I Was Molested By A Catholic Priest In My Teens – Lola Omotayo

Wife of Peter Okoye, Lola Omotayo-Okoye recounts how
she was molested during the Kinabuti Dare2Dream
project, encouraging and motivating young ladies to
pursue their dreams.
According to her,
“You shouldn’t let your past determine what your destiny
will be, we all have our past whether good or bad or
makes us unhappy, we all had a life that we lived that we
are not happy about,you shouldn’t let it bother you from
succeeding.
When I was a young girl in my early teens in high
school, I was molested by a catholic priest, I blamed
myself, I didn’t tell anyone because I was
ashamed,couldn’t tell anyone cos I felt everyone would
blame me, so I carried on the guilt and bitterness with me
for years. I was filled with hate and I became a angry
person, I was rebellious, I didn’t want to listen to
anybody and because I wanted to be expelled from school
to avoid seeing this person, I would do so many terrible
things, everything around me was just so negative, I felt I
wasn’t good enough.
I felt like a loser, so it was hard for me to focus. One day I
woke up and said I am going to change my story and I
dumped that person, focus on my education and decided
to be serious and be something. I decided to get a job and
go to school full time in America.
I worked hard. My parents were sending me money cos I
didn’t tell them I was working but I was working because
I wanted to be independent. I didn’t want to depend on
any man or on my parents even though they would have
done anything for me, so I did all sorts of job; I was a
make up artiste, I worked in a cafe, school library, I did so
many things and I didn’t realise that these jobs were
building me up as a person, building my resume, my
confidence.
“People began to like me because I was adding value to
their lives. At work I was excellent and so was i in school
and that built me as a strong woman and at some point, I
sought counseling to get over my molestation issues
where I was made to see reasons why I wasn’t at fault
cos I was a child then.
Today I am accomplished.“Look at my husband,” she
continued, “when I met him peeps were like what are you
doing with him, he has nothing but I stood my ground
and choose to stick with him cos he had a dream. He and
his twin brother did not let their dream die, they worked
hard; look at them today! I stuck by him cos he had focus
and drive and today I am happy, I have a good life, we are
happy and we have got a beautiful family. No one can
make you a loser.
You can be whatever woman you want to be but you
have to believe in yourself, if they reject you today,
it doesn’t mean you should let your dreams die, you have
something unique about you.”