By Missionary Kathy Rigney, then National Leader of Nigeria
Part 2 (click to read Part 1)
“How many of you are seeing Mother for the first time?” Mother asked. A couple of hands went up. Mother was surprised, at first, that the persons were blessed but had not yet seen True Parents. Then Rev. Kwak mentioned the satellite blessing last year.
“Oh! Satellite children,” she said. She was delighted! Here were some of the first couples to participate in a blessing by direct satellite link—a way that many couples throughout the world will be blessed from now on as millions seek to graft themselves to the tree of life.
By 1 p.m., people were already gathered at the main doors of the adjacent Hilton Congress Hall where dozens of members scurried about making last minute preparations. The actual program was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Meanwhile, special guests were escorted upstairs to a VIP lounge while their places were reserved for them in a front section in the main hall. There gathered the Federal Minister of Commerce and Tourism, the President of the Federal Commission for Women, the North Korean ambassador along with several other ambassadors and diplomats, several former national assemblymen and senators, two Emirs from the north and a Grand Kadif, another traditional ruler from the south called the Akran of Badagry, several religious leaders including a representative of the Bishop of Abuja, and many more.
Lagos is a heavily populated city and it would have been relatively easy to assemble several thousand people there, but the largest hall suitable for Mother’s speech in Lagos holds only seven hundred people. Abuja, being Nigeria’s new capital city, has a beautiful Hilton Hotel that can hold thirteen hundred people. Thus Abuja was chosen for this special event, even though it is still only the size of a large village. We had to convince people to come by road for as many as twelve hours or pay their own way to fly to Abuja. We had to really communicate to everyone the importance of this historical event to motivate them to make the special effort necessary to come. By the time the program officially began, the VIPs were in their seats and the hall was completely full with 1,350 participants, including about 940 guests and 410 members from Nigeria and 18 other countries in Africa.
The program started with the national anthem and invocational prayers from a Muslim leader and a Catholic priest symbolizing the unity of two of the three most influential religions in Africa.
After a short presentation by the New Hope Singers of Nigeria and a powerful video presentation, a Nigerian who has represented the 3rd most influential religion in Africa at our AWR’s meetings offered a warm and inspiring introduction to Mother. Professor Wande Abimbola has known Father and Mother for nearly ten years through International Religious Foundation activities. He is an expert on traditional religions, particularly the Yoruba culture, and had risen to the political rank of Senate Majority Leader before the Senate was dissolved in the November coup.
Beautiful and bright
“Distinguished ladies and gentleman, may I respectfully invite you to rise and join me in welcoming the Lady of True Honor, our international visitor, the Founder and President of the Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP), Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon,” said Prof. Abimbola as the audience gave an enthusiastic standing ovation to welcome Mother onto the stage.
Mother was radiant! She later described the experience as being “so beautiful and bright.” She said the audience seemed so receptive in their hearts.
As Mother spoke about the persecution Father has gone through, the tears flowed abundantly, both from her eyes and from many in the audience. After saying that Father had been imprisoned six times for his faith, she could hardly pronounce “my heart is broken” for the tears. As she paused to regain her composure the audience applauded in support and solidarity Several more times Mother cried, even as she concluded with her request that each one “understand this message with a deep heart and an open mind.” Peter Kim commented later that he had never seen Mother shed so many tears in a speech.
Mother later shared a special testimony with a few of us. She said that when Heung Jin Nim was growing up he commented to her several times that if he could go out on a mission for True Parents he would want to go to Africa. With tears, she said that today; as she spoke to the audience, she felt Heung Jin Nim very near.
The audience offered much more than sympathy to Mother. Each time as she proclaimed the establishment of “the first True Parents” and “the first completed True Family” there rose such a thunder of applause and cheers that it took a moment before Mother could continue. She seemed so happy.
Mother came down from the stage after the speech to shake hands with many of the VIP guests in the front row. Then she quickly went to another meeting hall where a telephone and amplifier were set up to continue communicating with Father in Korea.
Father and Mother celebrated with all their hearts, singing songs and inviting others to sing. At one point we heard Father send Mother a great big kiss! At another point Mother shared the victory cake with Father over the telephone with a “Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!”
Mother told the brothers and sisters that the time of exploitation and suffering had ended for Africa and thanks to True Parents’ victory they could start anew on the starting line with an equal opportunity with people from other countries. She said she wanted them to win the race but they would have to fulfill one condition—”to unite with their leaders and work harder than anybody else“!
For God and humanity
In a smaller meeting later, Mother told missionaries that her own personal goal is to bring glory to Father before he is eighty years old, and she challenged me to push myself, as the national leader, to work even harder from now on to help Mother achieve that goal.
“In Father’s life course, the road of indemnity was so thorny and I can’t help feeling pity for Father,” Mother said through Peter Kim. “Not even once could he do what he wanted to do. He had to be so patient. He never tried to do anything for himself. Not once! Everything he did, he did only for the sake of God and humanity,” Mother said. “My only wish is to see the time and moment when Father will feel ‘Thank God! It was good that I came to this physical world and did my mission and can now come back to You (with total victory)!'”
Mother said we should all continue to push ourselves and work hard until that moment “remembered by God and eternity-the day when we can all celebrate together to return glory to Father. “
Mother offered a special gift to the WFWP in Nigeria. She offered five thousand dollars to help set up a special Foundation in Abuja that the local WFWP President called “The Hak Ja Han Moon Foundation for Women.”
Mother, unexpectedly, posed for photographs in a traditional Nigerian robe and headdress. This will be made into a portrait that will decorate the entranceway of the future foundation’s building—a beautiful monument to Mother’s love for Africa.
Mother left Nigeria for Brazil on Monday, December 6—all lost baggage recovered! How sad we were to see Mother leave us, but we have so much to do. The mission has come to a whole new level and there is a whole new foundation to lay in the shortest possible time. Mother brought us the most wonderful grace and blessing. From now on, all that counts is the concrete results that come from hard work and indemnity. She inspired us to take up the same mandate—to return glory to Father before his eightieth birthday.
To this end, we are totally dedicated and determined to make any sacrifice and pay any price to make our Mother’s desire for Father our own and restore this time nation and the world in the shortest possible time.
We love you Father and Mother—thank you so much for the most wonderful day Nigeria has ever known.
Kathy Rigney is one of the original missionaries sent to Africa in 1975. This testimony was written in 1993. Since that time, Mrs. Rigney has been active in many parts of Africa and held the position of Continental Director (Regional President) for many years. She is currently the chair of UPF and Cheon Eui Won for the Heavenly Africa region.