Left to right (above) meet Heidi Buhler, Chris Buhler and Maja Mores-Buhler, Swiss Guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela – that’s our weekly Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. You will of course assume that all these Buhlers are related…. Wrong! Heidi and Maja are friends, while Chris and Maja are married and the fact that Heidi has the same surname was, we were assured on the show, pure coincidence! I originally had things so wrong I had to re-write the script for the show a couple of days before we went on air to reflect these relationships!

It was a good show, we air live between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs every Sunday and play latest music interspersed by chat with our Guests. Heidi and Maja explained that they were in Livingstone as volunteers with the Book Bus, based just around the corner from Chanters Lodge at The Grotto. They explained to listeners that they were both librarians by profession back in Bern, Switzerland so when they decided they would like to visit Africa and Zambia for the first time, The Book Bus seemed a natural choice of project. The Book Bus aims to improve child literacy rates in Africa, Asia and South America by providing children with books and the inspiration to read them. In Livingstone the organization has a converted truck packed full of books and volunteers that goes daily from school to school helping the children.

“Are you also a volunteer with The Book Bus?” Milli Jam asked Chris who said “no” and then explained that he had some free time from his job as an English teacher at Fachmittelschule Neufeld in Bern during the summer holidays, so he had come ‘along for the ride’. While Maja and Heidi were camping at The Grotto with the other volunteers Chris was staying at Chanters Lodge. He told us that he and Maja had been married ten years although they had been childhood sweethearts at school, only to meet up again later in life and marry! They have one son and one grand-daughter Emma, half a year old and the apple of their eyes! Heidi said she was married but now had a partner back in Switzerland.

The music on the show was hot! We featured tracks from Avicii, Robin Thicke, Mampi, Dandy Krazy, Mariah Carey and Kelly Rowland. Our oldie of the week was by Nicki Minaj and the prize of a dinner for two with drinks at the lodge which we give to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up. My pick was by Lucy Spraggan and we closed with Ellie Goulding’s beautiful ‘You’re My Everything’.

Chris told us that his favourite music is oldies in general and The Beatles in particular. Maja likes Mumford and Sons while Heidi does not like music. This shocked Milli Jam and George! Chris and Maja love swimming while Heidi likes downhill skiing and tennis. Whilst in Livingstone they had seen Victoria Falls, taken a sunset cruise and had been for high tea at the Royal Livingstone. They were very much looking forward to a four day safari in Zimbabwe at the end of the week when the volunteer stint was over, after that they would return to Switzerland with great memories of Zambia in general, and Livingstone in particular.

If you missed the show and would like a listen, here’s a link to the podcast.