Awadifo Olga Kili is an award winning Ugandan Poetess, Author, Human Rights activist and Law Student who joined the world of professional poetry in 2018 following rigorous mentor-ship training from internationally acclaimed literary personalities like Sir Mbizo Chirasha from Zimbabwe, Salman Fawaz Adewale from Nigeria, Professor Terane Turane Rehmili from Azerbaijan, among others. Awadifo is commonly known for her debut book ‘Victorious Tales’ which addresses human rights and is currently working on her second, a collection of poems for the African girl child, addressing themes of human rights and education.
Her poems have gained international recognitions and have been published in prominent international Journals and anthologies like the ‘Brave Voices Poetry Journal’, ‘Womawords Literary Press’, ‘Seychelles International Literary Journal’, among others. We had the pleasure to interview her for our Money and Career Talks. Be Inspired!
When did you start writing, what inspired you?
Well, I began writing in 2017 and my first book was ‘Victorious Tales’ which is human rights based. My sole inspiration towards having this book written or becoming a writer was because I was seeking to address human rights concerns across the globe. I wanted to write to heal and bring justice to the world as my service to humanity, I wanted to speak to Victims of circumstances who’re living in ruins and deprived of their human rights which are inherent. By writing, I felt I would cover vastly and speak to souls words that blossom fresh hopes. I came up with reasons as to why I wanted to write which acted as my inspiration. Then I became a writer.
What inspires your creativity and how are you using your art as a tool for social transformation?
Basically, I really prefer to say that my biggest inspiration to my creativity has and will be the need to address human rights concerns. I feel human rights concerns are important issues to look into and confront untill we come up with possible ways forward. Human rights also guarantee people the means necessary to satisfy their basic needs such as food, housing and education, so they can take full advantage of all opportunities. And then, by guaranteeing life, liberty, equality and security, human rights protects people against abuse by those who are more powerful. In one way or the other, i feel and see violation of human rights which are inherent in our societies. And this is the biggest inspiration to my creativity. I use it to craft my writings in poems and other literatures to bring humanity together for a common good.
What are some of the achievements you have gained from your profession as a poetess?
Poetry has sold me to the international community of writers and networked my works beyond frontiers. Poetry also ushered me to join the International Writers’ communities such as World Nations Writers Union, Motivational Strips, International African Writers Association and Poets of the World global literary community ( Poetasdelmundo). I have served in these literary communities in one way or the other. Besides that, last year I received three literary accolades in various literary communities which were from the World Nations Writers Union, Motivational Strips and Motivational Strips Academy of Wisdom and Literary Excellence. Writing is interesting indeed! ( laughs).
What has been the greatest challenge(s) in your career and how did you overcome it (them)?
I had quite a number of challenges that I fought with bare knuckles. I won so many victories and I do believe I’m yet to win more because I feel challenges are raw materials to manufacture success if taken positively. One of these challenges is the fact that I am a student so it slows down some of my plans and intended writer’s projects in so many angles yet I am positive that there’s time for everything. Besides that, I have had challenges with meeting new people in the world of literature, marketing my works, work composition, among other things which I managed to overcome. Although I still meet challenges with publishing books in bulk on time, I do believe that all these will be sorted as time goes by.
How do you leverage your networks and connections to propel your career forward?
Ooh! This at times I find balancing in my favor and I believe its God.( laughs). I do this by meeting frequently or connecting frequently with Professionals and mentors in my field of interest. I also desire to learn more about my writing career from people I see as my seniors. And again, maintaining a solid reputation before the right thinking members of the society also helped me in regards to that.
Who has been your biggest advocate/mentor and why?
