Bukola Oriola

Author| Advocate| Mentor| Entrepreneur

ILAB names 73 countries with child, forced labor

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The Bureau of International labor Affairs (ILAB) has names 73 countries identified with child and forced labor. The list entitled, List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor include some of the staples food in the household and some of the precious items that you like to own.

ILAB maintains that the list is published “primarily to raise public awareness about forced labor and child labor around the world and to promote efforts to combat them….” adding, “it is not intended to be punitive, but rather to serve as a catalyst for more strategic and focused coordination and collaboration among those working to address these problems.”





The list comprised of staple foods like rice, banana, strawberries to precious items like gold, silver, and diamond. Whenever, you are purchasing any of this items, and more, stop and think for a minute whether the item has been produced by a child through child labor or forced labor.

This is the time to stand up against child labor and forced labor. Every school aged kid should be in school and not working, especially doing hard labor like mining diamond, making bricks, harvesting rice, sugarcane, cocoa, coffee, and so on.

You can download the 2014 report here and also read the list of countries and goods here.

What my video broadcast on Periscope below. You can subscribe to my Youtube channel to get new videos in case you miss my live broadcast on Periscope.

Meet the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking

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In January 2016, a member of the Brooklyn United Methodist Church invited me through The Enitan Story’s Facebook page to a community event at the church. At the event, she invited me to be a speaker in March on human trafficking and the newly formed U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking.
The event was scheduled for March 9. I introduced the Advisory Council members in my presentation entitled, Human Trafficking: The Role of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking.
The members of the Advisory council are leaders in their various communities who are also working hard to fight human trafficking. Most importantly, the council represents the voices of survivors across the United States and other parts of the world.
The Advisory council has been saddled with the responsibility of making recommendations, among others to help shape services to better serve survivors of human trafficking across the United States.
Download my presentation here to learn more detail about the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking.
The first report is due in May. I am using this opportunity again to call on community members, and, especially, survivors alike to reach out to us should you have recommendation that will benefit survivors across the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Below is a video report from the event. Thanks to Channel 12.

Thanks for reading. I hope to talk to you again through my blogs. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please, send me a note – fill out the contact form. I want to hear from you. You can also get my recent posts by signing up to receive updates.

Bye for now, until next time.

 

 

 

Taking action for result

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According to Google search, an action is, “The fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim.” Reading Dictionary dot com definition, one of the six listed definitions caught my attention more. It stated: “An act that one consciously wills and that may be characterized by physical or mental activity.” So, to get result in any endeavor or desire, you have to act consciously, willingly, physically or mentally.

Nobody get’s result without taking action. Successful people take several actions before they achieve their desired result. One of the causes of failure, which occurs as a result of lack of action is giving up when you are yet to see your desire come to life. Napoleon Hill in his book, Think and Grow Rich calls it temporary defeat. Perhaps, family and friends even mock you for your lack of result, but when you don’t stop taking action, you will get your desired result.

Former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter focused on action to fight violence against women. He made this glaring in the title of his book, A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power. He knows that taking action and asking people to take action is what will eventually win the fight against the violence that affects women around the world.




I did a Periscope Broadcast today on taking action. You can watch the video below. The broadcast was informed by one of the viewers of my training on Starting your website with $0 down. Little did I know that she was taking action when I was doing the broadcast. Few hours after the broadcast, she sent me a Facebook message which I asked her permission to publish on my blog post yesterday. And, by today, her website was live and she already has some posts on it. That is how you take action. Action is what will give you result.

I hope you will take action today. Share what you are taking action on by commenting on this blog.

Thanks for reading. I hope to talk to you again through my blogs. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please, send me a note – fill out the contact form. I want to hear from you. You can also get my recent posts by signing up to receive updates.

Bye for now, until next time.

Bukola Oriola (2)

 

Why survivors do not get help

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There are a number of reasons why survivors of human trafficking or domestic violence do not reach out for help. Whether it is a foreign born survivor or a U.S. citizen, a common factor that keeps a survivor from reaching out for help is fear.

In this video, I spoke specifically to foreign born survivors. In the immigrant communities, survivors hear all kinds of conflicting stories that prevent them from accepting help even when an advocate who has their best intentions show up or offer them help. For example, I worked with someone refused to go to the battered women’s shelter because she was told by friends and families that the people at the shelter are drug addicts.

There are many whose cultural practices or traditional beliefs prevent from getting help. I worked with a man who was constantly kneeling down to beg, a practice that is considered a taboo in his culture.

It is especially difficult for people in the immigrant population because they do not know or understand the efficacy of the resources that are available to them. I received an email some years ago through a form submission on Imprisoned Show from a male survivor that states, “For bukola. Just came across your story. Need to share my experience and the trafficking still going on against me. This lead to my being deaf and other health problems. Even this email, may be compromised because the crooks still hack into my emails and phones.”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t help this young man because, even though I called the national hotline on his behalf, I was told that he has to make a call to them by himself. In the past one or two years now, Polaris Project has been taking emails and text messages, which is a very great step, especially for individuals like the one I quoted in this post. There are survivors who may not have access to phone but might be able to access a computer to reach out for help.

I am using this opportunity to call on all survivors out there to reach out for help today. Watch the video below.

You can read the first two two chapters of my book here.

Thanks for reading. I hope to talk to you again through my blogs. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please, send me a note – fill out thecontact form. I want to hear from you. You can also get my recent posts by signing up to receive updates.
Bye for now, until next time.


Get a copy of the international best selling book by Bukola Oriola, A Living Label: An Inspirational Memoir and Guide.   Book Description: A Living Label is a memoir that documents some of the struggles and triumphs of the author as a survivor of labor trafficking and domestic violence in the U.S. Bukola Oriola’s goal is to inspire hope in other survivors that they can turn their lives around positively, regardless of what difficulty they might have passed through. She also provides practical solutions to the government, service providers, NGOs, and the general public on how to effectively engage with survivors, to value them as the subject matter experts they are. As someone who has dedicated her life to empowering other survivors, she has decided to contribute the proceeds from the book sales to survivors’ education or their businesses, starting with 100 survivors in the United States, Nigeria and Kenya. She believes that survivors want to be independent and contribute to their communities, and she wants to help survivors achieve this dream. Learn more from the inspiring author, Book Bukola now!
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