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Life will be filled with ups and downs, but we have to keep learning, moving and growing in pursuit of our dreams and happiness. There is so much more we can achieve in our lives and do for our communities if we don’t give up.
This and more are some of the lessons, we have taken from the exemplary life of Patience Bentu has she clocks 50.
About Patience Bentu
Patience Bentu is a graduate of Theatre Arts from the University of Jos, Nigeria. She also holds a Masters degree in Drama and Theatre Education from the prestigious Warwick University, UK and an MPhil in Politics and International Development from the Swansea University in Wales.
Building A Successful Career
She has over twenty years of work experience in various capacities and fields within Public Relations, Tourism, Communications, Education and Development. She has worked in the public, private and third sectors in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
She also had a short venture in academia; she conducted seminars for Politics and International Relations modules. She also carried out researches driven by her passion to uplift women’s political, economic and social development.
Serving Her Communities
Having lived in Swansea for eight years, Patience is the Community Engagement and Policy Lead for Race Council Cymru, an organisation which promotes Race Equality within the prescriptions of the UK Equality Act 2010 and supports 300 grassroots, ethnic minority groups, across Wales.
The Black Lives Matter movement remains a major focus of her work and to strengthen the campaign, Race Council Cymru has supported 12 Wales-wide regional BLM protesters to form a collective now known as Black Lives Matter Wales. Patience is a member of the movement in the Swansea region.
Within her community, Patience has volunteered with the Beavers’ arm of Sketty 44th Scouts in Swansea, where her son was a Beaver and then a Cub Scout.
She is a registered and active member of her local branch of the Labour Party, where she is the current Ward Chairman and also is the Ethnic Minorities Officer for her CLP, Swansea West.
She was also recently appointed the Director of the Nigerians in Wales Association (NIWA), which is a community group that caters for the interests and wellbeing of Nigerians in Wales and promoting the rich cultural heritage of Nigeria, and community cohesion between the local Welsh community and other ethnic minority groups.
She is also the Founder/Chief Exec of Patience Bentu Incorporated, which is a fusion of her vision for training and mentoring young women called Trinity Women Initiative and a Talk show platform which promotes women in Development, called Pay Talks.
Other Charities she is involved with include Swansea Takes on Period Poverty (STOPP), Women for Resources and Nigerian Women’s Network for Sustainable Development.
Some Lessons From Her Life
She has faced many challenges in life, some of them are – her experience of raising a son in the UK all alone as a student with very little money and no recourse to public funds; being almost homeless at one time and denied the degree of her pursuit in an institutionally racist process. Through them all, she has come out stronger and victorious.
She believes her strength and her resolve to overcome challenges are rooted in prayer, praise and perseverance.
She also believes life is nothing if you have not affected someone else positively, and a life of fulfilment is a life of building other people and service to humanity.
She wants to be remembered as the woman who came, saw, conquered and remembered to pass the baton.
Patience Bentu is a lover of God, music and everything that makes her laugh. As she celebrates her 50th birthday, she says a close friend described her as a woman who bears her scars with so much grace and class.
Get In Touch With Her
Facebook: @paybentu
Instagram: @bentupay
Twitter: @Paybentu