I do have quite a number of mentors with some in the field of Literature and others in my legal profession and social life as well. As a young person, I do need mentor ship so much and if someone does that for me, I always stay grateful. Throughout, I have looked at my parents and family members as my chief mentors. Another chief mentor I’ve had is Engineer Aita Jaffer Joel who’s an investor, founder of the Joadah Consultants and an outstanding Civil Engineer par excellence who gave me so many reasons to achieve my dreams. In the legal profession, I’ve had many Lawyers and Justices I draw inspiration from. And as a writer, Prof Terane Turane Rehmili, Sir Mbizo Chirasha, Sir Shiju H. Palithezheth held my hands to journey with them in the field of Literature. I express my gratitude to all my mentors.
What has been the key to your success as a poet?
There are three things that have held my hands and taken me to what I wanted to become. I call them the three cooking stones that support a cooking pot. And they are consistency, persistence and then God. I gave God His place to always go on my forefront so that He can increase as I decrease. I’ve learnt to be consistent. To write, write and write and fuel my poetry lamp where it tends to run dry. I learnt to be persistent that with or without storms, I’ll always endure whatever comes my way and face my challenges with bare knuckles. And these three stones support my dreams while laying a good foundation for me from the beginning and I’m cherishing the fruits they are putting on my table.
Professional apps or tools you can’t live without?
Mostly, I use the social media apps to easily make my works known such as Facebook and WhatsApp because it easily brings me closer to my audience. I also use email at times, inbox by Gmail which is the latest and greatest thing hitting the world of email productivity.
What advice would you give to women looking to get into professional Writing?
Women play significant roles not only in Literature but everywhere. I call women the pillars of the nation. The first school of a child is on a mother’s lap and coupled with the fact that it is their Godly call to nurture, I do believe women would nurture humanity so well in the world of writing and so are men. Some advises I can give women looking to get into professional writing are;-
- First and foremost, they should be knowing what inspires them to write. Inspiration enables us to transcend our limitations and accomplish things we never thought possible. It voids excuses for not writing and fuels the urge to keep writing.
- Having a good reputation is also important. It helps to distinguish you from competitors and even gives a lot of merit to your personality and works before the right thinking members of the society.
- A writer should be a good reader. A good writer reads. Reading makes you understand what you want to know. It gives you strong fundamentals in story structure and plot development. Reading gives you a feel for knowledge and can expand your ideas of stylistic items such as graceful narration, metaphor, transition, voice etc.
- And mostly, they should write. Write! Write! And write! Your efforts will definitely fetch you the noble.
In your experience, what key skills should a person who wants to become a professional poet develop?
A Poet is a person holding a scream in silence and wisdom in their words. Poetry is language of emotions, it might be love, anger, guilt etc. It’s a voice to the chocked feelings and understandings of the outer atmosphere. Poetry has diverse meanings and it’s important for every Poet to understand these meanings in order to develop skills. I prefer to say in my own experience that Poets wear many hats. They can write song lyrics, write books or focus on spoken word poetry etc. Yet I would say that a Poet should improve his or her vocabulary, sentence formation, syntax, fluency and creative skills. There should also be improvement in developing a positive mindset and networking strategies as a Poet focuses on Poetry.
Any advice on how they can earn from their profession?
I could say that poetry is interesting. It fetches money to Poets where there’s focus. The smartest routes you can take if you want to earn money from Poetry are many but I can mention a few such as working to build a core audience via social media that can advertise your works, organizing Poetry events and inviting people to attend these events where entry requires payment, submitting Poetry to literary magazines or Writers’ Contests where there’s a wage to winners, selling lyrics to bands, getting published via publishing houses and selling books, and then selling poems to Greetings-cards companies for their use.
Any reading/website you would recommend for a poet to stay updated?
Well, there are so many readings/websites that help writers stay updated. There’s Book Club for Poetry lovers, an online website that updates on wider range of poetry books. Famous book writers that a Poet can draw motivation from also have their personal blogs to update others with their writers. Google has quite a number of Websites that contains meaningful updates for a Poet. So many. And lastly, in book libraries, there are so many books we can possibly find to advance our Poetry Skills.
