A 12-year-old student, Divine Salem of the Paradise Private College in NCD leaves the country today to participate in a popular International Festival of Language and Culture in Berlin, Germany.
Divine will be participating in the musical festival was selected out of the three samples that were sent the Paradise College to the organisers of the IFLC.
Divine’s proud parents, Agnes and Yawe Salem said since she was a little girl, she had shown great singing talents and when she entered formal schooling, she was noticed at Paradise Private College when she was in Grade 3.
Father, Yawe said as their parents they are overwhelmed by the level of support from organisations especially PHA, family and friends and though they won’t be going along with her, they hope for the best for her.
Last Friday, June 3, PHA Health Assurance Company hosted a dinner at the Alibi Bar & Grill to announce that she will be their brand ambassador. Overall the airfares is about K12,000 to K13,000.
“My wife and I still see her as a baby, we are worried about her, but we have seen that she’s able to steer her way through things and we are proud of her. We are thankful to PHA for stepping in to assist,” said Salem.
Salem said though his family has singing abilities, which they perform mostly in Church. Divine’s singing ability was developed all on her own and the parents had just assisted in what she needed like the karaoke machine they bought when she was in Grade 3.
Divine also received some tips and help from the leader of Insomnia band, David Vaname and her own music teacher from the Paradise College.
PHA noticed Divine during a major fundraising dinner her family held at the Grand Papua, a couple of weeks back.
PHA Assistant Manager Sales and Marketing, David Rupa said such support is part of PHA’s community outreach program like scouting raw talents like Divine and they are happy to give hr the boost to further her knowledge in the music industry.
“We are proud to be part of her journey to go to Germany to take part in a world competition there.” He added.
The CEO of PHA, Raj Juta got impressed with her singing talent and decided to take her onboard as their brand ambassador. Rupa said PHA also have rugby league star, Justin Olam to be their brand ambassador in the sports arena.
Divine said Paradise College has always participated in the IFLC competitions but they were in Australia only. This is the first time it’s happening in Germany and she and her family are thankful for this privilege.
Divine will compete in Berlin with 11 other finalists from different countries on July 17, but prior to that they will tour Germany and parts of Europe for four weeks, meeting dignitaries and diplomats.
The Festival is called IFLC which is “International Festival of Language and Culture, and this year is its 20th anniversary.
The song that Divine sang which got her selected was “Easy on me” by Adelle. She will be presenting that at the festival together with other songs by popular musicians like, late Michael Jackson and local song ‘Kumul’ sang by Mereani Masani.
Teacher Ms Sharma will accompany Divine.
PHA has sponsored Divine with a spending money of K20,000 while her airfares were met by her family and her stay in Germany is taken care of by the festival.
The winning price will be US$1,000 but with guarantee of more exposure into the music world and opportunities of being noticed.