David Alphane, a young man from our Cullinan/ Refilwe area, has qualified for the Talent America international competition to be held in New York from the 5th- 16th July 2016.

Through his own endeavours and “gutspa” he has managed to raise the funds to afford his ticket and accommodation to the USA.

This is one of the ways how he did it: He recently performed a POEM (which he wrote himself), at the recent launch of the Plastic Factory in Refilwe. This poem he performed with the gusto of a Rap artist and he stunned the audience with it. He had them mesmerised and gasping for their breathe between amazement, amusement and audacity. He received an ovation from the audience and to top it all off, after this performance he announced his achievement that he qualified for an international competition and with a brave & cheeky look, asked for assistance to somehow raise funds for his trip! The executive Mayor of Tshwane, Kgosientso Ramokgopa was so impressed that he there and then offered to pay the airfares/ accommodation for this young man!

The Chamber has taken upon itself to also assist this young man as best we can via the ARTs and Crafts development project, as he is representing Cullinan/ Refilwe internationally. We therefore call on any members who are able to assist with any sponsorship no matter how small to assist David with the additional costs involved with his trip (for example his meals, entry fees, transport around NY and so forth), he estimates approx. R20 000 however we know with the R/$ exchange rate this does not go too far. Please contact the office of the chamber as soon as possible if you are able to assist as time is of the essence for him.

It would be great if some funds could be contributed to this young South African ambassador. He is already in the United States, but he doesn’t have enough funds for the rest of his stay.

He would really appreciate if someone could help with some funds ASAP. . Every bit will help at this stage, I’m afraid he’s there with no more money.

Please contact The Cullinan Chamber at cullinanchamber@telkomsa.net for more information!