development – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

The Kashitas Repeat ‘The Experience’

The latest edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela, was rather different for several reasons. Firstly it aired at an earlier time of 18.00 hrs, so that the show did not clash with the final of the Africa Cup Of Nations in which Zambia was participating (and won, whoopee!) Secondly the show went out on the day Whitney Houston’s untimely death was announced, so we revised the play list at the last moment to feature many of her top hits. Sad…

Last but not least, for once we talked some ‘politics’ on the show with our guests Andrew and Caroline Kashita (above). Andrew was a senior minister in both the UNIP and MMD governments in Zambia and we wanted, and got, his expert opinion on a couple of important national and local matters. Andrew and Caroline have appeared on our show twice before.

‘The Experience’ airs every Sunday, usually from 20.30 to 21.30 hrs and is sponsored by Chanters Lodge, Livingstone, Zambia. The show is a great mixture of music and chat and is popular locally especially as we give away a prize of a dinner for two at the lodge each week, to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. On this particular show the track was ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion and the prize was quickly snapped up.

The Kashitas told us they’d been married for 32 years and had a total of four children (two together), all of whom were doing well overseas, they also have one grandchild, Chansa, aged 3. They told listeners they enjoyed coming to Livingstone for a week twice a year to relax away from the hustle bustle of Lusaka. The break also afforded them the opportunity to rest and recuperate at Chanters, and to catch up with some reading, as well as developments in Livingstone. “Why do you always choose Chanters?” Milli Jam wondered “Richard’s an old friend and his lodge just suits us very well!” Was the sweet reply. They also mentioned the ‘convenient location’.

The Whitney Houston tracks we featured on the show were ‘One Moment In Time’, ‘I Will Always Love You’, ‘Dance With Somebody’, Saving All My Love For You’ and ‘I Look To You’. Great selection! Our pick of the week was Lady Antebellum’s ‘Dancing With You In My Heart’. We also featured one song for the Zambian footballers ‘Chipolopolo’ by MAG44, T10, Pompi and Chungu.

We asked Andrew Kashita about the sale of a large share holding in Zanaco (Zambia National Commercial Bank) to a Dutch bank, currently under investigation by the Sata PF Government. Andrew told listeners that as a former chairman of the bank, he felt the sale of the bank to a foreign bank had been against the spirit in which the peoples’ bank had been created in the first place, and also that it had been severely undervalued at the time of the sale. He very much hoped that the situation would be corrected by the sale of more shares to ‘ordinary’ Zambians. He was not however in favour of the sale being reversed but he did feel that the bank should have a Zambian chairperson.

We also asked him to comment on the state of the road from the outskirts of Livingstone to the Falls and he said that he felt the ‘shameful’ situation had arisen from either wrong specifications, poor work by the contractors or poor supervision. He felt that the culprits should be identified and the road repaired free of charge by those concerned, as soon as possible.

We wondered if the Kashitas would be doing any of the many tourist activities available in Livingstone and they told listeners that they were very much looking forward to the sunset cruise on Lady Livingstone the next day. They also planned a visit to the Drift Cemetery in the Mosi-o-Tunya National Park. They told listeners they would return to Lusaka towards the end of the following week using Mazhandu Family Bus Service, as usual.

17
FEB

activities, Africa, banks, development, entertainment, football, friends, infrastructure, music, politics, radioshow, Zambia

The Kandilicius Experience

Meet Kandilicius (above) and that’s just her Twitter name! Try Kandy Israelyt as she’s known on Facebook or just plain Kandi M’hango her real name. Kandi was the Guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Kaufela da Soulchild! That’s our regular Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hours and streaming live on the internet. A popular show it is too, partly because we give away a dinner for 2 at Chanters Lodge with drinks every week – a prize for the first listener to text us telling us the name of the artist singing our ‘oldie of the week’ – this week the answer was Lionel Richie and the response was great!

