A Broken Childhood I and II
by Dr. Lydia Ola Taiwo
A Voice for All Children!
by Dr. Lydia Ola Taiwo
A Voice for All Children!
Speaking Up About Child AbuseChildren who suffer abuse often do so in silence. Many often don’t seek help because they are often reluctant to admit they have a problem. They are often overcome by feelings of shame and also fear that they won’t be believed or taken seriously. They may also believe that the consequences of asking for help may even make matters worse.
Being unable to tell someone that you are being (or have been) abused can take a heavy psychological toll both during childhood and in later years. And quite often, the pain and trauma doesn’t diminish with time.
Surviving child abuse - how one British author made speaking out her life's mission.
"I never want to see another Daniel Pelka, Baby P or Victoria Climbiè case again," says Lydia softly and in tones that belie her own horrific past. From abused child to survivor, doctor, author and mother of six, Dr Lydia Taiwo has become an outspoken campaigner against child abuse.
Whipped, beaten bloody and repeatedly hospitalised, Lydia endured sadistic abuse meted out by her parents and almost died from it. Her first book, A Broken Childhood, pulls no punches in describing the abuse she experienced and is already on the reading list of many teachers and social care professional.
At the age of five, Ola was torn away from a safe and happy foster home in Hastings and taken back to live with her real parents in London. It was the start of a nightmare. Forced to adapt without warning to a new life with people she did not know, Ola found herself the victim of unending abuse. No love was shown to her by either parent. Instead she was beaten almost daily, and often left to cope alone with a younger sister and brother and a mountain of household tasks.
Unable to confide in anyone at school, she learned how to lie to cover up for her parents, even in the face of severe injury and hospitalization. She could see no way out of her desperate situation. How would she survive? This is the true and shocking story of her experiences.
A Broken Childhood II- Forgiveness - When your whole childhood and young adulthood have been devastated by abuse, how do you forgive those who harmed you? When the people who harmed you are your parents, how can you possibly get over that? Lydia Ola Taiwo told the shocking story of her ruined childhood in her first book, A Broken Childhood: A True Story of Abuse. In this new volume she continues the story, describing how she and her sister were taken to Nigeria, away from the prying eyes of the UK authorities. Stuck in a boarding school in a strange country, subject to careless treatment from unknown relatives during the holidays and continued abuse when her mother returned to Nigeria, somehow she managed to find the inner strength to keep going.
Would she ever escape from the endless cycle of cruelty and manipulation? This is a story of individual human courage, of one woman s determination to live life on her own terms when even her closest family were hell bent on destroying everything she had.
Book Review for A Broken Childhood II: Forgiveness by Lydia Ola Taiwo
Nightmares normally end when we awaken. But what if your waking hours
actually were your nightmare? In her first book, `A Broken Childhood',
Lydia Taiwo opened her heart and showed us how she survived horrific
abuse as a child.
In ‘A Broken Childhood: Forgiveness’, Lydia’s story
continues when her parents finally decide to take her back to Nigeria.
However any hopes that life will improve are swiftly dashed by her
mother. Alone in a strange country, she is determined to survive, but
when she finally escapes her parents clutches, Lydia will find that
the hardest battle of all is learning how to come to terms with the
past.
Gripping in its intimate narrative, the book is unnervingly direct but
retains a quiet, hopeful sparkle and optimism that carries us along.
In it, Lydia reflects on her past but it is her ability to forgive
that truly inspires. I’m not sure many readers faced with the
devastating and perpetual abuse could find it in their hearts to do
the same.
As Lydia herself admits, learning to forgive was the beginning of a
journey of redemption and in turn, led to her being able to move on
and build a remarkable life. A happily married mother of six, and a
scientist, Lydia now devotes much of her time to helping those whose
lives have been ruined by abuse and neglect."
Purchase Broken Childhood: A True Story of Abuse
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Childhood-True-Story-Abuse/dp/1846245907
Purchase A Broken Childhood: Volume II: Forgiveness
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Childhood-II-Forgiveness/dp/1846249031
Meet the Author
Dr. Lydia Ola Taiwo is a Consultant Biomedical Healthcare Scientist with her own diagnostic centre in Kent. She is also a published author and public speaker speaking out against child abuse. She is an Ambassador for AFRUCA and works with Safeguarding Now Ltd and Safeguarding Black, Asian Minority Ethnic Group (BAME) London in raising awareness of child abuse (and using herself as a living case study). Dr Lydia Taiwo is married and has six children. Visit the authors website www.lydiataiwo.com
Dr. Lydia Ola Taiwo can be contacted for interviews and public speaking opportunities at: lydia.taiwo48@gmail.com
