Volunteering Experiences

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We currently have 14 students and 2 leaders, Mr and Mrs Gough, from the Arnewood School in Hampshire in UK staying at Chanters Lodge. They are spending 4 weeks here in Livingstone and are here to complete charity work at the Lubusi Orphanage and Maramba care home. Following that they will be completing a building project for the school in Mukuni Village, then moving on to ALERT to do environmental work with the lions and elephants. They will complete their 4 weeks with a safari in Chobe National Park in Botswana. They are doing some great work in our community and we’re grateful to them for that. If you would like to learn more about their visit then take a look at their website. Chanters Lodge are happy to assist you in arranging all your excursions and activities whilst you’re in Livingstone, for more information visit our activities page.

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Another Aussie Experience!

Connie Stevens & Wallis Woodhams

Meet Connie Stevens and Wallis Woodhams (above), Australian travellers and guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. ‘The Experience’ is our weekly radio show airing at 20.30 hrs CAT every Sunday night on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone leading local radio station. Our guests told listeners that they were traveling as friends, that they both hailed from Perth, Western Australia and that this was their first visit to Zambia. In fact they revealed that this was also their very first visit to Africa! “Is it what you expected?” Asked Milli Jam. They thought about the question for a few seconds and then answered “on the whole yes!”

Connie and Wallis said that they were almost half way through their two week trip to Zambia and that they were loving it. They had already visited Botswana for a full day safari in Chobe NP where they had seen ‘thousands of elephants’. They had walked with lions, and on the morning of the show they had completed a half day birding safari in the Mosi-o-Tunya NP in Livingstone where they had been lucky enough to see more than thirty three different species of birds, all correctly identified by their knowledgable and charming guides. They had also see the rhino in the park on the same trip. In addition to that, they had seen Victoria Falls and visited the Livingstone Museum. On the previous Saturday they had dined on the five star dinner train in Livingstone.

The music on the show was great with tracks from Fuse ODG, Ellie Goulding, Naughty Boy featuring Beyonce and Arrow Benjamin. Milli Jam and Jay chose work from T Sean ft Jusic, Ruff Kaida and T-Boy, Christina Millan, Urban Hype and Cynthia Morgan. Our pick of the week was Sam Smith’s haunting ‘The Writing’s On The Wall’ and we closed with the appropriate for Livingstone ‘Heatwave’ from Robin Schultz ft Akon. Connie said she loved classical music whereas Wally was more into music from the 50’s and 60’s.

Our guests told us that Connie was the manager of a bird shop in Perth, selling exotic birds and also garden ornaments, while Wallis was in the earth moving business preparing construction sites. Connie is a widow with a son and a daughter and two grand children, Wallis is a divorcee and has two sons. They had heard about Chanters Lodge, where they were staying, through Dianne Rapson, a frequent visitor to the lodge and a three time guest on our show. Connie and Wallis were well pleased with the recommendation.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing 10 years from now, Connie said she would like to be retired and relaxed, Wally said he would like to be working, relaxing and fishing!

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Ben Tshin

Meet Ben Tshin (above) from Toronto, Canada and Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, our weekly radio show airing at 20.30 hrs for an hour every Sunday night on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station.

Ben told listeners that he hailed from Toronto, Canada though his roots are in Indonesia. He works for World Vision Canada, he told listeners that World Vision Canada is the nation’s leading agency dedicated to improving the lives and futures of the world’s most vulnerable children. They have over 50 years of experience and are dedicated to providing real and lasting change to over 100 million people in World Vision supported communities. Ben was in Zambia to check on some of their projects in Southern Province and had decided to take a weekend off to visit Livingstone. In the course of his job he had visited many African countries including South Sudan and Uganda. World vision are also involved with health and food security issues.

The music on the show was great. We opened with Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest hit back to back with a new single from Alesso. Milli Jam and Jay dropped numbers from K’Milliann and Ozzy representing Zambia, as well as international stars Clean Bandit and Natalie la Rose. Our pick of the week was a new track from Ciara and we closed with Cheyenne from Jason Derulo. Ben said his musical tastes were largely Canadian but his favourite all time band is U2 – he was excited to have tickets for one of their Canadian concerts later in the year.

