{"id":342546,"date":"2024-09-19T15:43:05","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T19:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/?p=342546"},"modified":"2024-10-30T10:19:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T14:19:32","slug":"african-womens-day-honoring-the-past-and-inspiring-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/post\/african-womens-day-honoring-the-past-and-inspiring-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"National Women\u2019s Day in South Africa: Honoring the Past and Inspiring the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Every year on August 9th, South Africa celebrates <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dsac.gov.za\/womens-day\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Women&#8217;s Day<\/a><\/span> in honor of the strength and resilience of its women. This commemorative date marks the <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sahistory.org.za\/article\/1956-womens-march-pretoria-9-august\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1956 Women&#8217;s March\u00a0in Pretoria<\/a><\/span>, where 20,000 women protested against the Pass Law, a part of the apartheid regime that enforced the separation and control of Black people.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-342550 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/09\/454997911_903706418449957_387988976991133791_n-300x165-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"151\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This important act in the fight for equality and freedom later resulted in significant advances in the legal rights of the Black community. However, even in the face of historical achievements, countless South African women still find themselves restricted by established social standards and, thus, minimize their own value.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Given this, in order to lead them to the recognition of their value before God, The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uckgsa\/?hl=pt-br\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Universal Church in South Africa<\/span><\/a> promoted, on August 9th, a special meeting for women at its Cathedral in Soweto. With simultaneous broadcast to all provinces of the country, the event brought together approximately 16 thousand people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Learning About Self-Worth<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-342547 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/09\/454681274_903706311783301_8551692478473293710_n-300x200-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Amid much joy expressed through music and dance, the participants also received important lessons. A message given by M\u00e1rcia Pires, wife of Bishop Marcelo Pires, responsible for The Universal Church in Africa, highlighted the Creator&#8217;s care and love for each one of us, as written in the Holy Scriptures:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><em>\u201cLook at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?\u201d<\/em> (Matthew 6.26)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>\u201cSince you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, And I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, And people for your life.\u201d<\/em> (Isaiah 43.4)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-342548 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/09\/454723355_903706861783246_6335773049605168976_n-300x224-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">M\u00e1rcia invited those present to reflect:<\/span> <em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201c<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It&#8217;s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> not about what you can achieve, but <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">about<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> how you see yourself within. When you value yourself, you make the right decisions because you first think about the consequences that they will bring about. Many women do not see themselves as a rare jewel and, therefore, end up making any decision, giving space for other people to decide in their place, but she is the one who suffers the consequences<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-342549 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2024\/09\/454912754_903706938449905_5075840236358748914_n-300x200-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the South African women participating in this transformative event had the opportunity to learn about their true value even if the world does not recognize them, and this is only possible when they start to see themselves through the eyes of God.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Bishop Marcelo Pires said a special prayer for everyone<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><b>The Universal Church in South Africa<\/b><\/h4>\n<p>If you would like to know more about the evangelistic work in South Africa, please visit their official <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/uckgsa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram (click here)<\/a><\/span> and <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uckgsa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook page (click here).<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Every year on August 9th, South Africa celebrates National Women&#8217;s Day in honor of the strength and resilience of its women. This commemorative date marks the 1956 Women&#8217;s March\u00a0in Pretoria, where 20,000 women protested against the Pass Law, a part of the apartheid regime that enforced the separation and control of Black people. This [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":342551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,6226,377],"tags":[80],"site":[],"class_list":["post-342546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-godllywood","category-international","category-women","tag-community-outreach"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/248"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342546"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343359,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342546\/revisions\/343359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342546"},{"taxonomy":"site","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universalchurchusa.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/site?post=342546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}