Sister Aburto Participates in International Women’s Day Diplomacy Event

A member of the Relief Society general presidency joined a group of influential women in Los Angeles Monday, March 9, 2020, for the fourth annual International Women-In-Diplomacy Day. Sister Reyna I. Aburto was the keynote speaker at the event, which was sponsored by Mame Toucouleur Mbaye, the honorary consul of the Republic of Senegal.

“A great woman is not a woman who does the work of ten women, but one who is able to inspire ten women to accomplish their own work,” Sister Aburto told the audience of more than 120 women gathered at the Los Angeles Temple Visitors’ Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Those in attendance for the panel discussions and other activities included women diplomats as well as civic, business and government leaders.

The event coincided with the global celebration of International Women’s Day, which was officially observed on Sunday.

Sister Aburto invited the attendees to ask themselves this question: “What can I do to inspire other women, so each of us becomes the solution to our problems?”

“Each of us has the potential to be the solution,” she said.

The global Church leader provided an overview of the Relief Society, which is one of the largest and oldest women’s organizations in the world and represents the more than 7 million women of the Church.

Sister Aburto also discussed the Church’s pilot nutrition program in the Philippines, which was organized by local leaders to help address the effects of poor nutrition in children.

“An interesting fact is that even though this initiative was started among members of our congregations, many families in the community were also being supported by our members,” she said. “Simple local solutions may be the most sustainable and scalable.”

Sister Aburto concluded, “As we try to solve the problems of the world, we can enlighten each other, counsel together and find local solutions to our problems. Together, each of us can be the solution. And as women, we can have influence on protecting [the] interdependency between men and women.”

Earlier in the day, Sister Aburto met with consuls general from eight key countries to discuss their most urgent needs and what the Church is doing and can do in the future in those areas. Those countries included Afghanistan, Brazil, Costa Rica, Egypt, Guinea, Kenya, Senegal and South Africa.