Solomon Idol 2008 has brought back, once again, the twelve year old singing sensation, Rachel Sarei.
Little Rachel captured the crowds hearts in 2007 and is doing that again this year. In addition to wooing the crowd with her beautiful voice, Rachel is also very special.Rachel is the fourth child in a family of seven and despite her very young age, Rachel is a young lady of tremendous talent. Hailing from Lord Howe and Tuvalu, little Rachel was born with Hermiplegia. Hermiplegia is a condition in which one-half of a person's body is paralyzed. Little Rachel is paralyzed on the left side of her body and is blind in the left eye.
Despite all this, Rachel has beaten all the odds when entering the Solomon Idol 2007 and 2008. She sent the crowd wild last night with Celine Dion's "Think Twice" and she proves to be a crowd favourite every time.
In a phone interview with Rachel's mother, Milly Sarei told Solomon Times that she is always proud and emotional every time her daughter sends the crowd wild with her powerful voice.
"Rachel's compassion for music developed when she was one and half year's old. She usually listens to music and hums along. We never took notice at first but when she was six, she told us she wanted all the collections from Celion Dion, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey which we did buy for her. We also bought her a karaoke tape, which she uses to practice her voice," said proud mother, Mrs. Sarei.
It was only at the age of ten that Rachel began singing in public mainly at the wedding functions and youth programmes.
"Rachel is born to sing and even though she can't hold a guitar, she gives instructions to her elder sister to play the guitar, also recognizing when her sister plays a wrong tune," added Mrs. Sarei.
Ambitious Rachel informed Solomon Times that if she wins the young executive's category, it will be a great achievement, because of the amount of hard work and effort she has put into this show. She also looks forward to 2004 Australian Idol contestant, Hayley Jensen, who will visit Solomon Islands for the Solo Idol Finals.
Little Rachel hopes to be a professional singer some day and already, Rachel has proven that nothing is impossible.