Ben told us that he had studied System Design at University in Waterloo, Canada. He has been married for two years, his wife Julia is a doctor. He is a fan of ice hockey and supports Manchester United. We reminded him of their last three results – all losses! While in Livingstone Ben was staying at Chanters Lodge and had been impressed with the mighty Victoria Falls. The afternoon of the show Ben had done a half day’s white water rafting which he described as ‘extraordinarily exciting’! He said had enjoyed the food at Chanters Lodge which made us happy!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Ben said ideally he would like to be retired but that might be a tall order. Alternatively he would still like to be involved with World Vision and travelling widely through Africa and the rest of the world.

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The Gene Thang Experience!

Meet Gene Thang aka Eugene Maboshe (above), Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient ft Jay Hillz. The Experience is our weekly radio show airing at 20.30 hrs CAT every Sunday on Zambezi 94.1 fm and streaming live on the internet. “Where does the name Gene Thang come from?” Wondered Milli Jam at the top of the show. “Well” replied our Guest “Gene is from my first name Eugene. Thang came from the word thing, and somehow the name stuck!” Gene is a well known club and radio DJ throughout Zambia but particularly on the Copperbelt in Zambia. “You’re a Lozi man from this part of Zambia” went on Milli Jam, “how did you come to find fame and fortune on the Copperbelt?”

Gene told listeners that for the most part he had been brought up in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe, his late Dad was an expatriate miner working on the coal mine in Hwange. He had developed a deep love of music from his parents and, as a teenager, had also gained a knack of winning competitions on radio in Zimbabwe and had built up a good library of vinyl singles and albums. On school holidays he would often travel to Livingstone to stay with his granny. Anyway, he had come back to Zambia after finishing his education – to Livingstone in fact, where he had first met Milli Jam and together they had hell raised as DJ’s in the club at Fairmount Hotel in the city – still one of Livingstone’s leading night spots.

Proceeding to the Copperbelt later to further his education, Gene had secured a job as the DJ at The Venue in Ndola. At the onset of local commercial radio in Zambia in the early 90’s Gene had been one of the pioneers as a DJ on Flava FM in Kitwe after some really intensive training. He said it was really tough for DJ’s to get work on radio as they did not have consistent ‘radio’ voices but he had managed and had worked for the station for more than seven years.

The music on our show was good. We opened with new tracks from Luvbug and The Weekend. The guys dropped numbers from Slap D and Jack U ft Keisza. Calvin Harris ft Tinashe and CQ followed. Our oldie of the week was from Judith Sephuma. My pick was Go Hard or Go Home from Wiz Khalifa ft Iggy Azelea and Meek Mil. We closed with ‘What Kind of Man’ from Florence and The Machine.

Gene is a Man Utd fan and his favourite player is Wayne Rooney. We moved on. He’s married and he and his wife have one boy and one girl. He has a wide taste in music himself and gives his late parents credit for this, they were real music lovers and used to listen to many different artists. Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Gene said he wanted to be an established farmer.

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The Norwegian Experience 2015!

Meet Rakel Trondal and Robert Hovde (above) from Trondheim, Norway. Rakel and Robert were Guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, our weekly Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Robert is the Deputy Head Teacher at Saksvik Primary School and Rakel is a secondary school teacher at Hommelvik Secondary School in Norway. Both were staying at Chanters Lodge as part of a group of 17 educationalists from Norway on a visit to Zambia.

For both Robert and Rakel it was, they told our listeners, their first visit to both Africa and Zambia. “Is it what you expected?” wondered Milli Jam. “Far, far better!” Replied Rakel quickly. So far they had visited Chobe National Park in Botswana and had loved the wide range of animals they had seen ‘in the wild and not in a zoo”. They had experienced a real tropical thunderstorm during the night on that trip. They had plans for a visit to Victoria Falls during their stay and would be spending three nights in Mongu, Western Province.

“Mongu’s not usually on the tourist itinerary” commented Milli Jam. Our Norwegian guests explained that the purpose of their visit to Zambia was to make physical contact with the schools in Zambia with whom their schools in Norway were ‘twinned’. In Robert’s case his school is a friendship school with Zambezi Basic School in Livingstone and Rakel’s school is a friendship school with Holy Cross School in Mongu. They had brought letters and books to give to the students in the Zambian schools with love from their fellow students in Norway. They expected to collect similar from the Zambian schools to take back to Norway.

