entertainment – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

The Flavor of The Experience

Meet Emmanuel Dodia (above), aka DJ Flavor, Guest on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela, hence the headline! The Experience is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm for an hour at 20.30 hrs CAT and is a lively mixture of music, and chat with our Guest of the week.

Emmanuel told listeners that as well as being one of Livingstone’s top club DJ’s at night, he has a full time day job with Zambia Electricity Supply Company (ZESCO), Zambia’s much maligned power company for whom he works as a Customer Care Officer. “How do you cope with the abuse?” I asked Emmanuel, sure that given the amount of load shedding to which the Zambian population is regularly subjected, abuse must be pretty frequent. “We’re trained!” Replied DJ Flavor, laughing. “Please tell your bosses to let the water go over the Falls for an hour or so every day during the next dry season.” I urged Emmanuel. Laughing again he replied: “Do you want more load shedding?” I replied by advising him not to laugh at such a serious matter and that I felt most Livingstone residents would take an hour or so of load shedding, in return for a daily flow of water over the Falls for a limited period of time!

Emmanuel told listeners that he had been a DJ for about four years, a protege of PJMasterz he had started playing at ‘da Fusion’ and doing road shows, before officially opening ‘Ayoba’ one of Livingstone’s liveliest, busiest night clubs right in the heart of the city. Currently Flavor was playing Limpo’s pub (opposite the civic centre) during the week, and at Taonga Safaris on the banks of the Zambezi at weekends. When Milli Jam asked what music he played for his audience he replied that it depended on what they wanted and that he believed in ‘customer care’ in both his occupations! His own personal taste in music was towards R&B and House with Kendrick Lamar and Nicki Minaj being his favourite artists.

The music on this week’s show was good. We opened with tracks from Fuse ODG and Hardwell featuring Matthew Koma. George dropped numbers from Salma Dodia (Emmanuel’s first cousin) and Slap Dee featuring Kantu. Milli Jam chose Kid Ink featuring Chris Brown as well as Katy Perry featuring Juicy J. Our oldie of the week was Jay Sean’s ‘War’ and the prize we give each week to the first person to text us telling us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up. My pick of the week was Magic’s ‘Rude’ – George loved it.

Emmanuel told listeners that he’s been married to his wife Ivy for about eighteen months and that they have a baby girl Amelia, just eight months old. He supports Arsenal (hooray said Milli Jam and I), all time favourite player Thierry Henry, current star Theo Walcott. Emmanuel also loves basketball although he no longer plays. He told us he had undergone a course in public relations at UNZA before taking up his appointment at Zesco.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years from now, Emmanuel said that he would like to be ‘grown up with his family’, adding up to more than just something in music, and holding down a good job. We wished him the best of luck.

16
JAN

Africa, Arsenal, broadcasting, electricity, entertainment, football, livingstone, music, radioshow, victoriafalls, Zambia

The Veterans Experience!

Judy Smetherham (left above) and Di Rapson are truly veterans of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela! It was their fourth appearance as Guests on our show when we featured them on the first 2014 edition of the programme last Sunday night. The show has been running on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station since late 2007 so this marks our seventh year on air. “Why do you keep coming back to Zambia?” Milli Jam wanted to know at the beginning of the programme. “We love the people of Zambia!” The ladies replied and went on to tell listeners that they had arrived back in Zambia on December 22nd flying in from Perth, Australia where they live, and work in education.

Their first stop in the country was Lusaka from where they flew to Mfue in the South Luangwa National Park where they enjoyed Christmas, explaining that Santa Claus had arrived at the lodge in a 4 x 4 with presents for all the Guests. “Not on an elephant?” We wondered. Whilst in the Luangwa they had seen just about all the game there is to see, apart from rhino, but including leopard and wild dogs. From Mfue they had flown to Livingstone via Lusaka on January 3rd, taking in the elephant orphanage in Lusaka on their way. The ladies had been on the river safari since they arrived in Livingstone as well as taking a microlight flight over Victoria Falls that very morning. They were lucky on both outings to avoid the incessant rain experienced in the city for the whole of the previous week. The ladies were looking forward to a one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana on the following Tuesday, with Chris Tours.

