains us all.
I am certain that Filipina women play a key role in preserving these precious seeds of peace. Today, our work is to find ways to uplift and cultivate these seeds of peace as Filipino families and raise this nation to become a global champion for peace. I truly believe that what takes place here in the Philippines can reverberate across Asia Pacific and the world.
Yesterday, many of you who were together here spent the day serving the local AETAS tribal communities together. And many of you were really serving, sharing time with the children and parents. I felt so happy to see that. Because service is such a beautiful thing.
It brings people together, and it helps us realize, “We are all family.”
As we serve, we feel like ates and titas to the children. Every child we care for feels like our anak ko. We want them to be happy; we want them to succeed; we want them to know that they are precious children of God with immutable value and unlimited potential. Global Peace Women Philippines and your partner organizations are constantly reaching out. You do such precious work. Let’s give a round of applause to all of us.
Yesterday, we visited the KD Foundation, which provides basic medical services for pregnant mothers and newborns.
You travel to remote mountains and islands to deliver food and clothes to those who suffer from challenges such as the COVID-19 shutdowns and natural disasters like Tropical Storm Nalgae. You support students and teachers of local schools; and host educational programs for youth to prevent teenage pregnancy and support new couples. What drives all these tireless efforts?
It is our natural impulse to reach out and give comfort, hope, and love when there is suffering, doubt, and conflict.
Mothers and sisters of the Philippines, women around the world resonate with your heart. In Korea, we have a similar tradition, we call our ates, unni, and our titas have special names depending on how we are related. No matter where you go, it is universal that familial relationships connect us and our happiness to one another as “One family under God”.
As women, we have an important role in bringing this vision to life.
Knowing that women are an integral part of peace, my husband and I founded Global Peace Women in 2011 as a division of the Global Peace Foundation. In 2020, GPW became an independent non-profit organization. At the time, GPW penned its mission: “True women, service-minded people, realizing One Family under God through building ideal families, communities, and a world of peace.”
In all our work to uplift women, strengthen families, and advance women’s leadership, service-mindedness is the key.
It pushes us to see beyond ourselves and focus on the greater good. It urges us to do the right thing, even when it is difficult. Being service-minded enables us to look past challenges, step past division and find forgiveness, healing, and hope. It gives us strength to overcome obstacles and fuels innovation. Service-mindedness affirms our shared commitment to the same dream and reminds us of God who is committed equally to each of us.
Service-minded women are peacemakers, innovators and miracle makers that can pull goodness, beauty and love out of the hardest and darkest circumstances.
We can be catalysts of social transformation that fosters peace and development. We also are the teachers and protectors of freedom, harmony, and peace in our families, our communities, and the world. Today, I encourage all of you to join this movement to empower more service-minded women who can own the vision of “One Family under God.”
During the 2021 Global Peace Convention, my husband, Dr. Hyun Jin Moon, explained:
“The vision that can guide humanity to world peace is none other than ‘One Family under God’. It builds off the idea of God’s sovereignty as the source of all human rights and freedoms, as well as expanding those ideas to the level of family.
It acknowledges the value of diversity and recognizes the Creator as the common thread that holds all humanity together; just as good parents are the glue that keep their often contentious and competitive children united in love within the ideal of family.”
At Global Peace Women we say, “Peace Begins in the Home.” It reminds us that a world of freedom, harmony, and peace, begins in our families. The family is the “school of love.”
In the family we come to understand what it means to be interconnected through a common DNA and shared ancestry. And in the family, we can experience enduring, unconditional love and come to know our intrinsic value as sons and daughters of God. In the family we learn that universal principles and shared values come from Godand as his loving children try to resemble his goodness and love.
Strengthening the family is key to addressing some of the most complex social issues such as those related to mental health, gender-based violence, social cohesion, education, and poverty. Moreover, strengthening the family can elevate humanity’s consciousness as we experience and come to own the vision of “One Family under God.”
The family is the sacred place where every person’s God-given freedoms, particularly the freedom of conscience, is honored. As a mother, I do my best to support and guide each child in the beautiful journey of discovering God, self, and truth, but also to remind them that with freedom comes responsibility. When our choices harm others, we are not really free, bound by the harm we have inflicted. And, when our choices benefit the greater good, it opens unlimited opportunities.
In the family we learn how to foster harmony. Every family has so many different perspectives and personalities which may sometimes clash and come into conflict, but when we recognize the innate value of each family member, celebrate their precious strengths and uniqueness, and believe that we are all working together towards a greater good, harmony can be achieved.
In the family, there is a peace that surpasses understanding. When multiple generations come together in my family, it is hard to find a quiet moment, and yet peace abounds. We celebrate and rejoice in each other, strengthen each other through our relationships, and find inspiration as we move towards the dream that we share across generations.
There is so much that we can learn as we bring the ideal of “One Family under God” to life in every heart and home.
For example, in the relationship between husband and wife, and father and mother, two incredibly different people who see things from sometimes opposite poles make an eternal commitment to each other and a shared dream.
In our family, my husband provides spiritual leadership. His unwavering commitment to the vision of “One Family under God,” his firm stance on principles and his unshakable optimism gives us direction and inspiration. He is always challenging us to grow past our perceived limitations, think creatively, and go beyond ourselves.
I have described my husband as the North Star that guides our family, while I am the wind that fills our sails.
I know how each member of the family is doing, even when they don’t tell me. Maybe you can relate to this sixth sense. Raise your hands if you have a sixth sense when it comes to your family members and your children. I'm sure all of you with children have that feeling of having six sense.
I listen to each family member and support and counsel them through challenges and growing pains, victories, and joys. I remind them of who they are, let them know I believe in them and that I will always be there. I tell them they can do anything they put their mind to.
My husband and I are very different, but we are connected by our love for God, for humanity, and for the family that we are raising to contribute to the vision of “One Family under God.”
As parents, my husband and I do our best to help our sons and daughters grow to become mature men and women who can raise families where this vision of “One Family under God” comes to life and can benefit humanity.
Mothers, sisters, daughters and wives, our part in peace is irreplaceable. As service-minded women we can animate the vision of “One Family under God” through the experiences in our families and reach across the world.
This vision connects the world into one human family. Just as we experience our interconnectedness and recognize and protect the innate value, rights, and freedoms of every member of our family, we can do the same for all people.
Ladies and gentlemen, our task is large and it is urgent. We are aiming high; our dream is big.
There are many challenges ahead, but we have witnessed the power of service-minded women. Let us be confident in our strengths.
We have raised children and grandchildren. We overcame COVID-19. We are advancing groundbreaking transformation and innovation in education, business, society, and around the world.
With our service-mindedness, we can turn tragedy into opportunity, failure into growth, hurt into happiness. We respond to injustice and pain with compassion, grace, and hope. And we do this because we are inspired by the vision of “One Family under God.” We can become the source of expanding freedom, harmony, and peace to all humanity and bring peace to all humanity.
Ladies, and gentlemen, I hope you can join the efforts of Global Peace Women as it empowers service-minded women around the world to advance peace.
I know that the Philippines is where this movement will deepen and flourish. My fellow ates, titas, and anak kos, your history, your heritage, your faith, and your own personal strengths have made you ready for this moment. Every child, woman, man, and family that we love, we are taking on this challenge so that they can live in a world of freedom, harmony, and peace. When we put our efforts together and encourage others to do the same, we can embrace this world with love and open a new time for peace and prosperity.
I am honored that we can do this together.
Thank you very much. Salamatpo.