Holland – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

The Dutch Experience!

Meet Michelle de Moor and Bram van Veen from Amsterdam in the Netherlands, 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 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station.

Bram and Michelle told listeners that they’d met in Cape Town some seven years ago when they were both on internships at the end of their respective degree courses. At that time people in South Africa told them they should take time to visit other African countries including Zambia, and they had made up their minds there and then one day to do just that and here they were! They revealed that although they’d been together all those seven years and owned property together in Amsterdam. they were not yet married. “What are you waiting for?” We wondered. “Errr um err” said Bram while Michelle just ‘rolled her eyes’!

This lively, funny very Dutch couple explained that Michelle was a social worker and Bram a sales manager, but both had given up their jobs in Holland before setting off on their ‘trip of a lifetime’. They’d been travelling for the past six months and had already visited Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique before arriving in Zambia. They’d been to the Lower Zambezi for a canoeing trip but laughingly told us that within five minutes of boarding their canoe they’d ended up in the Zambezi, soon faced by angry and indignant hippos! What a start! They went on to tell listeners that of all the places they had been in Africa, the Lower Zambezi was probably the most beautiful, and they were both firmly against the establishment of a new copper mine planned for the area. They told Milli Jam that they’d arrived in Livingstone by coach from Lusaka a few days before our show.

The music on the show was good. We opened with tracks from Rixton and Nicole Scherzinger. Jay dropped tracks from Tank and Zambia’s very own K’Millian. ‘For You’ is his latest hit. Milli Jam chose Nicki Minaj and Roberto for his selections. Our oldie of the week was Sinzia by Nameless. We give a prize of a dinner for two at the lodge each week to the first person to text us the name of the artist on our oldie and this week the prize was won by Innocent. My pick of the week was John Legend’s ‘You and I’.

At the end of the show we played Diamonds by Rihanna, a special dedication to Edward Chanter’s late special friend Tanya Johnson who had passed away in England during the week. She had loved Rihanna and we felt this was an appropriate song. She was indeed a ‘diamond’.

While in Livingstone Bram and Michelle had visited the ‘amazing’ Victoria Falls and had loved the cheetah walk at Mukuni Big 5. They told us that from Zambia they would proceed to Namibia where they would hire a car and tour around that country for a while. They had no satisfactory answer when Milli Jam asked them why Holland had (again) been unable to win the World Cup. Bram, an Ajax and Manchester United supporter at this point wanted to start talking about England’s World Cup efforts, but we weren’t having that kind of red herring! Michelle told us her favourite band is The Killers and that they both like rock music.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now, Bram said he wanted to be in a canoe on the Zambezi, as opposed to being in the water, Michelle wanted to be a mother. Would Bram be the father of her children we wondered, “yes” she said. It doesn’t get much clearer than that!!

24
JUL

activities, Africa, broadcasting, entertainment, football, Holland, livingstone, Malawi, music, Namibia, radioshow, sales, tourism, travel, victoriafalls, zambezi, Zambia

The Wassinks!

Meet The Wassinks! Left to right (above) Rosie, Lauren, Emma and Henri, our guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. ‘The Experience’ is a weekly radio show airing every Sunday night from 20.30-21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is sponsored by Chanters Lodge and features latest international and Zambian pop music together with animated conversation with our guests of the week!

The Wassinks told us that they had only recently moved to Lusaka, Zambia after a ten year stint working in Ghana. They were in Livingstone for the long holiday weekend to get some rest and to recuperate after a hectic move from one country to another, a stay in temporary accommodation in Lusaka, as well as finding places for and settling Rosie (9) and Emma (8) into school. The girls told us that they were now learning at the International School in Lusaka but that they were missing their friends from school in Ghana. It was most of the family’s first visit to see Victoria Falls though Lauren said she herself had seen the natural wonder from the Zimbabwe side some 18 years ago. Henri had moved to Lusaka to establish his company Liebherr, Zambia having worked for the same organization Liebherr in Ghana.

Henri explained that Liebherr, a German family business was established in 1949 by Hans Liebherr. The great success of his first mobile, easy-to-assemble and affordable tower crane was the foundation on which the company flourished. In Zambia the company sells and provides spares for excavation equipment used mostly in the country’s flourishing copper mines some 500 kms north of Lusaka, as well as in Solwezi, north west of the capital.