The music on the show was great. We featured our new theme tune for 2014 at the top of the show – Avicii’s ‘Hey Brother’. Tracks from Pitbull featuring Ke$ha and Bruno Mars followed. George dropped numbers from Exile as well as Edma featuring Ty2. Milli Jam added a West African flavour with recordings from Niyola, as well as Kcee featuring WizzKid. George picked Harry Belafonte’s ‘There’s A Hole In My Bucket’ as the oldie of the week, but no-one won the prize we offer to the first person to text us telling us the name of the recording artist. Hardly any wonder! My pick of the week for the ladies (who just LOVE elephants) was ‘Come A Little Closer’ by….Cage The Elephant. We closed with an old number from Charlie Pride.

Judy and Di told listeners that they would leave Livingstone the following week and head for Cape Town for a nine day holiday in that super South African city. After that they would fly to Dubai, from there proceeding on a four day tour to Oman before returning to Dubai for some days, prior to flying home. The ladies also revealed that they had plans in the pipeline to visit Canada and the USA. Milli Jam wanted to know what changes they had noticed in Livingstone since their last visit eighteen months ago, and the ladies noted the improvement in the roads, new street signs and the increase in activity prices – the latter reported through clenched teeth!

In an unexpected move, Judy produced a marvellous book of photos taken in Zambia during their three previous visits, including fabulous pictures of the lodge and its staff, the radio show and its hosts, as well as stunning pictures of the Falls, gorges and Zambia’s awesome wildlife. Pictures of all the various activities they have done in Zambia are also featured in the book! Naturally those present felt that they would each be given their own signed edition of the unique volume but this turned out not to be the case, and the book went away with its owner, never to be seen again. The ‘boos’ in the studio were louder than those for David Moyes at Old Trafford as Man U lost at home yet again!

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time both ladies said they would like still to be happy, healthy, travelling and creating more books of photos!

10
JAN

2014, activities, Australia, Botswana, Cape Town, Chanters, Chobe, education, entertainment, football, livingstone, music, New Year, radioshow, staff, travel, victoriafalls, wildlife, zambezi, Zambia

The Japanese Experience

We were delighted to have a Japanese Guest – Yudai Nakamura (above) – on the last edition for 2013 of our weekly Sunday night radio show, The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. The show airs at 20.30 hrs CAT for an hour on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station and is a smooth mixture of latest Zambian and international music as well as chat with our guest of the week. A lucky listener also has the chance to win dinner for two at the lodge – if they can text us quickly telling us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week. The prize on this week’s show was quickly snapped up, the oldie being 1D’s ‘That’s What Makes You Beautiful’!

Yudai told listeners that he hails from Nagoya in Japan, a city of some four million inhabitants. He had arrived in Livingstone three days prior to the show after a thirty six hour journey from Japan via Hong Kong. He works for a company making electronic components for vehicle manufacturers particularly Toyota and he works, he said, in the quality control section. An electronics engineer by profession, in true Japanese style Yudai came to the studio weighed down with tablet, smart phone, camera with lenses and we’re not sure what other electronic else besides in his back pack! When queried he told us that such items are cheap in Japan but that food and drinks are not!

We had no Japanese music to feature on the show but instead we picked the ‘best of 2013’. My three tracks were ‘La La La’ – Naughty Boy featuring Sam Smith, Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ and PSY’s ‘Gangnam Style’. Yudai knew that one but said the relationship between South Korea and Japan was not good so it wouldn’t do for the Japanese to say they liked the track! George dropped O.C featuring Salma’s ‘Folo Folo’ and ‘Bufi’ by Petersen and Pilato as Zambia’s best of the year. Milli Jam chose Miguel’s ‘Adorn’ and John Legend’s soulful ‘Best You Ever Had’. My pick of the week was Tiesto’s ‘Red Lights’.

