2013: News 5: How to motivate prisoners
Regardless of creed, gender, religion or race; everyone has potential—and it is up to you to know and acquire your full potential. That is the message which the Motivational Missionaries Tour Belize 2013 is instilling in Belizeans from all walks of life. Over the course of this week, Bert Oliva and his team, also known as the Potentialists, have been making stops around the country holding sessions with students, at risk youths, professionals as well as the general public on thinking outside the box. The series is an initiative of Restore Belize and Chamberlain Consulting and today, one of their main stops was at the Kolbe Foundation in Hattieville. Some four hundred plus inmates were counseled on life at and after prison. Both Oliva acknowledges that while they have done prison sessions in the U.S, Kolbe was a different experience.
Bert Oliva, Motivational Speaker
“Not only inmates, the worse inmates that they had—those that are not even allowed out of their cells for long periods of times were the ones they brought it. So it was a major challenge for us. That’s not what we were expecting, but it ended up being a great experience.”
Bert Oliva
“I was telling them that some of them were never going to see the street again so let’s be realistic—especially the group that was there. So you can start life, as of today, you can escape everyday by going into reading books and writing books and eventually they will be able to create a location over there where they can actually speak to the students and show them how it is not all that great to be on the other side. Also we talked about them not worrying about how to get a job when they got out of there. Why not create your own job? Why not become an entrepreneur with all the gifts that they have? I saw the gift shop; they have talent. So if you have all this talent, why not go out there and use it and create something; not concern yourself if you are gonna get a job or not in Belize when you can become your own boss.”
This afternoon at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts, employees from several companies, who sponsored the tour, got their chance to live the adventure with the potentialists. The tour takes them on Thursday to Dangriga and on Friday at the Belmopan UB Gym and then in the afternoon to the San Ignacio Hotel.
FEB