Amira's relationship with her fans

By all accounts Amira was an unassuming child, kind, social, never bossy, and with many friends.

Amira (middle) as lead singer in her choir before she became famous.

Amira romping with her fellow choir members.

Amira was, by all outward appearances, a completely normal well-adjusted kid. With one difference. Amira always had fans.

Even before Amira entered Holland's Got Talent to win the national competition that launched her into stardom, she was already a star athlete. While this sounds impossible, it is a fact. The year before the music competition, at the age of only 8 years old, Amira entered the Zevenheuvelenloop ("Seven Hills Run"), an annual long distance running event in her hometown of Nijmegen, and won!

Amira comes in 1st place in the "Zevenheuvelenloop" on November 18, 2012

It sounds like I'm making this up. As if this is not remarkable enough, she came in first place the following year, at the same time she was busy contesting in the Holland's Got Talent contest.

1st place, Zevenheuvelenloop Nov. 16, 2013, second year in a row.

Winning is just part of what Amira does. And people around her know it.

So it was not surprising, but hardly noticed by those who did not know her, that Amira arrived at Holland's Got Talent with fans.

Fans in the balcony at Amira's audition for Holland's Got Talent

Many times over the years, interviewers have commented that when she comes to a radio station to do an interview, there are fans lining the halls, straining to see her.



Some fans are so fanatical about Amira that they fly in from all over the world to get a glimpse of her on stage.

But here I want to talk about a certain group of key fans that play an important role in Amira's life.

The following one minute clip is from a Dutch documentary about Amira shot in 2016, three years after her rise to fame. She is twelve years old in the film. The scene I clipped highlights the responsibility Amira shoulders to meet and please her fans. The scene is a little sad, showing another side of what it means to be adored. Note that by this time, Amira's biggest fans are older. She sings classical music after all, and it attracts an older base.



That film was made, as I just said, when Amira was 12. It was also one of the busiest years in her career so far. Amira is now 16, and has matured a lot. What is interesting is that over the years these fans, many seen in this film clip, are still with her. They are not merely devoted to following her career, but many of them have taken up important duties administering her many functions, e.g. her charitable nonprofit Gelukskinders, her several websites, her online store, arranging concerts and fan events, distributing CD's, DVDs, and fan collectibles, and so forth. It's no small operation. And the wonderful part is the amount of love all these people put into doing all these things. In short the Amira empire is run very, very well, with love and devotion.

And, what is so amazing, is that Amira has warmed up to many of these people. They are no longer strangers. She knows their senses of humor, their quirks, and that all want the absolute best for her. She even puts on birthday videos just for several of them when their birthdays arrive, because they contribute so much to her organization.

So now I want to introduce some of them.

The first I must mention is Jos, a businessman confined to a wheelchair, who was so moved by Amira's singing and her dream to help children in Africa, that he proposed to Amira's family and helped Amira found the Gelukskinders (Lucky Children) Foundation, a charitable nonprofit incorporated in Brussels.

Jos with Amira at the Geluksinkders launch ceremony November 1, 2014. Amira was ten.

The words that Jos wrote later about the thank you letter he received from Amira for his work is very moving. I abbreviate it here. I hope he doesn't mind.

Dear Amira, with tears in my eyes I saw the beautiful memories again with this beautiful collage. How your beautiful foundation Gelukskinders was born with a campaign with float in advance, and a benefit concert that sounded like a clock and now still stands like a house. For months, with several people, DAY AND NIGHT not worked on, but BUFFUED[sic]. !!! My GOD we were completely exhausted. And then we received a Christmas dinner of home-made, South African dishes at Amira's home as a super reward, a private Amira concert at the table in the living room. Which I will keep private, with pride, deep in my heart. . . And Amira, right now between us! I am still PROUD of your thank you card, which really came from the bottom of your beautiful heart, and is not FOR A MILLION FOR SALE Baaje danki amira

Jos thanking Amira

Today, Gelukskinders is headed up by president Marc Vandenhout, a truck driver in Belgium. Men that look tough as nails turn out to have hearts of butter when it comes to Amira.

Marc Vandenhout, current president of Gelukskinders Foundation, Amira's charity

Men who look tough and hard, found their lives changed by her music.

Cor and Nico run many things for Amira, including a recent fan day.

Cor and Nico put on a fan day for Amira that had several hundred attendees in December. Here they are resting at the local pub.

Here they are at the fan day they put together, along with the whole Willighagen family. See how much more mature and at ease Amira has become with her "tough-guy" fans.

And of course, being a fan wouldn't mean much if it didn't also mean attending her concerts.

And afterwards, fans leave with bundles of CD's, satisfied and ready for another year.

Fans saying goodbye to Amira at the Sun Arena in Pretoria, Africa in 2018

As I said, many of Amira's closest fans are also presidents, administrators, and organizers for her many events. And they have grown close to her family over the years. Here are several of such on a sightseeing tour in the Netherlands in December of last year.

Jimmy Futch, Cor Seltenrijch, Fincent Willighagen, Christiaan Willems?, Nico Huizinga (mustache), Amira, and Marc Vandenhout