Yudai told us that he was single but that he had a steady girlfriend. “Why isn’t she with you?” Milli Jam asked and Yudai said that she had a ‘poor image of Africa’ but he hoped one day to persuade her to accompany him on one of his trips. This was his third or fourth visit to the continent. Since he’d been in Livingstone he’d been on a one day safari to Chobe NP and hoped to return the following day for another visit, mostly to capture more photographs of elephants in the river. Yudai is a great photographer and showed us many of the brilliant photos he’d taken during this and previous visits. He also belongs to a Kendo club in Japan and gave us a brief explanation of the dangerous sounding sport, telling us that face, hands and abdomen were the attack points!

Sports wise our Guest said he likes swimming, cycling and baseball. Music wise he likes Japanese pop. Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Yudai said he hoped to be married and to have enjoyed a honeymoon with his darling in South Africa and Namibia. He hoped to still be working for the same company in Nagoya.

We closed by wishing all our listeners health, happiness and prosperity for 2014!

3
JAN

2013, activities, Africa, Botswana, Chobe, entertainment, Japan, livingstone, radioshow, wildlife, Zambia

The Chrismar Hotel Experience

We were delighted to welcome Robert McCarron (above) as our Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. The Experience is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Rob is general manager of Chrismar Hotel, one of Livingstone larger hotels located on the Royal Mile near the Boat Club, close to the entrance to Mosi-o-Tunya National Park and of course the Zambezi. “The hotel currently has 59 rooms but is in the process of extending by an additional 40 rooms”, Rob told listeners. It was the first time we’ve had one of the general managers of Livingstone’s big hotels on the programme and Milli Jam asked him how he felt to be the first. Robert replied “you have the country’s best known hotel manager on the programme every week, so I’m hardly the first!” I guess I blushed!

Rob told us that he has been in Zambia for 3 years and has, for most of that time, been the manager at Chrismar. He’s an American, a graduate in business management, travel and tourism from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. “Why did you come to Zambia?” Milli Jam wanted to know. “For a change” the reply. We were not told the type of change required! Rob said the hotel had had a great year in 2013 with increased occupancy and room revenue, enjoying a thriving conference trade, with the majority of Guests coming from within Zambia.

The music on the show was good, we opened with two top Christmas hits from the UK by Sam Bailey and Pharrell Williams. George dropped Zambian tracks from Petersen and Mampi, while Milli Jam chose records from One Direction and Tiwa Savege. Our oldie of the week was Bruno Mars’ Grenade, and we had two prizes on offer to the first people to text us the name of the recording artist on the track. Robert had kindly contributed a dinner for two at Chrismar Hotel to add to the dinner for two with drinks at Chanters that we give away each week on a regular basis, and the two prizes were quickly snapped up by our listeners!

Robert told listeners that he’s married to a Zambian lady with whom he has twin one year old little boys, and yes, they do keep the family awake at night and busy, but he said he himself is a ‘deep sleeper’ so not that disturbed! Rob said that he comes from a family of musicians, his mum is a musician with the Boston Symphony Orchestra while his dad plays piano in piano bars across America. Both his brothers play in bands. He said his own musical tastes were wide and that he especially enjoys rap, rock and reggae.

As a Bostonian he loves all his Boston sports teams and, because the owner of the Boston Red Sox is also the owner of Liverpool FC in UK, he’s a fan of that club. This made George very happy. Rob’s first sporting love however is basketball, and he revealed that he is the coach of the Hillcrest School basketball team here in Livingstone as well as the team for Southern Province. As for tourist activities he loved white water rafting and felt that everyone should do that once in their lives. He had swum in Devil’s Pool but had not done the bungee jump. “No time!” He said. “It only takes 7.5 seconds” I replied, and we laughed!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time Rob revealed that he wanted to be the team coach for the Zambian national basketball team while training his 11 year old twin boys in the art of the game! He also mentioned that he would like to have more children. Nothing about hotels we noted!

We closed by wishing all our listeners a very happy Christmas and prosperous 2014.

