A doctor whose life is his hobby – it’s an adventure…
Ajayson message to those who are now at local high schools in Endumeni is: "You don't have to go to a top private school to achieve your dreams. Focus on yourself and be yourself".
“To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield…”
That, the last line of Tennyson’s ‘Ulysses’, is a quote that Dr Ajayson Gopie is living his life by.
His is a life with a solid foundation in Dundee (of which he is very proud) and has seen him work as a trauma doctor in Calgary, Canada; ski in Colorado; tour the Grand Canyon; surf off the coast of Hawaii; visit South America; and even meet his idol Britney Spears and talk show legend Oprah Winfrey.
Despite this TV-series-type lifestyle, Ajayson told the Courier that, “I’m really a rural boy with a loving family in Dundee and am very grateful for my foundation which was laid here.”
Ajayson was back in Dundee recently to celebrate his 35th birthday with his parents, Naresh and Val Gopie, as well as his brother, sister, family and friends.
His last visit was in 2016, so he has had a busy week visiting Dundee Hospital, where he did community service from 2013 to 2015, and meeting up with old work colleagues at DunMed.
He attended Dundee Primary School and started his high school education at Dundee Secondary before moving to Dundee High to complete his Grades 10 to 12.
“At high school, I had a flair for Biology, so that’s where my love for medicine started. But I also loved Speech & Drama with Sherlee Wade, and English with great teachers like Brenda Davey, Jean McRitchie and Sandy Browning,” he says.
Hence his reference to ‘Ulysses’, which Mrs Browning taught him. Latterly, he took a page from Kelly Clarkson’s song ‘Breakaway’, where she sings about a small-town person looking out a window and dreaming of bigger things; opening their wings to fly. And fly he did!
He finished in the top five for Umzinyathi District in the 2004 matric results and, inspired by his father, went on to Wits University to study medicine.
“I was really pleased to complete my community service at Dundee Hospital, where I could give back to the community that had been so good to me and my family. Working in the casualty ward, I saw some really horrific things (gunshot wounds, stabbings, assaults) which we simply do not see (much of ) at Calgary Hospital, even though that is a city of over 1.3 million people.”
But he knew he wanted to ‘break away’ and follow his adventure…
So, in March 2015, he moved to Canada to work. “There, all doctors work for the government.
Healthcare is completely free, so they certainly get service for the taxes they pay.”
He says that, at first, he was lonely and missed his family and friends.
But he never yielded and was soon loving life ‘up north’.
“Yes, the winters are challenging. Driving on black ice at 03:00 in the morning after a shift is not that cool! But I have had so many chances to travel and try my hand and feet at surfing and skiing – things I would have never done if I had stayed in South Africa.”
He recalls a trip to Ecuador, where he and other doctors went to the Galapagos Islands off the coast of South America, where Charles Darwin famously tested his theory of evolution by collecting rare animals and fossils.
He is an avid Britney Spears fan and has the T-shirt to prove it.
He was pleased to get an opportunity to meet her personally after a concert.
Asked what his hobbies are, Ajayson just smiles and says, “My life – it’s an adventure.”
Working in the trauma unit at Calgary Hospital is of course demanding, ‘but helping to extend someone’s quality of life is something so special – one cannot explain it’.
He refers to many examples of patients whom he has attended to, and remembers one man who urgently needed heart surgery. Once recovered, the man invited him to his wedding!
Asked for a message to those who are now at local high schools in Endumeni, Ajayson said, “You don’t have to go to a top private school to achieve your dreams. Focus on yourself and be yourself.
“Focus on the future and strive to get there.
“But remember – being a kind person costs nothing. Being kinder makes a better world for all.”
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