Ethan Palangangwe (10) is a talented singer from Eastridge, Mitchells Plain. The Grade 4 learner currently attends Mandalay Primary School but has been accepted into the prestigious Drakensberg Boys Choir for 2021. His family, however, cannot afford the fees.
Dad, Kagisho, and mom, Candice, are appealing to the public to help them make their son’s dream of attending Drakensberg Boys Choir School in KwaZulu-Natal come true.
“Ethan is a very versatile young man with lots of other talents like sports and drawing. He is a role model to his siblings and his peers in our community, he loves listening to different kinds of music but his favourite genre is pop music,” Kagisho tells Cape Town ETC.
The hard-working Ethan has always excelled at academics and sports, but his heart lies with music. On September 23 he auditioned to join the renowned Drakensberg Boys Choir School. For his audition, he sang ‘Ben’ by Michael Jackson, a song his mom taught him. Watch the audition here:
“We are proud parents to share the information with our loving and caring Capetonians and many on different parts of the world that, out of 1600, our son is definitely one of the only top 30 boys that has been accepted at the Drakensberg Boys Choir School,” said Kagisho.
“Our son going to the Drakensberg Boy choir, we know and have strong faith that it’s a great opportunity taking him out of the dusty streets that is full of gang violence and the school will advance him to have more leadership qualities.”
Ethan dreams of having a successful singing career and travelling overseas to perform. However, his family needs help to get Ethan there.
Tuition fees are R160 000, which needs to be paid by January 16, 2021. This excludes the nearly R15 000 for his uniform that needs to be purchased through the school stores, as well as travelling fees to get him to the school.
Since he was accepted to the school, many kind citizens have come together to assist financially. Mitchell’s Plain poet Athol Williams played a fundamental role in securing Ethan’s space at the school by paying the R10 000 acceptance fee.
The family set up a BackaBuddy fundraiser to raise funds for his tuition fees, and so far they have made over R60 000 toward their target of R175 000.
If you are in a position to help, please donate and help Ethan’s dream come true. The link to his BackaBuddy fundraiser can be found HERE.
Picture/s: Back a Buddy