27
DEC

accommodation, activities, Africa, Chanters, entertainment, football, hotels, livingstone, music, victoriafalls, Zambia

Zambian Music – Zonefam

George da Soulchild Kaufela writes:

Zambian music has continued to conquer Africa and the world in more ways than most people actually give it credit for – little by little our urban infectious sound has continued to spread. This could be credited to all the artistes, promoters and music producers that are doing the hard work and now producing quality music that is marketable to the world.

The local music industry needs a huge injection of investment from government and the private sector as it still lacks professional artist management and promotion. The local media, both print and electronic, does what it can to help put the artistes in the limelight, even when most people feel things would be much better if there were a dedicated press put in place to help grow the industry.

Another thing that would help would be an official website or a way to release singles, as most single in Zambia are released on Twitter or Facebook in a typically amateur way of doing things. Nevertheless the infectious sounds continue to grow and conquer – we recently witnessed one of the most amazing achievements in Zambia music history – rap group Zonefam won a Channel O award against all odds in a category were no one give them a chance, and in which they were up against Africa’s heavy weights, big names with popular songs that include Tear Gas a South African hip-hop trio who in the past have won a few of channel O awards themselves. Other artists up against our own Zonefam were Aka a high profile artist in his own right, Mi Casa, Eme and Naeto C featuring D’Banj, famous in and outside Africa.

Everyone on the list is a high profile artist with bigger and more experienced management and promoters but against all odds Zonefam won the award – it was a victory not only for the rap group but for the whole Zambian music industry as it gives more hope to other Zambian artistes to aim for the sky and achieve the impossible. Zonefam’s Channel O award indicates that Zambian Music can no longer be held back. Some of our celebrated Zambian artistes out there include Mampi, JK, Roberto, Petersen, B-flow, Ozzy and Shyman just to mention a few. These guys do truly carry the Zambian flag high and help the Zambian music grow every time they perform outside the country.

Once more congratulations to Zonefam, the artists and their management.

23
DEC

Africa, awards, entertainment, music, Zambia

The Chris Tours Experience

It was a pleasure to welcome back Chris Mweetwa (above), director of Chris Tours, as our Guest on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild. The Experience is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing at 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is a lively mixture of latest Zambian and international music as well as chat with our Guest of the week. If one of our listeners can quickly text us the name of the artist singing on our ‘oldie of the week’ there’s also the chance to win dinner for two with drinks at the lodge – and a swim if the weather’s up for it and the water’s warm!

Chris told listeners that when he’d last appeared on our show, some three years ago, he was a taxi driver on the verge of completing a contract with the vehicle’s owner which would then give him ownership of that car. He revealed that in the three intervening years he had completed that contract and had then successfully established a tours and taxi company, Chris Tours. He was now the proud owner of a fleet of six vehicles, three mini-buses and three taxis. He had managed to get a loan to start off the expansion and had progressed from there. As well as the regular taxi business, the company offers airport transfers, transfers to any point in Zambia and surrounding countries, as well as vehicle hire and safaris, especially to Chobe NP in Botswana. Chris gave listeners details of his website and Facebook page and mentioned that his company handles all Chanters Lodge Clients to Botswana, as well as staff transport for the lodge.

The music on the show was great. We opened with latest tracks from Avicii and Leona Lewis. George dropped Zambian tracks from Macky 2 and Tyce. Milli Jam chose numbers from Ellie Goulding and One Direction. The prize of a dinner for two with drinks at the lodge to the first person to text us telling us who’s the artist on our oldie of the week, mentioned above, was not won on this show – George chose The Specials with a topical ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ a rather obscure if trendy single.

Chris revealed to listeners that he is married with 5 children, his eldest daughter is 15 and the youngest child just one year and 5 months old. Originally from Kalomo, north of Livingstone though still in Southern Province, Chris said he had been in Livingstone since he was 10 years old and had completed his education at Linda Secondary school in the city. He claimed he supported Arsenal FC in England while others present suggested he might have been forced to say this! He told listeners that he had recently returned from his first visit to Johannesburg and had been impressed with the multi lane highways as well as the Gauteng train in that city.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Chris said that he wanted to be in Livingstone having grown and expanded his excellent tour company. We had no doubt at all that he would succeed.

