AGAINST THE ODDS
Another week another great local Author and this week we are getting wisdom from Ozzil Gopolang with his book titled ‘Against the odds‘. Catching up with an interview with AVO, he mentions what inspired and gave him the courage to have written such a great read. He claims that he is mostly inspired by his own life experiences and challenges he came across, and goes on to even say it is more like a self-explanatory book.
Gopolang continues to say he had always been more of a writer than a reader and not really good at verbal communication. Growing up, Ozzil was a stoic and did not share his personal emotions with anyone. He was always lonely and engaging in his thoughts from time to time, “I am more of an introvert if I do say so myself,” he exclaims.
Against The Odds is a motivational and inspirational book which is aimed at giving the youth hope. Hope that they can triumph even if the odds are against them. It shares emotional expressions, life tribulations and it addresses social ills which take place in our everyday community. That is divorce, fornication, corruption, poverty, teenage pregnancy and crime. It depicts the life of an individual who grew up with a dream, but because of the societal environment he grew up in it made it seem impossible for him to reach his goal.
Against The Odds is not just a book for aspirants of Medicine, it collectively indulges anyone who has an underlying dream that anyone would like to put it into fruition. No matter what they are going through, be it a channel of I’m possibilities, they are going to succeed; through hard work and determination, to reach culmination in a midst of thorny odds.
The phrase, “Against The Odds” is a bet, like when playing a game of dice. In life, most believe that the probability of life has been decided thus our lives are being controlled by destiny. In the case of ‘Against the Odds’, seems to see things in a different light. People should know that the odds do not define destiny. Even if they seem to be against you, you also have to go against them and defy them if that is what it takes to follow your dreams.
“Whenever I write I try by all means to chronologically link the story to my emotions, it brings out the best in me. Also to release that I have been hoarding in my consciousness for all the past 20 years I’ve lived. Right now I’m exploring which type of writing I enjoy the most, as such, I’m writing fiction and erotica at the moment. I’m trying to find my stance.” Ozzil explains.
Ozzil Gopolang is a 20 year old Ngwato from Serowe, who is currently doing his second year in Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Sciences. He grew up in Letlhakane. Gopolang makes mention that his mother is his biggest and greatest motivation, he is longing to see her living a better life than when she raised him and that drives him to work hard in everything that he gets to see that come to pass.
He has abstained from many things just to be a better version of himself. The dream of one day becoming a Doctor is what drives him, as he finds great pride in his mentor Dr. Kelly Champagne. Some of his biggest challenges are having to balance schoolwork and writing, so every scholar on a novelist journey needs patience and organisation. Having to divide time for the two is stressful, when your head starts filling up with plot ideas the lecturer gives out an assignment and you will have to put everything you wrote on hold to focus on schoolwork.
The other challenge that at times people may feel may not be a problem is self-doubt; wondering how people will react to your book and all the critics that come with it. This has proven to him that as an author one has to practice emotional intuition, know how to deal with such and use it as a constructive element for future work. When asked about his greatest successes, he mentioned that he is someone who is keen to know and master a whole lot of fields.
Ozzil craves new information and does a lot of research. However, he did not know anything about literature and linguistic mastery until he began writing. “It has really helped me improve my writing prowess and helped me to ease out, like I highlighted before I’m not much of a verbal talker. Writing has been an escape arsenal in unraveling whatever I have been bottling up my chest,” he said.
For someone who aspires to be a Doctor one day, he is set to sacrifice 10 years of his life to school and eventually attain his long life dream. Writing is his second nature and will continue to publish more books. The idea is to keep himself relevant and release at least 2 books per year and be Botswana’s own Danielle Steel, as she is his favourite author. We look forward to reading more books from Ozzil, keep shining!
