From Luanshya, Zambia to Okemos, Michigan, USA!

Meet Joyce Kaoma from Luanshya, Zambia, and Richard Craft from Okemos, Michigan, USA, (above) both Guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, our regular Sunday night radio show, airing for an hour at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Joyce is the Director of Child Evangelism Fellowship in Luanshya, and Richard leader of a group of 15 people from Michigan visiting Zambia to give assistance to Joyce in the construction of a building for meetings as well as sleeping facilities in Luanshya for up to 100 people. “Why?” We wondered. Joyce explained that their centre trains Sunday School teachers in Zambia across all church denominations explaining that the philosophy behind the Fellowship was that the training of individuals multiplies their ministry and enables them to reach many more children with the Gospel than they otherwise could. For the past eight years worldwide the organization had trained over 250,000 teachers annually.

“Why are you in Livingstone?” Milli Jam asked, and Richard Craft explained that Livingstone was the start and finish point of their trip. They had flown into Livingstone some 10 days before the show, had spent a couple of nights at Chanters Lodge in order to recover from their very long journey, and to see Victoria Falls. The group had then taken a 13 hour journey by bus to Luanshya, spending their time there tiling, painting and helping Joyce and her colleagues, before the bus journey back to Livingstone. The Americans would be heading back home the following day, whilst the Luanshya contingent would spend another day or two in Livingstone. Asked why they had chosen Chanters Lodge, Richard explained that this was on the recommendation of Steven and Beth Kabamba from the Fellowship – Beth, previously a missionary in Zambia had also provided the link between Michigan and Luanshya.

Both our Guests said that their favourite musical genre was Gospel but we had nothing to offer of that ilk on the show! Instead we opened with latest smash hits from Tinie Tempah ft 2 Chainz then Miley Cyrus – long gone from her Hannah Montana character these days. Milli Jam dropped great Zambian tracks from Pentagon and T-Sean. He also chose Florida Georgia Line’s ‘Cruise’ and Passenger’s latest ‘Holes’. The prize we give each week to the first person to text us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week was quickly snapped up. The track ‘Lonely’ – the artist Akon. We also played Drake’s latest and a new track from Beyonce.

Richard said that he and his group had loved Victoria Falls and one of their number had even braved the bungee jump. Joyce and her team had had no time for such issues! Richard told listeners that he’s an accountant by profession and has his own business staffed by five members of his family as well as himself. The group’s trip had been financed by fund raising and donations in the States and we told him we really admired the contribution they were making to the development of Zambia’s youngsters.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Richard said that he hoped to be retired and travelling, Joyce that she hoped she would have continued to contribute to every child in Zambia having heard the Gospel.

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Octavia Jordan Rocks ‘The Experience!’

Meet Octavia Jordan (pictured above) a pharmacy student from Howard University, Washington DC and our Guest on the most recent edition of the ‘Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Soulchild’. ‘The Experience’ is our weekly radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Octavia had been staying at Chanters Lodge for two weeks while on attachment to Livingstone General Hospital as part of her doctorate. Octavia explained to listeners that she was in her eighth and final year of study to become a pharmacist and that she was the first student from Howard to come to Zambia on attachment. “A pioneer then?” We said. “Yes!” She said. “Are you from Washington?” Milli Jam wondered at the top of the show and Octavia told us that in fact she hails from Ann Arbor in Michigan and that the first years of her study were at the University of Michigan.

Octavia told listeners that this was her first visit to Africa and that for a week before arriving in Zambia she had spent time in Pretoria, South Africa. When she left Livingstone at the end of the following week she would spend another week in the Howard University office there. “Is Zambia what you expected?” wondered Milli Jam, but Octavia seemed not to be sure, so we thought perhaps it wasn’t. She did say that staying in Pretoria was more or less like staying in her home town back in the States with the same restaurants and shops! She loved Zambian people whom she described as warm, friendly and helpful and also liked Zambian food, especially nsima and Zambezi bream!