20
DEC

activities, Botswana, entertainment, entrepreneurship, livingstone, management, marketing, music, radioshow, tourism, transport, victoriafalls, Zambia

The Mufalali Experience

Quite a lot of the music we played on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela was related to the late great Nelson Mandela by way of a tribute. ‘The Experience’ is our one hour regular Sunday night radio show live on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. We opened with Johnny Clegg with Savuka’s briliant ‘Asimbonanga’, our pick of the week was U2’s latest ‘Ordinary Love’ from the soundtrack of ‘Mandela – Long Walk To Freedom’, the new movie about the great man’s life, and we closed with Tracy Chapman’s 80’s smash ‘Freedom Now’ begging the authorities to release Madiba. It was the least we could do.

Our Guest on this show was the inspirational Brenda Mufalali (above) newscaster and presenter on Zambezi 107.7 fm and the only lady so employed at the station! Brenda told listeners that she enjoyed working with all the men and that at least ‘they had a mother’! George and Milli Jam grinned. Brenda has a long history in news and broadcasting in Zambia having worked for Radio Chengelo, Radio Mosi-o-Tunya, Guardian Weekly and Times of Zambia during various moments in the past. She told listeners she had been with Zambezi 107.7 fm for the past three years. Apart from news casting and news gathering Brenda has her own very successful, government sponsored weekly women’s programme on air ‘Women In Success’ which explores and highlights challenges faced by women in Zambia. From time to time she also hosts the breakfast show and does other spots on air too.

Apart from the tracks mentioned above, George treated us to the brand new Ozzy track ‘Komboni Dugude’ great track though no-one seemed to know the meaning, it is the lead single from his new album. Soulchild coupled this track with B1’s ‘Sikiliti Ku Bed’. Milli Jam was in the mood for Jay Z and Katy Perry. Our oldie of the week was ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’ the classic from the Righteous Brothers but no-one was able to text us the right name of the performing artist so the prize we give each week was not won.

Brenda told listeners that she was single ‘but dating’ and as yet had no children. It seems that this is the first time she has revealed her social/marital status on air as after the show, the question and answer had clearly produced a buzz around the studios! She revealed her hobbies as ballroom dancing, reading and travelling. She loves the Zambian national soccer team (check the shirt in the picture above) and also seemed to vaguely support Manchester United which did not go down well with the other assembled presenters. She holds qualifications from the Ideal College of Commerce as well as a certificate in journalism. She is a ‘staunch catholic’. Her taste in music is 90’s, slow tracks and gospel. Yes, she does sometimes go clubbing….shock, horror in the audience! The biggest challenge in her job? Confirming stories, and editors, in that order!

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing ten years’ from now Brenda said she would still like to be involved with the media but perhaps not in her present job which should be for younger people by then. She has a serious and great ambition to start and run an orphanage, she herself was an orphan and she wanted to do something for people in a similar predicament. We were sure that with her driven, dynamic, commanding personality she would achieve that!

12
DEC

activities, Africa, broadcasting, children, entertainment, football, livingstone, media, music, News, Publications, radioshow, victoriafalls, Zambia

Akafekwa Mututwa

Akafekwa (above) stepped in as our Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Soulchild – that’s our weekly Sunday night radio show airing at 20.30 hrs every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The Guest whom we had booked was a ‘no show’ and we were very grateful to Akafekwa for filling the gap. He was a great Guest too!

Akafekwa told listeners that he is the sales manager of a newly established company selling porcelain tiles in Livingstone – ‘Tile Giant’ and that he enjoys the job. An accountant by profession he holds both a certificate in accounting as well as an accounts technicians diploma from NIPA in Lusaka. Before joining Tile Giant he had worked for Chrismar Hotels in Lusaka and here in Livingstone. Tile Giant is located in the same premises as The Hard Rock Cafe in Livingstone which provoked a few questions!