The music on the show was good as usual. We opened with tracks from DJ Fresh ft Ella Eyre and Ne-Yo. The guys dropped work from West African Wizkid as well as Zambia’s T-Sean ft Tyce. Other were from Chef ft Macky 2, Ed Sheeran and Ozzy. Ozzy’s ‘If Only’ was our oldie of the week and the prize we give to the first listener to text us the name of the artist on the track was quickly snapped up. Our pick of the week was Sam Hunt’s major country smash ‘Take Your Time’ We closed with 5AM from Calvin Harris ft Tinashe.

Rakel told us that she’s married with three children, two boys and a girl. Robert is also married and has a boy and a girl with ‘another one on the way’. Didn’t they wish that their families had travelled with them to Zambia. Of course they did but pointed out, rightly, that it was an expensive undertaking. Robert revealed that he’s a fan of Rosenberg FC in Norway and of Watford FC in UK. But, he told us ‘handball’s my game’. Rakel loves ballroom dancing and travel. She and her family had visited many countries in Europe in the past including Turkey, Spain and Germany. She is an ardent fan of U2 and is looking forward to attending their concert in Berlin later this year – a treat afforded by her husband.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Robert hoped to still be involved in education, Rakel in education and in politics. We wished them the best of luck, thanked them for coming on the show, and for supporting Zambian schools as well as our lodge!

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The T-Rox and Ace Diamond Experience!

Meet Agnes Hamusonde and Isaac Tapi (above), better known to listeners of Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station as ‘Ace Diamond’ and ‘T-Rox’ respectively. Both are part time presenters at the station and we were delighted to welcome them as guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, our own weekly show airing every Sunday night on the same station.

“Where does the name Ace Diamond come from?” Milli Jam asked Agnes. “Well” she replied, “a diamond is a rare jewel and so am I!” We nodded. “And it happens that my christian names are Agnes Cholwe Emelda – Ace, get it? We did! “And T-Rox?” “Well” said Isaac, “the T is for Tapi and the Rox was a suggestion from Elias, my mentor at Zambezi fm”. “Good names”, we said.

Ace and T Rox explained that they have a show together on the station – Flight 205 every Sunday night/Monday morning which goes from midnight to 05.00 hrs. They are both night owls and have no problem working the ‘graveyard shift’. On their show the previous week they had been priming their audience for Valentine’s Day and were going to continue to do so on their show immediately following ours, seeing there was only six days to go until the great day. Ace was going to get her date for the evening from the listeners! T-Rox told listeners that he also has a show on Zambezi fm on Saturday nights.

The music on our show was right up to standard. We opened with tracks from Ellie Goulding, as well as Mike Mugo featuring Dragonette. The guys dropped work from Young L, Eddie Black, Taylor Swift and Jay Rox. Our oldie of the week was ‘Dakota’ from The Stereophonics, but the prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the artist on the track went unwon. OK it was a tough one. My pick of the week was Imagine Dragons’ ‘Shots’ and we closed with ‘Paradise’ from Usher Raymond.

Both Ace and T-Rox were brought up in Livingstone. Ace attended Linda High School while T-Rox was educated at St. Raphael’s. Both the guys are single. Music wise Ace favours akapela, as well as hip hop and R&B. Her favourite Zambian artist is Eddie Black. Internationally she likes Adele and Beyonce. T-Rox likes R&B, hip hop and country music. His favourite artist is Chris Brown, locally he favours Jay Rox. T-Rox supports Arsenal and his favourite player is Theo Walcott. Ace likes Chelsea and Fernando Torres. “He’s left Chelsea” we said. “I don’t mind!” Replied Ace. An admirer, we gathered.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years’ from now, T-Rox said he would like to be making money and still to be single. Ace Diamond wanted to be living her life to the full, an iron lady and a qualified physiotherapist. We wished them all the best.

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The Kubuka NGO Experience

Meet Elena Gomez and Joyce Kanimba, (above) representatives from Kubuka NGO in Livingstone, and guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. ‘The Experience’ is our weekly radio show airing from 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. We often feature guests staying at the lodge, sometimes members of staff but often local Livingstone personalities such as Elena and Joyce.

The ladies told listeners that ‘kubuka’ in the Tonga language means ‘waking up’. Milli Jam decided he would address Elena by her Tonga name ‘Mutinta’ throughout the show, meaning ‘first of a kind’ – apparently! Kubuka NGO is a non-profit organisation created to guide the most vulnerable communities in Zambia on their journey to sustainable development. Elena, one of a group of five Spanish young people involved in the NGO has been coming back to Zambia every year since she first landed in Livingstone when she was just 18 years old. She is now a qualified doctor from Madrid University and is back in Zambia until April taking the affairs of Kubuka one stage further. Joyce is Kubuka’s permanent representative in Livingstone and hails from a teaching background.