The music on the show was great. We opened with tracks from Avicii as well as Sam Smith and Fuse ODG featuring Sean Paul. Milli Jam and Jay chose numbers from Usher, Dandy Crazy, and Olly Murs as well as Jay Rox’s latest hit ‘Khmutima’ – ‘I’ll fix her broken heart’ translated Jay “I bet you would!” Said I. Our pick of the week was Nicki Minaj’s ‘Pills N’Potions’ and the oldie Drake ft Rihanna with ‘Take Care’. Felistus won dinner for two with drinks at the lodge for knowing the artist on the oldie and quickly texting.

The family told us that as well as relaxing at the lodge they had much enjoyed their visit to the Falls – they had got very wet from the spray and Emma thought it was all quite scary! They had loved their sunset cruise on the Lady Livingstone they had taken that very afternoon, and a visit to the reptile park had also gone down well. “Did you hold the snakes?” I asked the girls. “Noooooo!” they laughed. We wondered whether Lauren had also found a job in Lusaka but she replied she had had no time to do so up to now, though being a primary school teacher she hoped for that chance in the future. Both Lauren and Henri were looking forward to welcoming family members for visits to Zambia once they themselves had settled down.

Henri is Dutch from Twente, Lauren English from North London (born in Tottenham and supporting their team – we brushed past this), they had met in Nigeria when Lauren was working for Shell and Henri for a dredging company. Henri’s specialist area is financial management. Henri’s favourite footballer is a chap called Robin van Persie. The girls told us that they loved the music of Katy Perry as well as a particular track called ‘The Fox’. They also loved their iPads!

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now, Henri said he would like to be retired and living near the beach in Thailand. Lauren hoped to be healthy, happy and settled. We wished them all the best for their time in Zambia.

29
MAY

activities, Africa, education, entertainment, football, Germany, Holland, livingstone, Lusaka, music, radioshow, victoriafalls, Zambia

The Kay Jay Experience

We were happy we didn’t have to use his full name when Kay Jay (above) guested on The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient last Sunday night! Why? Well he’s called Kelvin Lisbon Kangwa de Souza which is quite a mouthful! Kay Jay explained to listeners that his father was half Portuguese and half Bemba, hence his Portu-Bemba name. For the uninitiated The Chanters Lodge Experience is our regular Sunday night radio show airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s best loved local radio station. The show streams live on the internet too.

The programme has been running for 4 years and is popular partly because each week we give away a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie of the week. This week the answer was Aliyah and Cedric, age 14, won! He came for lunch on Monday with his elder sister! Awesome! Older people tried to win as well but perhaps their age made them slower off the mark. Just a speculation!

Kay Jay is a senior producer at 107.7 fm having started with the station as a presenter earlier this year. “Meteoric rise to power” commented Milli Jam dryly, who was quick to apologize to listeners for the absence of George da Soulchild Kaufela, usually the co-host of our programme but absent attending and performing at the annual Born ‘N Bred awards show in Lusaka. Kay Jay told listeners that at 107.7 fm he was responsible for making sure that programmes ran on time, advertisements were broadcast on schedule and that all the presenters knew their schedule, reporting in good time accordingly. We wondered what was the biggest challenge of the job. “Frowning faces” he replied and we needed no further explanation. Milli Jam, one of 107.7 fms longest serving presenters, laughed!

The music on the show was right on point as usual. We opened with ‘It’s Not You (It’s Me) by T-Pain vs Chuckie featuring Pitbull back to back with ‘The Believer’ by Common ft John Legend. Milli Jam’s local selections were Orga Family with ‘Nkuku Nankanga’ coupled with ‘Wounded Buffalo’ by Afunika. We featured Nicole Scherzinger’s smash ‘Don’t Hold Your Breath’ and ‘Lottery’ by Stevie Hoang. After Aliyah’s ‘oldie of the week’ we closed with Chris Brown and ‘Thinking Out Loud’ back to back with ‘Who You Are’ – Jesse J’s latest smash.

