20 Faith & Spirituality
mojatu .com
MY JOURNEY WITH THE WOMEN FEDERATION FOR WORLD PEACE INTERNATIONAL
- By Valentine Nkoyo
I received a WhatsApp message from a friend in summer
last year saying “This is yours Val, please apply”. It had a link
to the Women Federation for World Peace UK(WFWP) and
information about a speech contest for young women.
I have never heard about the organisation before. The
message came at a busy time so I didn’t pay too much
attention to it first.
A few weeks later, two other friends who do not know
each other asked me to take part in the speech contest as
they have heard me speak before. It was then I paid more
attention to learn more about federation. The mission
statement alone on the website was enough to convince
me that this was an organisation I would love to work with
- “Empowering women as peacebuilders and leaders in
the family to transform the community, nation and world.
Through education, advocacy, partnership, reconciliation
and humanitarian service, WFWPI aims to create an
environment of peace and wellbeing for future generations
and people of all races, cultures and religious creeds”.
The theme for the second annual speech contest was
‘Women making a Difference’. Contestants were asked
to write an 8-10 minutes speech (about 1500 words).
Shortlisted candidates were then to be interviewed by a
panel before 7 finalist could be shortlisted. The biggest
trick of the entire competition was to deliver the speech
at a national event in London where the finalists were not
allowed to read from their speech nor change the initial
contents of the speech.
I took time to think about the “Women making a
Difference” topic. I remembered the famous women
who have done amazing things. I remembered
some of the most learned women I admire. I
remembered women who have suffered to give
the best for girls and women. I remembered all the
great women who have inspired and empowered
me to be who I am today.
I remembered my own mother! All the sacrifices she made
to make ends meet and support us through education
which she values more than anything else. A woman with
a golden heart. Despite all the challenges I personally
went through, she was always there saying “All will be well
my child”. Sometimes she would smile in the middle of
a crisis and say “this is nothing compared to what I have
seen in my life, but this can only make us stronger”. She
taught me how to be resilient , how to love, how to cope,
how to not give up.
She is not famous….she never got the education she
wanted ….she was married off at the age of 17…but
she has made a significant difference in my life and the
lives of others.
I then had a strong feeling to reach out to people who
might be at the brink of losing hope for one reason
or the other. Those people who just need a word of
encouragement to make things right again.
Then I thought of my own personal journey….the pen hit
the paper! My aim was to share a message of hope and
inspire others to know that some of the challenges we go
through in life make us stronger. We all have something
special in us. We have a spark in us that we should never
let go. It is that spark that make us smile even between
our tears. It is that spark that make us want to live, want
to love, want to inspire, want to make a difference. That
spark make us to stand up when we fall, dust ourselves
and continue walking.
I must admit that going through the whole process was
quite challenging as I revisited a few deep situations in
my life and each stage of the contest was harder than the
previous one.
I was among 7 finalists who attended the awards
ceremony in London on 15th October 2016. Even though
I have spoken at events and conferences before, it was
nerve racking to know you are also being judged. As I
listened to other young women deliver their speech, it
made me realise how important it is to give young women
a platform to express themselves, share their values with
others and most importantly given them a voice. There
was so much to learn from the finalist and to me they
were all winners.
The contestants were judged by Mr Tim Miller, Rev. Kim
Plumpton and Dr Christina Scharff.
When my name was called out as the winner of the 2016
young women speech contest, I could not believe it given