My name is Gape Aubrey Khudu, a 20-year-old young man from Serowe and living in Gaborone. I'm the baby of the family as I am my mother's lastborn, I have 2 brothers before me. Growing up I was always the bubbly and loud one in the family but somehow that changed during the course of my primary school days (Botlhale International School) as I started going through a phase where I was being bullied for how I walked, talked and who my friends were. I was only 12 when one of the boys at my school then told me I was a disgrace to the boys, my family and mankind. Moving onto my junior years at secondary school (Moselewapula Junior Secondary School) nothing changed I was still being bullied and this time it was worse because it somehow became a bit physical because there was a point in time when I was almost locked in a toilet that wouldn't open from the inside. I started to change, I became very reserved and so uncomfortable with who I was then, I turned into this quiet person that no one at home knew because I couldn't really tell my mother what was happening at school.
Dealing with this, I started listening to a lot of heart felt music by artist such as Jessie J which all in all helped a lot because now I was being encouraged to be who I was no matter who said and did what to me. This is where my love for music also began.
I went on to St. Joseph's College where now there wasn't much bullying because I was now confident enough to stand up for myself. I like to think at that time, that's really when my life began because my confidence was at its peak and so I could do and say a lot of things that I couldn't in the past. Towards the end of my senior year, I began to develop a love for fashion, that's when I started to learn how to put together clothing items in a way that they complement each other.
I also go by the name Gee Gee Straus, and as Gee Gee Straus, I have started a new movement, the #BoysInSkirts movement, which is basically wearing of skirts by boys. The reason why I started it is because I want the fashion industry in our country to be diverse enough for boys and men to be able to rock skirts as a way of infiltrating the female side of fashion as much as they have with the male side. I want to make my mark in the fashion industry as Gee Gee Straus.
I am currently a BA Chinese Studies student at the university of Botswana, an aspiring singer song writer, social media advertiser and of course a fashion artist.
I'm a firm believer in hard work, I believe no one really wakes up to their dream being achieved without any efforts.