Kay Jay was very interesting describing his life before joining 107.7 fm. Educated at all grade levels in all boys schools in Lusaka, he said he was now ‘too excited’ when he met girls and used this and ‘financial instability’ as excuses for not yet being married. “I thought it was about love” Milli Jam commented dourly and I said I was sure the Chanters Girls would agree with that! Kay Jay spent some time in Netherlands with Dance For Life – young people all over the world getting into action to stop HIV and making a move to change the future – The Dance4life platform makes all those efforts visible, encouraging even more people to join the movement, Kay Jay explained. He hosted 10 shows and was proud to be one of only 3 African presenters. He had loved the Netherlands and had visited almost all parts of the country.

As a Gunner (Arsenal supporter) Kay Jay was inordinately proud of having shaken hands with Robin van Persie when he was in Holland. We were very jealous! He also met, hugged and we suspect fell in love with Doutzen Kroes the gorgeous Dutch super model. More jealousy on our part! In 10 years time Kay Jay told listeners he wanted to have his own business, a Phd and a wife and family.

Great ambitions, great guest, great show!

14
DEC

Africa, Arsenal, Chanters, charities, communications, education, entertainment, health, Holland, Lusaka, management, medical, music, radioshow, restaurants, Zambia

Hospice Chipata

I came across this in Architecture in Development and liked it. The building is apparently under construction.

Hospice Chipata

A hospice where terminal patients can stay and be cared for in comfortable surroundings. A comfortable stay for 24 to 48 people in a building with a CO2 footprint smaller than an average Dutch household. The building has been built around a core space where staff have an office and medication as well as supplies also having a central storage place.

Around the core a wide corridor links all the rooms together. The corridor also offers space for family and visitors. The round form makes the building not only very efficient and clearly organized but also a pleasant place in which to stay. The first phase concerns the construction of 12 units with 2 beds and shared sanitary supplies. The building has been prepared for easy extension.

The second phase offers 12 more units with supplies. Eventually the hospice will offer room for 48 people. The building will be self-sufficient, generating its own electricity and water supplies and is entirely naturally climatised.

The hospice will be built by the local community with locally available materials.

17
SEP

Africa, architecture, health, Holland, Zambia

Dr Marja Hinfelaar on 107.7 fm

Meet Marja Hinfelaar, pictured above with family friend Frobert Van Zijl (no, that’s not a typo, his name is Frobert!). Marja, an Historian with National Archives of Zambia and a regular Guest at Chanters Lodge, Livingstone, was in town with Frobert, his wife Karyn and their two boys for a weekend visit, so naturally we invited her to guest on The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild!

For the uninitiated that’s our weekly Sunday night radio show airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hours on Zambezi 107.7fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station broadcasting in a range of 70kms around Southern Province, taking in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and the Botswana border as well. The show’s a great mixture of music and chat also featuring international and local chart news, as well as stories from Lodgeblog and a regular prize of a dinner for 2 with drinks at Chanters Lodge, ensuring the show’s popularity in town and around!

Marja told listeners that she’s a Dutch national and had been in Zambia since 1997 but in fact her first visit to this country was in 1990 when her uncle was a catholic priest in Lusaka. She has a Phd in African History from University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. (“Dr Hinfelaar? We hadn’t been told!” I offered). Milli Jam asked Marja about her work with the Livingstone Museum and she told listeners that the museum’s clock tower was now open as an additional gallery. Her new project would involve digitally recording all the highly valuable 19th Century documents including David Livingstone’s letters so that the originals could be removed to safe storage, meaning visitors would still able to peruse the records on computer. This would entail Marja resuming her regular monthly visits to Livingstone. This made us happy!

The music on the show was great. We opened with Enrique Iglesias featuring Usher, Lil Wayne and Nayer and their smash hit ‘Dirty Dancer’ which we played back to back with Gyptian’s latest ‘Let Me In’. Our Zambian tracks plugged Slap Dee’s ‘I Wanna Lose Myself’ coupled with XBoy’s ‘Malita’. (XBoy’s from Livingstone and a regular listener to the show). Milli Jam chose ‘Take Off’ by Chipmunk featuring TreySongz and Bobby V’s ‘Altered Ego’ featuring 50 Cent. Wow! We moved on to Beyonce’s latest ‘Best Thing I Never Had’ back to back with Akon’s ‘Can You Believe’ and closed with Alexandra Stan’s ‘Mr Saxobeat’. All the hits!

