I don’t know about you, but when I was nine years old, the best I could sing was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Actually to be completely honest with you I’m not even sure if I know the worlds to that anymore… so I’m probably even worse now.
The lucky among us however, are born with a huge amount of musical talent. The extra-lucky among them get the opportunity to showcase it to the entire world, kickstarting their career at a very young age.
One of these incredibly talented young people, is Amira Willighagen.
I’m not often jealous of people who were only born in 2004, but here we are. Winning the sixth season of Holland’s Got Talent at the age of NINE…
You heard me…NINE!
And this is the jumping board from which she has launched her early and promising career. She has performed consistently over the past six years in both the Netherlands and South Africa, and has been amazing audiences with her beyond-her-years talent and maturity.
Unlike most nine-year-olds however, Amira is not selfish. In fact, she uses her powers for good!
Once upon a time, South Africa was colonized by Dutch settlers among other European nationalities. Because many of the original settlers were from The Netherlands, one of the main languages called “Afrikaans” is derivative of Dutch. Because she speaks Dutch, Amira can perform easily in South Africa where she and the Afrikaans speakers can understand one another. Amira performs in South Africa, not just because of the language element and because she moved there in 2018 to where some family already reside, but because she has another, more heart-felt reason…
Amira uses her performances to raise money to build playgrounds for poor South African townships.
This is part of a project called “Gelukskinders”, using half of the profits from her performances and album sales.
She is known for her involvement with South African schools and helping them to grow.
South Africa is a country that struggles with poverty. There are many areas where children do not have the food they need, nor the schools in place. It can be a hard place to grow up among crime, inequality and a low quality of life for those in the townships. Every little bit helps, and it’s clear that the children of these schools are grateful for their new playgrounds!
But she didn’t get here with nothing but luck, she has an incredible talent…
In her performance with the Nijmegen Men’s Choir, she shows incredible poise and talent!
When I was a child I was LITERALLY covered in dirt. All the time. Here though, you can see Amira with so much grace and elegance, as if she were born to be there.
The audience watches on, speechless and spellbound.
Not that I even know what you’d say during such a stunning performance. I feel like internally the crowd are screaming at the top of their lungs “Bravo! Bravissimo!” and just clenching their hands until they get to do it at the end.
Her voice is incredible. She has such a mature, operatic tone that you cannot believe it’s coming from the mouth of a child.
Listening to this young star with such unbridled talent really makes you think about how with great talent, should also come great responsibility, and it seems that Amira knows that. Luckily she definitely uses her incredible talent to make the lives of others better.
We can all take a page from this true angel’s book!
Well I know what I’ll be playing on repeat come Christmas eve!
Watch the full video below to enjoy this Cherub’s Carol!
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