The music on the show was good, opening with latest tracks from One Direction and Olly Murs. Milimo chose Zambian tracks by Chefy – Foolish Me (“I know this track” said Octavia as one of the Chanters Girls back at the lodge sent me a text to say ‘thanks for playing this one!’) and Salma ft O.C’ ‘Folo Folo’. We also featured tracks from the late great Puff Johnson as well as Justin Bieber with Nicki Minaj, Akon and Icona Pop.

Octavia said she had enjoyed Victoria Falls and had plucked up the courage to do the bungee jump and the bridge swing. “Have you told your mum?” I wondered. She had. “And what did she say?” I asked. “She said I was mad!” The predictable reply. “What did she say when you first told her you were coming to Africa?” I asked. “She told me not to come back married!” From this we deduced that Octavia was single which she confirmed. She said she’d had a good time at one or two of the clubs in Livingstone when she’d been free at weekends and loved Zambian music.

She had watched the Zambian national soccer team on TV too, though she confessed to being more a fan of American football and the Washington Redskins. Octavia was also lucky enough to see the lunar rainbow at the Falls during her visit, which she loved, and had also visited the crocodile park.

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing ten years from now, Octavia told us that she would like to be a practicing pharmacist, specializing, location – geographically open, married with lots of children. We didn’t doubt she would achieve all of that!

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Natalie Foxworthy Live On ‘The Experience’

Meet Natalie Foxworthy (above), Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Soulchild, our weekly radio music and talk show airing every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Natalie was on holiday in Livingstone following a visit to Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, concerning her work as a Projects Officer for Education and Youth Development with Children International.

“What does Children International do?” Milli Jam asked Natalie at the top of the show and she explained that for over 75 years, Children International has been providing critical assistance to children and families struggling in poverty. Through their one-to-one child sponsorship program, they reduce the burden of poverty on impoverished children, invest in their potential and provide them with opportunities to grow up healthy, educated and prepared to succeed and contribute to society. Sponsorship of a child is US$25 per month and Natalie estimated that there are some 18,000 children being helped in Zambia. Natalie oversees Children International’s projects in 13 different countries around the world. A former Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador she did her Masters in International Development at the University of California, San Diego. She hails from Los Angeles. During this visit to Zambia, Natalie had visited some of the poorest ‘compounds’ in Lusaka including Chibolya, Kanyama and George.

Natalie told listeners that she had thoroughly enjoyed her few days in Livingstone. She had flown down from Lusaka with Proflight and on her first afternoon she had loved the sunset cruise on Lady Livingstone, being lucky to have seen a great sunset as well as game in, and on the shores of, the mighty Zambezi. She had been out to Livingstone Island and swum in Angel’s Pool, telling listeners that the water was very cold but she had loved the experience of swimming right on the edge of the stunning Victoria Falls! She had also enjoyed a lion/cheetah encounter that very afternoon. Natalie hoped to visit the Livingstone Museum and to buy some souvenirs before heading back to Lusaka, and then on to Kansas where she now lives.

The music on the show was good and we featured tracks from Sneakbo, Iggy Azalea, Zonefam, Miguel, Bruno Mars, Lawson and Sebastian Ingrosso amongst others. Our oldie of the week was The Kinks – You Really Got Me but the prize went unwon – just too old for our young Zambian listeners I guess! Kaufela and his granny asked to be considered for the prize of a dinner for two at the lodge!

Natalie told listeners that she’d been married for three and a half years and that she met her husband in El Salvador when she was stationed there with the Peace Corps. As yet they had no children. They both loved soccer, Natalie’s an avid Barcelona supporter while her husband prefers Real Madrid. She loves Latin music and speaks fluent Spanish. She had found Chanters Lodge through the Trip Advisor site and had enjoyed her stay at the lodge. She felt she could not visit Zambia without coming to see Victoria Falls and had loved the sight both from Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing ten years from now the gracious and interesting Natalie said she would love to be living in Africa, and working for an NGO involved with youth development. We wished her the best of luck.