We asked Marja and Frobert about their activities while they’d been in Livingstone and Marja told listeners that Frobert and his family had enjoyed their one day safari to Chobe. She hadn’t accompanied them as she didn’t care much for elephants! However, she’d joined them for a game drive in Mosi-o-Tunya National Park and the whole family were delighted that they’d been able to get up really close to the rhino. Of course they’d been to see Victoria Falls and got drenched in the process – as you do at this time of year!

Marja told listeners about a new journal called The Bulletin and The Record published monthly in Lusaka of which she’s an editor and which takes an in-depth look at topical Zambian issues. When asked about her private life she told us she was ‘separated but dating’. ‘Fair enough’ we said! She told listeners that they’d travelled from Lusaka by Proflight on Friday and that the plane had been exactly on time. They were leaving the next day with the same airline.

We gave listeners the chart and blog news, greeted guests and staff at the lodge and gave away a dinner for two to the first person to text us Marja’s country of origin. Good response! Great show!

8
JUN

accommodation, activities, Africa, airlines, Botswana, Chanters, Chobe, entertainment, Holland, livingstone, Lusaka, music, radioshow, victoriafalls, wildlife, Zambia

Skoolboy

“What’s your real name?” I asked our most recent guest (pictured above) on The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Soulchild, our regular Sunday night radio programme airing from 20.30-21.30 hrs on Zambezi Radio 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s most popular local radio station. “Just call me Skoolboy” he replied. “I really need to know your name” I persisted. “Very well” he said “it’s Gift Zhinga but please don’t mention it on air” – and we didn’t! But we weren’t finished with the matter – “How did you get the name ‘Skoolboy'” Milli Jam asked immediately we started the show. Skoolboy (we won’t use Gift Zhinga here either) explained to listeners that he came from a very poor background. He’d been at secondary school at Linda Secondary School in Livingstone and he’d been forced to drive a taxi at night to raise the money for his schooling, his Clients had christened him ‘Skoolboy’ – though it was his granny who’d first given him the name. And it stuck!

Skoolboy was good value on the show. He contacted St Michael and Dandy Krazy, two local music stars for live phone interviews during the programme and we spoke to both of them about an upcoming European tour for Zambian musicians which Skoolboy is trying to arrange. He splits his time between The University of The Hague where he’s studying for a degree in international law and the USA, where he is trying to promote the activities of Dutch Water Dreams, a company with whom he’s involved. He’s certainly been very active since his days of taxi driving at night and trying to stay awake for Grade 12 lessons during the day! Milimo asked him if he’d met Naomi Campbell when he was watching the Charles Taylor trial at the International Court in The Hague, but oh! He had not! “She was well protected” he said.

The music on the show was great. We opened with ‘Up’ – the latest from Justin Bieber featuring Chris Brown. The track went back to back with ‘Never Forget You’, an interesting co-operation between Lupe Fiasco and John Legend. George featured Hamooba with ‘Song Of The Year’ and K’Millian’s ‘Nizakukonda’ on our local music spot, while Milimo played the Dixie Chicks ‘Wide Open Spaces’ back to back with ‘Take Me Away’ by Keisha Cole.

We told the public how to find Lodgeblog and gave them some information about the stories that had featured on the blog the previous week, and as usual we gave listeners to the show news of the charts – UK and USA Pop and USA Country – concentrating on the top 3 in each case. After this spot we played Luke Bryan’s ‘Someone Else Is Calling You Baby’ – the current number one on the US Top 100 Billboard Country! Right up to date on the ‘The Experience’!

Skoolboy revealed that he’s still single (“careful” I cautioned “we have a lot of female listeners and you’ll be getting them worked up!”) He looks forward to being married and having children. He dreams of becoming a fully fledged international lawyer and running his own big enterprise. Seeing what’s he’s achieved so far, we wouldn’t bet against it!

22
FEB

Africa, education, entertainment, Holland, livingstone, music, radioshow, training, transport, usa, Zambia