Kandi has been a part time presenter on 107.7 fm since March this year, at the moment co-presenting Drive Time, a daily Monday to Friday show. She has a great voice for radio and loves being involved. She has two sons Cholwe and Israelyt (hence her Facebook name) she told us. Milli Jam wanted to know how she’d become involved with the radio station in the first place and Kandi explained that she’d responded to an advert on air early in 2011, advising that the station was looking for new lady presenters – she’d applied and was hired!

Wearing another hat, Kandi explained to our audience that she was deeply involved with the Empowered By Light Foundation, an NGO, in Zambia to donate solar lighting within Shangombo District in Western Province. So far the organization had donated 5000 units of solar light, as well as laptops, throughout schools, clinics and homes in the district. The NGO had apparently chosen Shangombo having seen from the statistics that only 5% of schoolchildren there passed exams at Grade 9 level. They’d surmised that this was because students were unable to study at night due to no light so they set out to fix the problem. “Awesome” we said, and meant it!

The music on the show was great. We opened with Olly Murs and his smash UK hit ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ back to back with Kelly Rowland featuring The Waves and ‘Down For Whatever’. George chose Oga Family with ‘Ball Pen’ – a long and (in some peoples’ opinion boring) track! This was coupled with K’Millian’s ‘Kakabalika’ – anything but boring. Milli Jam chose ‘Perfect Party’ from Naughty By Nature ft Fat Joe back to back with Keith Sweat’s ‘To The Middle’. Our oldie of the week was Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’. To close we played Taio Cruz’s ‘Shotcaller’ and Sean Kingston’s ‘Love Me’.

Kandi told listeners that in the past she’d been involved with Kara Counselling counselling AIDS orphans and for a brief time had also been involved with lodge management in Livingstone. She told interested listeners that she supports Manchester United and likes Wayne Rooney (just imagine!) She’s into R&B and in particular Chris Brown and is very proud of her Zambian roots in Lundazi in the Eastern Province of Zambia and of being Tumbuka by tribe. 10 years down the road she’d like to still be broadcasting and very much involved with bringing renewable energy to rural Zambia.

She told listeners she loves Zambia and we told her our listeners love her – which they do!

6
DEC

2011, Africa, Chanters, charities, computers, development, education, electricity, energy, entertainment, facebook, football, infrastructure, innovation, livingstone, music, radioshow, Twitter, Zambia

Consumer Diaries

Here’s a good website for consumers in Zambia having a hard time at the moment! Consumer Diaries, written by Zambian consumers for Zambian consumers. The latest post involves the suspension of the air service permit for Zambezi Airlines by government – no great surprise there – they’ve been in a shambles for weeks with delayed and cancelled flights. Yesterday there were about 15 stranded travellers at Harry M Nkumbula International Airport in Livingstone, negotiating seats on other airlines flying to South Africa.

We hope Consumer Diaries will soon turn their attention to Zambia Breweries and the constant annual shortages of beer and soft drinks in Livingstone and other parts of Zambia through October and November – not alright in the nominated (should that be nominal?) ‘tourist capital’.

And what about Zesco? Most Zambian consumers thought that one of the first impacts of the new government would be restoration of constant power supplies – not so – even though the President did fire the Zesco MD nothing has changed there! Just as well we have a good stand by generator at Chanters Lodge!

“The Consumer Diaries is a Zambian consumer’s mouthpiece written strictly by consumers for other consumers. It contains a compilation of reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from consumers themselves. This is done in order to help people have an opportunity to rate product/service experiences that they have had, and also to investigate new products or services in order to make informed decisions.”

Wish them the best of luck!

The picture? A bottle of Zambia’s great Mosi beer – currently unavailable from distributors in Livingstone, Zambia.

31
OCT

Africa, airlines, Consumers, development, Economy, electricity, energy, guests, infrastructure, livingstone, management, politics, rsa, transport, travel, Zambia

Sakala Brothers Arts Centre

We lament the recent closure of The Arts Cafe in Livingstone, following so closely on Jane Osborne’s Ngoma Zanga Zambian Restaurant shutting down. There’s now no traditional food and dancing experience for tourists in Livingstone – surely a business opportunity for someone! Good to see then that the Sakala Brothers (above) are deeply involved in Lusaka. They’ve entertained so many people over the years.

