2017-11-10Staff Report 2 Pinehas Nakaziko Windhoek-Winners of the “FNCC flies you to France” contest were announced last week, during a prize-giving ceremony at the French residence. Sean Kamati, Elize van Huyssteen and Elia Sangunji are the three winners of the “FNCC flies you to France” contest. Kamati is a local musician who wants to go to France for a “skills exchange”. “I have teamed up with a band in Paris called the The Dark Blue Orchestra, who have a different sound to mine but musically brilliant. The idea is that I replace their lead singer for the time that I am there. They are planning to make a trip down to Namibia sometime next year, which would give us time to rehearse, acquaint ourselves, so that when I am there it is all systems go,” says Kamati. For Kamati, the idea is to have musicians from different backgrounds learn from one another. This also gives him the opportunity to have his music heard across Namibian borders and what better place than Paris. Van Huyssteen, a student learning French at Franco Namibia Cultural Centre (FNCC), would like to go to France next year to stay for four weeks in Saverne, Alsace, to immerse herself in the French language and culture. It is her wish to be able to ‘think’ in French. During this trip, she will take excursions to explore the town of Saverne and the surrounding towns, such as Strasbourg, visit local art studios, galleries and museums such as the Lalique museum. She also wants to connect with photographers and galeristes who could play a valuable role in the promotion of photography from Namibia. Elia Sangunji, a software engineer, wants to go to France, along with his friend Marta, to discover French love, food and arts. “We know French cuisine from popular movies and media. I would like to explore more on French cuisine, but not as we know it. I would like to focus on real traditional French cuisine, walk the streets like a local, cook, eat and immerse myself as a local, just like we eat kapana here in Namibia,” says Sangunji, adding that they would follow the lives of normal French people and ask them what they perceive love to be. FNCC, in partnership with the French Embassy in Namibia, Fresh FM, and with the generous sponsorship of Air France, who donated three plane tickets, launched the contest “FNCC flies you to France” at the beginning of last month, which offered Namibian artists as well as French learners a chance to win plane tickets to France. 2017-11-10Staff Report 2