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Clive Siviye Rocks ‘The Experience’

Meet Clive Siviye, Guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Kaufela Soulchild – that’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing on
Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, from 20.30 – 21.30 hrs and streaming live. If Clive was a footballer he would probably be described in the media as ‘much travelled’! Why? Well he’d worked for Radio Chengelo, Sky FM, YAR FM and Falls FM – all local radio stations in Zambia, before he came to work for Zambezi 107.7 fm in Livingstone. Clive told listeners that he is a newscaster and current affairs presenter with the station, for whom he has worked for about four months. Was he happy at 107.7 fm? Yes, we got the impression that he was.

Interestingly, Clive told listeners that he had originally wanted to become a catholic priest, and with that calling in mind he had trained for more than four years with the Jesuits before deciding that perhaps the church as a career was not for him. Radio Chengelo, being a catholic radio station, made the link for him to be able to move into a career in journalism/broadcasting. In 2009 Clive was selected by the American Department of State for the award of a scholarship allowing him to leave for George Washington University in Washington DC to study investigative journalism for thirteen months. He had very much enjoyed his time in the States and had travelled widely. “Would you like to go back?” Asked Milli Jam and Clive agreed that yes, he would love to go back to do a Masters degree.

The music on the show was hot with a wide African influence – George dropped a brand new track from K’Millien – ‘Osa Limba Mutima’ back to back with Chefy’s smash hit ‘Foolish Me’ – a remix. Milimo (Milli Jam) chose Danny K’s ‘Brown Eyes’ with Davido’s ‘One Of A Kind’. We played Icona Pop’s number one recording ‘I Love It’ and the title track from Darius Rucker’s album ‘True Believers’. The oldie of the week was Ne-Yo’s ‘Miss Independent’ and the prize we give each week to the first person to text us telling us who’s the performing artist on the track was snapped up after the play had barely begun! My pick was Will.i.am’s ‘Bang-Bang’ and we closed with ‘Walk Like Rihanna’.

Clive told listeners that he was still single but that he had three sisters, one of whom is his twin and who are all married, he also has a younger brother. His musical taste revolved around ‘oldies’ and his favourite artist is Elton John. He is a Chelsea supporter and his favourite player Juan Mata. “They’re trying to sell him, Marinho does not like him” George told us! Kaufela is for Liverpool! Another string to Clive’s bow is that he is a fully fledged IAAF athletics coach and in his younger days was Zambia’s 400m champion.

Living in the tourist capital of Zambia he had experienced many of the tourist activities available but claimed to be ‘too tall’ for bungee jumping! A lame excuse we opined. Asked the inevitable final question of where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Clive said that he wanted to be married with children and working for Al Jazeera.

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Bob, Cindy Orr and The Butterfly Tree

Meet Bob and Cindy Orr, both mathematics teachers from New Jersey, USA, and currently Guests at Chanters Lodge, Livingstone as well as volunteers with the Butterfly Tree Charity working out at Mukuni Village near Livingstone, Zambia. Bob and Cindy were Guests on the most recent edition of ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela’, our regular Sunday night radio show on
Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station.

Bob and Cindy told our listeners that, founded in 2006 by Jane Kaye-Bailey, The Butterfly Tree Charity supports rural communities in Zambia decimated by the HIV and AIDS pandemic – providing safe water, feeding programmes and improved health and education facilities as well as an orphan sponsorship programme. Had they been teaching maths out at the village? We wondered, but this charming couple explained that they’d been busy interviewing and filming the children at the Mukuni Village School with the aim of making a video, and also to help them in the preparation of a programme for students. The video would also eventually be used for fund raising purposes back in the USA.

Bob and Cindy said that not only was this their first visit to Zambia but also to Africa and that they were thrilled with the experience thus far. While most of their time had been taken up out at the village they had had time for one or two tourist activities, namely a one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana and the rhino walk that very morning in our own Mosi-o-Tunya NP in Livingstone. They had enjoyed both trips immensely especially being able to see the animals close up. “Any rhino, elephant and hippo in New Jersey?” We wondered. “Only in zoos!” The predictable reply.