THE Sakala Brothers recently hosted the French Ambassador and delegates from Alliance Francaise for the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Sakala Brothers Arts Centre and Ambassador 0livier Richard at Lusaka Playhouse. The centre has since last year been training students in music disciplines such as guitar, piano, voice training, violin and traditional drums.

“We have several classes for various disciplines” said Moses Sakala. “For example, we have students doing guitar lessons, some learning how to play traditional drums, while others are in the dance class and voice training class. Last year we registered about 100 people from different parts of Lusaka but the number has since reduced,” he said. He said the centre has employed qualified tutors to train students in the different disciplines.

Sakala has urged musicians in the country to take up such classes if they are to gain a wider knowledge and understanding of their craft, adding that the programme is open to the public hence anyone interested should enroll. “I think it‘s very important for a musician to understand musical instruments, because in these times of piracy one cannot rely on CD sales but live performances,” he stressed.

He also disclosed that currently the duo is recording an album set to be released this year and that albums artistes for Indy K, Theresa and Alex will be produced under the Sakala Brothers Centre. The centre, established in 2009 by Moses and Levy Sakala, was set up to preserve and promote Zambian music and enrich professional musicianship in the country.

The duo, whose vision is to build a music school in Zambia, has called on the government to value the arts and consider establishing a ministry of arts that will seriously look into issues affecting the industry.

Thanks to George Soulchild and Weekend Post for the report.

17
JUL

development, entertainment, entrepreneurship, food, guests, livingstone, Lusaka, music, restaurants, Zambia

Fly Zambia Airline

This piece from Times of Zambia caught my attention: The investors say they’d like to use the old Zambia Airways logo and in a blast from the past there’s a photo of one of the old airline’s planes clearly showing the much loved logo. Most people felt it was a great mistake to allow the airline to go out of business in the 90’s.

A GROUP of investors from South Africa and Zambia have formed a partnership and staked about K105 billion for a new national airline called Fly Zambia Airline which will be launched in September this year. The company is in consultation with the Government on the possibility of adopting the logo which was previously used by the defunct Zambia Airways.

Fly Zambia Airline Limited chief executive officer Theunis Crous said his company was in discussion with the Government to allow the firm use the Zambia Airways flag and logo on their Fokker aircraft. The defunct Zambia Airways was founded in 1964 as a subsidiary of Central African Airways, but went into liquidation in 1995.

In an interview in Lusaka, Mr Crous explained that the establishment of a national airline was a private initiative hence would be managed by experienced Zambian and South African team.
Mr Crous said the airline would use the Fokker 100 and Fokker 50 aircraft which have low operational costs. “We will start with four aircraft, two of which are Fokker 100 and the other two will be Fokker 50 including a cargo aircraft. We will do a lot of training of the staff in the aviation sector because our planes will be landing in Zambia for the first time and they need to be shown how they operate,” Mr Crous said. He said the airline would initially start with local and regional routes before expanding its routes internationally.

The regional routes include Zambabwe, Angola, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “The firm will also service the domestic market and will set up a car hire company linked directly to the airline,” Mr Crous said. He said as a result of the investment, the airline would create 150 jobs for the local people.

Mr Crous said the introduction of the national airline in Zambia would give the local people the glory of having their own national airline. He said they would use the airline to attract tourists because tourism was a fast-growing industry. “The tourism industry has the potential to even grow and we shall aim to promote tourism from within the region and make Zambia the best destination by providing the services through our airline,” Mr Crous said. He said due to improved macroeconomic indicators and attractive investment incentive, the airline was able to invest in the aviation sector.

Mr Crous commended the Zambian Government for its continued efforts in enhancing the business environment for the private sector to invest in Zambia.

