“Seja Monna Gase Mo Fetse,” Boitshwarelo Gobolotsemang
We are living in a century where one would hardly see an aspiring writer be all about the Setswana language with everything becoming global, the writers aspire to keep up with the trends and stick to the global language, English. This is a whole different story for the young author, Boitshwarelo Gobolotsemang, a lad who chose to stick with his native language. As young as he is and of this generation, he uniquely chose to stick to being a Setswana novel writer.
The aspiring writer is aged 23 and originate from Eretsha. It is a village in the Northern part of Botswana where he grew up and attended schools. He would later go on to pursue Broadcasting and Journalism at Limkokwing University, where he is currently studying. Boitshwarelo grew up with a passion for journalism and writing and so decided to follow this passion. He began writing when he was still at secondary school and has been an author for over six years now. His first book is titled “Seja Monna Gase Mo Fetse”, which he wrote while still studying at Secondary school and the book finally made it into publication in 2020.
“Seja Monna Gase Mo fetse” is based on the Setswana proverb which translates to tough times never last. The idea was to show that perseverance for those that are going through hardships can be worthwhile and there will always be a better tomorrow. The book is meant to show that challenges and problems are just temporary. “I grew up as a journalist aspirer so when I started perusing it I chose to do so in Setswana unlike one would have expected for a young man like me, this is why I wrote this book in Setswana,” mentioned Boitsherelo as he was talking about the book. He says writing in Setswana with him is just one of those things that you find yourself embarking upon as a path aligned to you by God.
Boitshwarelo also says that when he wrote the book he was inspired by his life and the way he grew up, mostly the life of his father as well. His father had a tough childhood and he would always tell them about the stories of his growth. These stories are the ones that led him into writing the book as they were quite emotional for him and he would express that through writing.
He would go on to commit to writing a book that would be inspirational for everyone going through challenges and hard times. The inspiration was also beefed by the fact that he was also in love with writing and aspiring to pursue journalism, having grown in a society where they hardly accessed other newspapers or magazines apart from the Daily newspaper. To him, writing was to train himself for the time he started to pursue journalism professionally.
In talking about the book’s distribution, Boitshwarelo says its distribution has been running slowly as it was released in such a tough time of the Coronavirus pandemic. He said he is currently in talks with many bookshop managers to buy and sell the books. However, in February he received requests for the book from Mafikeng but currently in Botswana he has been selling the books himself. When asked about having plans to approach the government for talks to have the book being used as part of the school syllabus, Boitshwarelo said that when he started writing the book, his focus was mainly students and he wanted to have talks with the government, but as for now he had not due to the pandemic situation. He said he feels the book would be good for the Setswana syllabus.
Writing the book was a challenge for him and took him a lot of time to finish it as he started writing the book during his secondary schools days when he also had to focus on the final examinations. However, he never gave up on the mission and finished up the book. It took him time to publish it, but says he is grateful as many have also been receptive of the book. At the moment Boitshwarelo is working on the new content. He advices aspiring writers to believe in themselves and work hard on their ideas.
Duncan Sebeso