From cook to author

By Rosalia David

WINDHOEK-based Wilhem Andreas, a former cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Namibia is working towards his first book titled ‘Odikwa,’ a novel based on a combination of true life stories.

In an interview with Confidente, Andreas said his inspiration for writing came from the time he worked as a cook at KFC between 2016 and 2017; while his budding author friend ‘Mr Professor’ encouraged him to divert from cooking.

“I love to cook very much for a man; even at home I am always in the kitchen.

I never really had the idea of writing a book apart from other things I wanted to do like owning a restaurant, until my friend told me that he has plans on becoming an author and then released his first book after that. I started the writing journey like a joke the next thing I saw, I had written a lot of pages,” he said.

Andreas said Odikwa intends to serve as a reminder to those who have abandoned their parents or guardians who fought tooth and nail to create a better future for them.

“It’s a bunch of stories put together of people who have been brought up through blood and tears by their grandparents for example and when they eventually started working, they forgot about them and the struggles they had to go through for them.

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He went on to mention that there are people -especially males- who do not look back from whence they came but rather continue living a lavish lifestyle in the city.

He added that when he gets his finances in order, he will lead by example through spoiling his family with whatever they need.

“I already give what I can but one day when I become rich, they will automatically also become wealthy because family makes sacrifices that no one else can do,” he explained.

Asked on how long it took him to write the book, Andreas said he had to commit to writing for two weeks. He described writing as an easy task that only requires commitment to be executed.

“The book is now being edited.  I didn’t know that writing is easy, anyone can write a book, you just need to get the idea and then it’s done. I didn’t want to write a lot of pages because I have realised that Namibians don’t like to read think books,” he said.

Odikwa will be launched on November 1.