"Real Life" podcast is an inspirational exploration into the personal experience of everyday people. It investigates the opportunities and obstacles life presents in those individual experiences. It stirs and distills faith-based principles and activities that make life a successful. In this episode Femi Ibiwoye speaks with Olubukola Olaniyi, Vice Chair of The Minority Ethnic Support Association (MESA), a mother whose life has been impacted by a few challenges; from growing up Black, in a loving Caucasian family and later on to experiencing the heart-break of losing her 21 year old daughter.
Olubukola Elaine
Born to Nigerian parents in the swinging ‘60s, Olubukola (or Bukky) was fostered
from the tender age of 6 weeks in the Kent town of Deal and stayed on with her
Olubukola Olaniyintil the age of 10. She went on to join her birth parent in West
London for a further 3 years until the family relocated to Lagos, West Africa. Her
schooling resumed there and after her higher education she returned to England to
re-settle here.
Bukky is a highly professional resourceful and dynamic Administrator. She took up a
role with Essex Police in 2007, having moved into the area 4 years earlier from East
London with her husband and 2 young daughters. Bukky is a devoted Christian who
gives her time to support charities and associations especially Worship Time Events
based in Essex, UK.
As a, mother and wife, Bukky’s idyllic family life can be said to have been irreparably
altered by the loss of her younger daughter, Opeoluwa in October 2015 on the day
British Summer Time ended that year.
In this frank and heartfelt discussion on “Real Life with Femi Ibiwoye”, we will get
to hear Bukky’s story, how she navigated the strange ups-and-downs of the
aftermath of her loss and re-calibrating her priorities. Listen to her in her own
words, “… You never expect to outlive your children… It was traumatic and I don’t
know how I got through it if not for the Grace of God… here I am today still
standing but my life has never been the same…”
Let’s hear her out…
Connect with Bukky Olaniyi on:
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/bukky-olaniyi-47261640