A Look Back: Mother of Peace Liberates Gorée Island
It’s the 3rd anniversary since Mother of Peace Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, co-founder of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), visited Gorée Island where she tearfully prayed for the island’s ancestors and a new heavenly Africa.
“An intense pain arose in my heart,” wrote Dr. Moon in her 2020 memoir. “I was already feeling that the bitter tears of grief shed by thousands of captives in transit through the island could fill the world’s oceans. The beautiful site that we were approaching must be the most sorrowful island in the world.”
The small island nation has a painful history. It served as the largest slave-trading center on the African coast for 400 years, from the 15th to 19th century.
Fresh from her World Africa Summit in Senegal, the mayor of Gorée Island, Austin Senghor, welcomed Dr. Moon with open arms as he presented her with the Gorée Island Pilgrim Award.
It read, “Status of Pilgrim who is hereby authorized and appointed to serve as an Ambassador of Good Will for Gorée Island, for the promotion of its memory which testifies to such a tragedy as epitomized by slavery, for the teaching of universal values incarnated by Gorée Island, and for the triumph of peace and tolerance ideals.”
For nearly six decades, Dr. Moon, along with her late husband and FFWPU co-founder Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, has tirelessly worked to promote peace, reconciliation, and unity worldwide. After visiting Gorée’s House of Slaves and Door of No Return—a museum and memorial to the Atlantic slave trade which memorializes the final exit point of slaves from Africa—Dr. Moon returned to West Africa in April 2019 to host a special Marriage Blessing Ceremony in Senegal that included Goree’s deputy mayor.
During her initial trip, Dr. Moon spoke passionately of the beauty and mission of the African continent and its people. Below is an excerpt from her World Africa Summit speech on January 18, 2018:
“Africa will become the light of the world. Africa is the blessed continent, the shining light. And today with the heart of a True Mother I have come to pray and eradicate the historical pain that this continent has suffered, and begin a new history…
This is the continent that will become a new heavenly Africa that will attend God. Africa is the birthplace of humanity…
Centering on this continent and nation, I would like to begin an era centering on altruism, living for the sake of others, an era of peace, equality, happiness—the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Let’s work together to realize this ideal…
I believe Africa can accomplish this, and that is why Africa is the first continent in the world. Africa has the potential to become the original, healthy Kingdom of God and the environment that God wanted to see.” –Mother of Peace
Let us remember Dr. Moon’s visit to Gorée Island, and her message of a heavenly, unified Africa and world.
You can read more about Dr. Moon’s trip to Gorée Island here.
Comments are welcomed and encouraged on this site, but there are some instances where comments will be edited or deleted. Please see our comments policy here.
Jorge Cuello Espinosa
| #
Thank you for posting this article.
Reply