The Director of Women's Ministries at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church, Heather Dawn Small, has stressed the need to empower and revive African women from the shackles of poverty, ignorance, illiteracy and indiscrimination, which, according to her, has remained a stumbling block to the development of our society.

Small said this during the Adventist Women's Ministries International Congress to mark the 50th Golden Jubilee of Babcock University as an educational institution and 10 years as an accredited private Nigerian university owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria.

"Touch A Heart, Tell The World," the theme of this year's congress for West-Central Africa in Nigeria, according to her, is a very loud statement to identify with the efforts of the Adventist Schools in the ministry. She said that the ministry is reaching out to be the voice of the voiceless and the hope for the hopeless.

Heather Dawn Small stressed further that the global economic meltdown has made things difficult for those who are the poorest in the community, adding that the young children and women in the society are the worse hit.

She noted that Babcock University is partnering with Adventist Women's Ministries to bring relief, support and solidarity to women internationally. "One of the things the church had done as a world church organisation is the passing of the relevant information that applies to women in every country," she added.

According to Heather Dawn Small "there is a misconception that there are certain problems, which women face in some areas of the world that some do not face in another parts of the world. For instance, there are those who think that poverty is not a problem in Europe and United States of America. This is not true. We have got to discovered that it is a problem. It is only that we hide the problems in some places better than others."

Also she stressed that there is need to empower African women and those in the community to help themselves.

She pointed out: "If I have been beaten by my husband, if I am hungry, if my children are crying because they have nothing to eat, don't tell me about God. Because if God loves me, He will help me. What I want you to do is to show me God. And as we show our sisters and women in the community the kind of love as we train them and help them."

Also, the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Hajia Turai Musa Yar'Adua, who was represented by the wife of Ogun State Governor, Olufunke Daniel in her message challenged every women to brace up to their responsibilities as women and Christian mothers.

She urged every woman to live an exemplary life of service to humanity by giving voice to the voiceless and restoring hope to the world.

The State Governors wife also stressed that the theme of the international congress is indeed most thoughtful and appropriate at this crucial period in the world; where there are many hearts waiting and crying to be touched. "In the face of the current economic meltdown, threat to human lives through diseases, violence, terrorism and general insecurity, it is important for all people of goodwill, especially women to rise up and touch the lives of people around them, put smiles on their faces and also restore hope to the hopeless," she said.

The Babcock University with an enrolment of about 6,000 students in 2009 is located equidistant between Ibadan and Lagos. The University was named after an Adventist missionary from North America by the name of David C. Babcock, who pioneered the work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria in 1914. [Editors: Gbenga Adetunji and Christian B. Schaeffler for Guardian and APD]