15
JUL

2011, Africa, airlines, development, entrepreneurship, infrastructure, innovation, tourism, travel, Zambia

Magic Hands Of Africa

Magic Hands of Africa is a non profit company that was incorporated in March 2007 at the Registrar of Companies as a company limited by guarantee.

They reach out to unskilled and unemployed women and youths living in poor communities and provide them with an important source of income that helps them send their children to school, feed families, provide and improve their shelter and pay medical bills. This source of income also helps the youths to keep away from destructive activities.

Magic Hands Of Africa do this by training people to make beaded products and other creative crafts, provide them with raw materials and buy back the finished products from them which they later sell to the local and international market. Each person is paid according to the number of items made and 50% of all sales go back to their artisans. The other 50% helps meet operational costs. Any profits made after paying our artisans and meeting operational costs are either re-invested in the company or ploughed back into the community.

The company currently work with 13 women and 7 youths but have the capacity to employ more when demand is high. They make beaded necklaces, bracelets, waist beads, earrings, lanyards, key holders, scatter cushions, belts, purses, coasters, table mats and notebooks. Magic Hands of Africa currently has no shop and runs a home office. Their products are mainly sold at craft markets and are also found at Fine Stitches, Crossroads shopping mall in Lusaka as well as Souvenirs of Zambia, Livingstone Airport.

Customers can also contact Magic Hands of Africa to take products to their homes, places of work or any convenient and central place.

Wishing them the best of luck!

20
MAY

Africa, Design, development, Economy, entrepreneurship, Zambia

Sugar Plantation & Bio-Ethanol Plant for Southern Zambia

Here’s some great news for this part of Zambia:

A South African company will this month start work on a 2- hundred and 51 million US dollar project involving a sugar plantation and bio-ethanol plant in Kazungula District. This came to light during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between AGZAM project developers Limited and the Zambia development Agency- ZDA in Livingstone yesterday.

ZNBC‘s Kennedy Bwalya reports from Livingstone that President Rupiah Bands witnessed the signing of the MOU for the project which will create 4000 for the local people. AGZAM Project Business Development Manager Anthony Alexander (above) said the new company will be producing 200,000 metric tonnes of sugar and 28 million litres of bio-ethanol per annum.

And ZDA Director for Investment promotion Muhabi Lungu said the project is one of the biggest investments the country has achieved this year. And President Banda said he is excited that government has managed to facilitate a huge investment that would create new job opportunities for Zambians.

Mr Banda said he is happy that the new project which is expected to kick off in the next 21 days, will create wealth for the nation.

How come I got the photo? Guess!!

2
APR

Africa, agriculture, development, Economy, entrepreneurship, zambezi, Zambia

Haines Nawa Munene

Meet Haines (pronounced Heinz) Nawa Munene (above), 23, Lozi by tribe, and the most recent guest on our Sunday night radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild – airing from 20.30 – 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s popular local radio station. Haines is a sports presenter on the station as well as running a business with his sister importing and selling clothes. A live wire if ever there was one, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of all things soccer and a keen interest in rugby too. In this regard it was unfortunate that Haines appeared on our show on the same day it was announced that Owen Busange, famous Zambian rugby player and coach had been killed, together with two other people, in a traffic accident – we expressed our sincere sympathies on air.

Haines told listeners that he was educated at Linda Secondary School, that he’s a Chelsea supporter (editor sighs heavily) and that he had been involved with Zambezi fm since 2007 when he was picked by the station’s ‘Man On Sport’ Patrick Kasoka to help him present international and local sports news and current affairs twice per week on air.

Haines has 9 siblings and although his father has passed away, his mum still helps with the family business in Livingstone. “Almost a football team on its own” I commented drily. “And there are two sets of twins” was Haines’ retort! I asked him how he’d got his interest in soccer and he replied (quote) “at school we were some of those who enjoyed talking sport and not eating fritters during the breaks” (unquote). We laughed. What kind of music did he like? Reggae, R&B and Kalindula. Which local soccer team did he support? Power Dynamos in Kitwe.

