Aone Yonie Ditirwa.

21 years, Botswana.

Medical student at Dalian Medical University.

Footwear designer under my own brand, R’alocha Luxury Shoes.

Aone Yonie Ditirwa

21岁，来自博茨瓦纳（位于南非共和国内）

大连医科大学在校生

R’alocha高端定制鞋，品牌创始人

Instagram: aone.ditirwa

I usually define myself as an all-round lover of art. My family always tells stories of how I would dismantle things around the house in effort to “re-create” them.

我通常把自己定位为一个骨灰级艺术爱好者。我的家人时常会提起，我小的时候总喜欢把家里的东西大卸八块，再重新组装一遍，几乎家里的每件物品都无一幸免。

In high-school, which is where my talents and skills became most apparent, I excelled in humanities – in linguistics and literature to mention a few- and I was also an outstanding science student. Being a natural emotional caregiver with an eagerness to make use of my scientific and academic oriented mind, I decided to pursue a career in Medicine, which is what brought me to Dalian.

高中，是突显我各方面才能的顶峰时期。我在人文学方面表现尤为突出，在语言和文学方面也有些小成就，同时，我也是一位优秀的理科生。与生俱来的感性，加上我渴望用我学到的理论知识帮助他人，因此我决定从事医学事业，这也是我选择来到大连的原因。

Coming from an African background, an academic-based career is almost compulsory, with very little spared for the arts. Moreover, the world at large has stereotyped doctors or people in the medical field to be one-dimensional characters who must succumb to the demands of their field. It is in this regard that I made the conscious decision to be an exception. I promised myself that I would never allow the creative in me to die and that I would live proof for those in similar situations, that what we put our minds to is essentially attainable.

在非洲，任何以学术为基础的职业几乎都是死板的，丝毫没有艺术性可谈。而且，整个世界都把医生定义为必须屈服于领域需求的一类职业。正是因为这点，我绝不能向此低头，我向自己保证，要永远保持我的创造性，大胆去想，大胆去尝试，梦想是要通过努力才能实现的。

I began my journey in the fashion/creative industry from as early as I can remember. At 15, I started a personal style blog called “AoneTheFashionPoet” on which I documented spoken words and made posts about my favorite style looks and the latest trends. The blog was running for five years, improving in appearance and traffic gradually, until I decided to terminate it in order to focus on my latest venture as a fashion entrepreneur. Besides my blog, I was a fashion columnist at the local bilingual lifestyle magazine, FocusOnDalian, where I wrote about some of Dalian’s fashion heads and captured street-style.

我是从什么时候开始的时尚/创意之旅的呢？15岁时，我开了自己的个人博客，叫做“AoneTheFashionPoet”，记录了一些我喜欢的风格或者当季的流行趋势。我坚持做了五年，阅读量和粉丝都在上涨，后来我决定关掉这个博客，好让我把更多的精力放在时装品牌的投资上。除了我的个人博客外，我还在大连本地的一家双语生活杂志，FocusOnDalian，做过时尚专栏作家，描绘了大连的街头时尚风格。

In mid-2016 I sat down with a pen and paper and decided that I was ready to grow and move out of my comfort zone. I wanted to do something I’d never done before. I had two things in my mind.

2016年中，我决定重新规划我的人生，走出现在的舒适区，尝试一些我从未做过的事情。我总结出了两件事。

My first collection is currently retailing in China and in my home country Botswana, with clients across the SADC region as well.

第一件，是想要在中国和博茨瓦纳，甚至是整个南非共和国建立起零售事业的纽带。

Of the many things I could have created I decided shoes, in that moment, because I wanted a challenge. I also wanted to be able to incorporate my medical knowledge into creating shoes that were stylish but did not compromise our comfort as per the norm. Most importantly, as a spiritual being I am of the belief that at the core of our purpose and calling is service. Therefore I wanted to work on something that would in the long run become lucrative enough to open doors for others through collaborations, job opportunities and the sort.

另一件事是，在众多我能创作的东西中，我选择创作鞋子。这一刻，我决定突破自我。我还希望能把我所学的医学知识融入到鞋子的制作工艺中，但并不能降低鞋子舒适度。最重要的是，我要把服务作为这个品牌的灵魂，这也是创作的初衷。通过合理的运营，获得足够的利润，这样才能更好的与他人合作。不忘初心，才能让我的事业跑的更远，走的更稳。

The beautiful thing about the creative industry is that there is no limit to it as long as the human imagination continues to run free. Therefore the future of R’alocha is simply limitless. Although my days in Dalian are numbered, it is certainly a place I will carry in my heart for years to come, for the memories made, the lessons learnt and triumphs accomplished.

创造工艺的美好之处在于，只要你充满想象力，创造便永无止境。所以，R’alocha的未来是无限的。虽然我留在大连的日子屈指可数，很快我就要毕业了。但在以后的岁月中，我会好好珍藏这段时光，珍惜在这里发生的一切，牢记于心，激励我更好的前进。