The Guardian: Bert Oliva Motivates a New Army of Young Belizean PIMPs
Written by Shane D. Williams
World famous motivational speaker Bert Oliva is in Belize once again to share his inspiring message to thousands of Belizean students. This is the third consecutive year that Oliva is offering his service for free and his only request to the students at the rallies is that they all leave as PIMPs, Positively Influential Motivated Persons.
Restore Belize is partnering with Chamberlain Consulting firm to host Oliva’s “Motivational Missionaries Tour 2014”. From Tuesday, February 11th, to Wednesday, February 19th, Oliva will be speaking to business owners, students, prisoners and other Belizeans in the Central and Southern parts of the country.
Bert Oliva migrated from Cuba to the United States when he was just eleven months old and grew up in the Little Havana area of Miami. Instead of partaking in illicit activities like his friends, he grew up responsibly and took a job at Xerox in his early twenties. He specializes in growing large corporations by focusing on the human potential. Oliva believes in mind over matter and his message to his audience is “the only person that can prevent you from realizing your dreams is yourself”. In 2012, Oliva and his team addressed over 4,000 students in San Pedro, San Ignacio and Belize City. In 2013 Oliva returned and held rallies with over 6,000 students in Belize City, Orange Walk and Corozal. This year, Restore Belize is expecting over 7,500 students to attend Oliva’s rallies. New locations included in the tour are Benque Viejo, Independence and Punta Gorda.
The tour opened at the Old Belize Jungle Pavalion in Belize City on Tuesday, February 11th, where Oliva addressed representatives of corporate Belize. Those in attendance included representatives of organizations sponsoring the tour such as the Belize City Council, Restore Belize and companies like Belize Telemedia Limited, Radisson Fort George Hotel and Marina, Crystal and the Bowen and Bowen Group, Angelus Press Ltd., Belize Diesel and Equipment, San Ignacio Hotel, Belizean to Da Bone, Chamberlain Consulting, Chabil Mar, Island Magic, Celebrity, Delta Airlines, Dolphin Productions, and Old Belize. Other individuals paid $200 to participate in the eight hour seminar. The event was dubbed to be a “Power Drive” in which Oliva shared techniques to develop and accomplish short term and long term goals.
On Wednesday, February 12th, students from Belize City high schools attended three-hour sessions at the Jungle Pavilion. They also got their version of the power drive. In his presentation, Oliva broke down the word POWER to them. The letter “P” is for finding their Passion. “O” is for taking advantaging of Opportunities. “W” is for Wealth. Oliva said we should not believe there is something wrong with being rich. He said, “the more money you have the more you can do to help yourself and others.” He said it is not God’s will for His children to be poor for God’s warning is not against money; it is the love of money that is the root of evil. “E” is for Education. Oliva emphasized the importance of education and applying school lessons in life. He said education prepares one to take advantage of opportunities. “R” is for Reality. There is no unrealistic goal. If an individual is passionate enough to work hard for something then opportunities will pop up. It is up to them to reach out and grab it.
After breaking down POWER, Oliva invited a young lady from Wesley College to the stage and challenged her to eat fire in front of her peers. He explained to the youngster that if she swallowed the flames her lungs would explode but she can do it if she truly believed. Oliva lit a flint and pushed it down his throat. He then pumped up the youth by giving him a couple instructions. At the instructions of Oliva, the young lady stared at the lit flint and laughed at it. She then said, “Mama, I’m hungry!” and devoured the flame. The demonstration was one of Oliva’s famous “breakthroughs”. He uses similar demonstrations to major clients including HBO, Hewlett Packard and Donald Trump among others. After the young lady ate the fire, many others lined up to walk on glass- showing that they are prepared to overcome any obstacles to achieve their dreams.
The tour is scheduled to go to the Belize Central Prison on Thursday morning, February 13th, and Benque Viejo Town on Thursday afternoon. Friday, February 14th, the team will visit San Ignacio. Students from San Pedro and Caye Caulker will be visited on Monday, February 17th. The tour heads south on Tuesday, February 18th, with a stop in Independence, Stann Creek and the final destination is Punta Gorda Town on Wednesday, February 19th. On all these stops Oliva will be encouraging Belizeans to “Make IT Happen”.
FEB