National HerStory Award September 2023
Written By: Yumi Willett
On September 9, 2023, WFWP USA held a virtual National HerStory Award ceremony emceed by Mrs. Adia Lancaster, a member of WFWP Las Vegas.
Mrs. Lancaster welcomed the participants by saying, “I have been familiar with the work of Father and Mother Moon for many years and I have been inspired by their heart for this world to bring peace and for their amazing belief in us as women to help foster peace into our communities and into our families.”
She proceeded to introduce WFWP USA President, Mrs. Kaeleigh Moffitt who expressed that, “more and more as we are meeting incredible women who are serving their communities and making a difference, we are finding that it is so powerful to stop and take a moment to appreciate them for what they are doing.”
The first awardee was Mrs. Rafia Hasina, Vice President of Milun Hawai’i, world traveler, unique storyteller, community connector and entrepreneurial speaker.
On overcoming challenges, she shared she was born with a disability and this led her to being bullied and humiliated until her treatment was successful. She credited her mother for supporting her and encouraging her to never give up. She learned from her mistakes and failures and on reflecting about her life she realized that she can serve people. She concluded: “giving up is easy, looking down on yourself is easy, but living and learning with meaning is a challenge and I accept this challenge.”
The second awardee was Lady Alicia Hamilton, CEO and Founder, Universal Citizens Corp. Lady Hamilton said her journey was inspired by her son who is an astute learner and was able to manipulate the TV and VCR when she was not home. She wanted to shift the messages that were being projected to him through the cartoons he was watching. In spite of the challenges she believed that, “If I just followed the word of God, I would always get through adversity and I would get the desires of my heart. My story is a story of faith, peace and obedience.”
In memory of her husband she highlighted that he always talked to her about the TPs (Tried and Proven) when going through challenges. She remembers him fondly for being her supporter, teacher, mentor and overall best friend. Her mantra, “if I couldn’t do it, I wouldn’t be going through it” proves to work because God has not failed her yet.
She recently was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer and even while going through chemo and radiation, she was able to rewrite her network, which will be released soon.
The final awardee was Mrs. Norma Guevara, Woman of Courage Awardee, community volunteer and artist.
Mrs. Guevara said, “I believe that when we have the love of God in our hearts, we try to do better not only in our lives but also in our community.” When she moved to America from Mexico, she started volunteering in the elementary school where her children attended. She noticed that the teacher-student ratio was low, so she used her talents to do things around the school as she was slowly learning English. Together with a group of other parents, they decided to work with teachers because teachers spend a lot of time with children. Through this, she was able to be hired and started teaching art.
As an activist, Mrs. Guevara worked with politicians to help build much needed new schools in her community. Her advice to get political figures to work together to help is the following: “if we understand how things work, we can help change the way they think and they can help us with the needs around our community. At the end of the day we are the ones who put them there.”
In addition, as a woman leader in the church, she explained, ”We forget that we shouldn’t be in a bubble but should share that information for good so other women can learn and grow not just in the community but also in a spiritual way…We need more women who are willing to fight for love, peace and for better communities around the world.”