The music on the show was great. We opened with the UK number one (as we do) Nicole Scherzinger’s ‘Don’t Hold Your Breath’ coupled with Ciara’s ‘If Only’. George chose Zonefam’s ‘Shaka Zulu’ and Exile’s ‘In Love With You’ for our standard two local tracks. Milli Jam chose Ne-Yo’s ‘Don’t Wanna Be In Love’ and Big Sean’s ‘My Last’. Bit obsessed with Ne-Yo is our Milli Jam, but we love it! Taio Cruz and ‘Telling The World’ then Pitbull featuring Kacy with ‘Castles Made of Sand’ closed the programme.

We gave away the usual dinner for two to the first person to text us telling us what job Haines did at 107.7 fm and we had an excellent response. The winner was Mapalo but the guys in the studio couldn’t tell me if this was a boy or a girl’s name. As soon as we announced the name of the winner we received another text message from Mapalo telling us that she was all girl and that she was coming to the lodge on Tuesday for dinner! More laughter. We sometimes wonder if the weekly prize is the only reason people listen to the show! Surely not…

We asked Haines about his ambitions for the future. He told listeners that he wanted the football team he’s involved with in Livingstone – Eastlands FC – to make a lot of progress in Zambian football and that in 10 years’ time he’d like to be a presenter on SkySports in UK. By 2020 he wanted to be married.

“Go for it”! We said.

29
MAR

Africa, Chanters, development, entrepreneurship, food, football, livingstone, menu, radioshow, Zambia

The Jolly Fisherman, London

For all you Zambian foody fans in UK here’s some good news for you in London!

The Jolly Fisherman, at 108 North St, Barking, Essex, the only Zambian owned pub in the United Kingdom has told UKZAMBIANS that they will be working together with Fredor (a Zambian owned restaurant) to offer Zambian food in the pub.

Bernard Chisanga, owner of The Jolly Fisherman said: “We have been talking to Ms. Mubiana for a while and now a mature agreement is in place to offer Zambian meals during the weekend at the Jolly Fisherman. This will make sure that Zambians and non-Zambians alike who come to enjoy our drink will also enjoy a proper Zambian meal (nshima, chibwabwa, ifishimi,etc) in one place. Our patrons will from this weekend onwards enjoy their drink and food with full Zambian flavor”.

In a separate interview, Ms. Dorothy Mubiana, owner of FREDOR, confirmed the new partnership as a way forward for Zambians demonstrating a model working partnership for Zambians living overseas. Ms. Mubiana said: “Zambians need to work together for the good of every Zambian, not running away from each other, particularly Zambians living abroad”. She said, they had discussed the partnership with The Jolly Fisherman for more than a year and she was very pleased that they had finally agreed the modalities. “We have done all the work and I am calling everyone out there to come with their friends and family to enjoy an authentic Zambian dish starting this weekend, 26th February and onwards every weekend Saturdays and Sundays”.

Ms Mubiana added that apart from selling Zambian cooked food, she has uncooked Zambian beans, peas, maize, peanuts, sweet potatoes, pumpkins leaves, smoked caterpillars, Kapenta, etc. She can be contacted on 07947 106 429.

We wish them the best of luck!

25
FEB

Africa, bestofzambia, development, food, London, management, marketing, menu, restaurants, Zambia

Stuck!

Check these pictures supplied by our Guests Des and Ant – intrepid 4×4 explorers with a vehicle supplied by Hemingways, Livingstone. They got stuck in the mud, in the bush, 90 kms west of Zimba, which is 75kms north of Livingstone. They had to walk almost 40 kms out of the bush to get mobile phone contact for a rescue.

Don’t be deceived by the pictures – that mud was apparently knee deep the moment you stepped in it. Hemingways managed to eventually haul them out of there!

Why were they there in the first place? They were looking for an access route into an area designated for their company to plant sugar cane.

Looks like they didn’t find it!!

4
FEB

Africa, Chanters, development, entrepreneurship, guests, infrastructure, transport, travel, weather, Zambia

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