How come Akafekwa was on hand to Guest on our show? Well, he had come to the studio with George following a show that George – a rap musician – had been playing at Taonga Safaris who have a great location on the banks of the Zambezi. The place rocks on Sunday afternoons, just ask the elephants! “How long have you known George?” Milli Jam wanted to know and Mr Mututwa explained that they had been school mates together in Mongu, Western Province and had met up again when he, Akafekwa, arrived in Livingstone some 2 years ago. Akafekwa claimed to be George’s manager and Milli Jam immediately wanted to know ‘where’s the album?’ an FAQ in recent months. “It’s coming, it’s coming” we were told angrily!

The music on the show was good, we opened with our theme ‘Feel The Love’ by Rudimental featuring John Newman. The theme will change in the new year and we already have a few ideas for a new theme for next year. We dropped tracks from One Direction and Calvin Harris. George played Zonefam’s ‘Lobola’ noting that this fab Zambian band had picked up a Channel O Africa award just the previous night! He also played his own track featuring Maji – ‘Enter Enter’. Milli Jam gave us tracks from Alicia Keys and Avicii and our oldie of the week from Justin Bieber. The prize we give to the first person to text us telling us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week was quickly snapped up.

Akafekwa told listeners that his favourite type of music is R&B and that his favourite artist is R Kelly. He is, he explained, a big fan of Manchester United and was quite sanguine about the fact that they had only been able to draw with Spurs that afternoon. Milli Jam and I spent a few moments discussing Arsenal’s position at the top of the EPL while others listened! Akafekwa said he had done quite a lot of the tourist activities available in Livingstone but had never done the bungee jump nor swum in Devil’s Pool. He told listeners that he was married with two sons, the youngest of which was just over one month old. “Awwww” we said! His wife is a teacher at Faith Academy Trust School in Livingstone.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, our lively laughing Guest told us that he wanted to be a happily married family man with a very successful country wide tile company to his name – a real tile giant in fact! We wished him the best of luck.

6
DEC

Accounts, activities, Business, education, entertainment, football, hotels, livingstone, management, radioshow, victoriafalls, Zambia

The Experience On Call!

Meet Lonny Henderson (left) and Simon Tolmie (above), co-ordinator and trustee respectively of On Call Africa, an NGO founded in Scotland and very active in the Southern Province of Zambia in the field of the provision of mobile medical clinics to the villages in the province. Lonny, an American from Connecticut USA and Simon a Scot from Glasgow were Guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela – that’s our weekly radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show airs every Sunday night at 20.30 hrs CAT and features latest Zambian and international music, combined with lively chat with our guests of the week. Chanters Lodge and On Call Africa met on Twitter! Is there any better place to meet?

Lonny told listeners that he and partner Ellen (an education co-ordinator with On Call) had been in Zambia since May this year and were thoroughly enjoying their time in the country and the work they were doing. Simon is a full time doctor in one of Glasgow’s largest hospitals and was using his two weeks’ leave to assess progress on the project. He revealed that he’s largely responsible for generating finance for the NGO through donations, and was happy that recently Rotary International and On Call Africa had forged links that should see the organization move forward and expand. Lonny had been recruited through an on line advert and subsequent interviews via Skype. How times do change!

The music on the show was great and featured tracks from Bastille and Killers at the top of the show. Local tracks from Slap D featuring JK as well as Danny rocked the studio! Milli Jam chose Robin Thicke’s summer smash ‘Blurred Lines’ back to back with a number from John Legend. Our oldie of the week was a local track ‘Coca Cola’ by Oga Family and there was a host of text messages correctly telling us the name of the performing artist, so the prize of a dinner for two at the lodge that we give away for the first right answer, was quickly won!