The NGO works with local people as one. They are working in Maramba and Mwandi communities in Livingstone. They have a programme to sponsor 60 children from the Mwandi community. They give workshops to young teenagers to improve their knowledge on health, sex, business and other useful topics. They are working with a home based care group in Maramba, creating a farm that can generate income to be able to give back to the community by buying medication for HIV patients, and building a cultural centre to give talks and providing a library for youths.

The music on the show was right up to standard. We opened with smash hits from Fergie and Karen Harding. Milli Jam and Jay chose ‘Jovial’ a brand new and great track from Zambia’s own Chilu Lemba, as well as others from Fall Out Boy, The Weekend and Zambia’s Salma Dodia ft Cactus. Our pick of the week was former ‘Experience’ host Kaufela’s latest ‘For You’. Our oldie of the week was by TLC and the prize we give of a dinner for two to the first person to text us the name of the artist on the track was snapped up by Mwiinga.

Joyce told us that she was very married with a large family and that her favourite music was gospel. Elena is single. “Spoken for?” Asked Milli Jam. Pause. “Errrr…..no” the reply. We jumped! “That was very hesitant” I said. “Just imagine!” Said Milli Jam but we were unable to prise out any more detail in this regard. Elena is a fan of Real Madrid and her favourite player is Casillas. “A goalkeeper?” Queried Milli Jam. “I bet it’s not about football” I said and our Guest blushed and laughed! She likes all kinds of music but her favourite artist is Despatch.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Elena said she would like to be a practising doctor in Africa still supporting Kubuka NGO. Joyce hoped still to be working to help vulnerable boys and girls in Livingstone. “Great stuff”! We said.

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Buried Treasure!

Buried treasure? On The Experience? Sure! Richard Francis, Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, told listeners that for a number of years he has been researching the long time mystery of Lobengula’s hidden treasure. Lobengula Khumalo (1845–1894), was the second and last king of the Ndebele people. Lobengula was a big, powerful, man with a soft voice who was well loved by his people but loathed by foreign tribes. He had well over twenty wives, possibly many more! Richard believes that Lobengula died in Chipata in the Eastern Province of Zambia and that his substantial treasure of gold, diamonds and coins lies in a cave somewhere in that part of the country. He would love to find it!

Richard first came to Zambia in the 60’s as a young twenty year old employed by Barclays Bank. He had subsequently spent 13 years in the country working for the bank in just about every city and area in Zambia. Altogether he had worked for the bank for 31 years before retirement. Later he had returned to Zambia for another four years as a VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas).

The music on the show was good. We opened with tracks from Taylor Swift and Meghan Trainor. We followed with numbers from Maroon 5 and Castro ft D.Black. Labrinth. JK (from Zambia) was also featured. Our oldie of the week was Buddy Holly’s ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’ but no-one won the prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week. Our pick of the week was ‘Higher’ by Sigma ft Labrinth.

Milli Jam wanted to know how Richard had arrived in Livingstone and Mr Francis told us that he had had the pleasure to travel on the new Jubilee Train from Lusaka. Although the journey was slow and the train was late due to problems with the track, he was full of praise for the cleanliness, service and food on the train and thoroughly recommended the trip for people wanting to see rural Zambia for themselves. Harking back to his days as a banker in Lusaka, Richard recalled he had once been banned from the Ridgeway Hotel for ‘provocative dancing’. Milli Jam blamed me but it was before my time, and as I remember I used to encourage such dancing!!

Richard has adopted a family in Chipata and founded a community school which he sponsors. A keen Arsenal fan since he was a kid, he said his favourite all time player was Martin Keown and that he misses Bacary Sagna! He now lives in France although he originally hails from Swindon in the UK. Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing 10 years from now, Richard said he would like to have discovered Lobengula’s treasure and to be on honeymoon with an 18 year old bride! We laughed and wished him luck!

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Congratulations President Edgar Lungu

The management, staff and friends of Chanters Lodge, Livingstone, Zambia would like to congratulate His Excellency Edgar C Lungu on becoming the 6th President of the Republic of Zambia and to wish him all the best in his new office!

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