Simon told listeners that he and his fiancee were planning to get married in June or July so 2014 would be a big year for them. He professed no real interest in football but told us that he followed rugby and cricket. Music wise he said his tastes were very broad. Lonny said the same thing, but in a surprise turn of events he revealed that he was a dedicated Arsenal supporter – ‘unusual for an American but very welcome’ thought Milli Jam! So, we discussed Arsenal’s current place at the top of the EPL while George, a Liverpool supporter, listened! The guys said they had enjoyed a night or two at some of Livingstones’ clubs since they had been in town and enjoyed Zambian music and night life.

As far as challenges were concerned they said that the biggest challenge for On Call Africa was distance. Both the distance that people had to walk to the villages to get basic medical assistance and the distance that the NGO’s not new Land Rover had to travel to meet the needs of the people. The NGO is very much involved in training clinical officers to help meet the rural peoples’ medical needs.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years’ from now, both Lonny and Simon said that they would like to be part of a a very successful expanded On Call Africa. We thanked them for appearing on our show and for the great work they were doing for the rural population of Southern Zambia.

28
NOV

2014, Africa, Arsenal, Chanters, cricket, education, entertainment, health, livingstone, medical, music, radioshow, training, Twitter, victoriafalls, Zambia

The Latest Norwegian Experience

Since 2007, when we first launched The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela, our regular Sunday night radio show, on to an unsuspecting Livingstone public on Zambezi 107.7 fm the city’s leading local radio station, we have had many Guests from Norway on the show, but few as bubbly and lively as Mariell Konstanse Rydningen (and you try saying that on radio!) (left above) and Marita Isaksen!

Mariell and Marita are third year students at the University of Tromso in northern Norway studying for a bachelor’s degree in pre-school teaching. They told listeners they had been in Livingstone for the past two weeks, part of a proposed six week stay, to gain experience at Rainbow School as part of their course. They were staying at Chanters Lodge. Milli Jam wanted to know how they were coping with the extremely hot temperatures the city was experiencing but the girls gave the impression that they loved the hot sun! Marita had been to Africa before (Egypt on holiday) but for Mariell this was her first trip to the continent. Was it what they expected? They weren’t sure but they were loving it, especially the warm and friendly people, if not quite so much the traditional Zambian food, though they had enjoyed eating crocodile meat at Cafe Zambezi in town.

Milli Jam wanted to know how the girls’ families had felt when they had announced that they were ‘off to Africa for a couple of months’ and the girls replied ‘happy’, ‘scared’ and ‘worried about losing control’ in no particular order! George wanted to know if the girls were married or single (he would wouldn’t he?). Mariell announced forcefully ‘I have a boyfriend’ which made Marita laugh at her friend Konstanse, then revealed that she too had a boyfriend back in Norway.

The music on the show was latest with tracks from Martin Garrix, Lily Allen, Exile, B1, Rihanna, Avicii, James Blunt and Dido. Our oldie of the week was Ray Charles’ ‘Hit The Road Jack’ but listeners found it hard to tell us who was the artist on the track and the prize went unwon. My pick of the week was James Blunt’s tribute to Whitney Houston ‘Miss America’.

Milli Jam wanted to know if the girls had had the chance to do any of the many tourist activities available in Livingstone and they replied that they had taken the one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana, spent a night on Bovu Island and that afternoon had been quad biking. Mariell replied that she’d been quite scared on the river and at night on Bovu Island. They had plans to do quite a few of the other activities available and would also be spending four nights in a village on a volunteer project. They also convinced George and Millii Jam to take them clubbing!

Marita revealed that she was a fan of Manchester United but Mariell had no interest in football. they both loved rock and pop music and Mariell told us that her brother was a successful musician with Tellus Requiem currently touring in Germany warming up for Kamelot.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Mariell said that she hoped that she had a good job and the chance to travel, Marita the same but added that she also hoped to have a husband, children and to be driving a station wagon!

Nice show!

21
NOV

activities, Africa, Botswana, broadcasting, Chanters, Chobe, education, entertainment, livingstone, music, Norway, radioshow, sport, victoriafalls, Zambia

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