The music on the show was great as usual. We opened with new tracks from Redfoo (of LMFAO fame) and Wiley. Kaufela’s Zambian selections were Roberto’s ‘Eponaba’ and Starn’s ‘Wachimfya’. No translations available! Milli Jam dropped Robin Thicke’s smash ‘Blurred Lines’ back to back with Ne-Yo’s latest ‘Keep Talking’. Our oldie of the week was Beyonce’s ‘Halo’ and the prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up. My pick of the week was Estelle’s ‘Call These Boys Up’ for the Chanters Girls at the lodge.

Bob and Cindy told listeners they had been married for 27 years and had a son and a daughter David 21 and Kate 25 respectively. No grandchildren as yet. We wondered if they had been affected by horrible hurricane Sandy that hit New Jersey recently and they told listeners that although they had lost some 25 trees on their property, otherwise theirs had been a lucky escape, compared to the decimation suffered by other people. The couple were looking forward to seeing the Victoria Falls before they left for the USA and hoped to make a return visit to Zambia in 2014. Music wise Cindy said she loved jazz, Bob that he was more into 60’s and 70’s rock.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now, Bob told listeners that he hoped to still be teaching maths but also being helpful to people in Africa in need of clean water and other assistance. Cindy said she hoped to be travelling, developing her second career as a poet, as well as making a return visit to Zambia.

We wished them the best of luck and thanked them for appearing on our show.

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Dambisa Moyo v Bll Gates – The Beef!

From Forbes Magazine – Feisty Zambian Dambisa Moyo defends herself against Bill Gates’ attack!

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently attended a Q&A session at the University of New South Wales. During the session a member of the audience asked the billionaire philanthropist a question on whether aid in Africa has had far-reaching negative consequences, based on the central idea of Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo’s acclaimed book, Dead Aid, Why Aid Is Not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa.

The lady asked: “Mr. Gates, Dead Aid, a book by Dambisa Moyo, illustrates that giving more aid to Africa over the course of the years did not alleviate poverty, instead it kept the economy crippled with governments asking for more aid. This fluke made a cycle of aid giving which resulted in nothing productive and it has not been used to solve the immediate problems and the money is not being used to make businesses sustainable in Africa. What’s the foundation’s view in this regard?”

Gates, who claims to have read the book, said in response that the author “didn’t know much about aid and what it was doing in Africa,” adding that “Books like that are promoting evil.” Moyo’s book Dead Aid explains how aid continually hampers Africa’s development and the book provides alternative solutions to economic prosperity. It became a New York Times bestseller and went on to be translated into several languages.

Gates’ answer appears to have infuriated Moyo, who subsequently took to her blog and lashed at the billionaire for the ‘shocking’ and ‘inappropriate ad-hominem’ attacks her and her book. Moyo wrote on her blog: “I find it disappointing that Mr. Gates would not only conflate my arguments about structural aid with those about emergency or NGO aid, but also that he would then use this gross misrepresentation of my work to publicly attack my knowledge, background, and value system.”

The former Goldman Sachs consultant continued: “I have dedicated many years to economic study up to the PhD level, to analyze and understand the inherent weaknesses of aid, and why aid policies have consistently failed to deliver on economic growth and poverty alleviation. To this, I add my experience working as a consultant at the World Bank, and being born and raised in Zambia, one of the poorest aid-recipients in the world. This first-hand knowledge and experience has highlighted for me the legacy of failures of aid, and provided me with a unique understanding of not only the failures of the aid system but also of the tools for what could bring African economic success.”

So far, it looks like Dambisa is winning. Several commentators on the YouTube video have equally lashed out at Gates.

One said, “This man didn’t read the book, from his arguments that is very clear. This is a grave and insulting misrepresentation of a well written/structured book with criticisms of AID that have been made for decades. We must not give time to wealthy, arrogant, white men like Bill Gates.”

While another wrote, “Bill Gates you need to read the book again. Dambisa does not criticise emergency and humanitarian aid, she welcomes it. The problem is the government to government, IMF, WB and other non-binding economic growth support which has not worked in the last 50 years. It has successfully made African economies dependent on life support. Read it again and continue doing the great vaccination project in Africa.”

Moyo, 44, is a Zambian national and has a PhD in economics from the St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University. She previously worked as a consultant at Goldman Sachs and as an economist for the World Bank. She is the author of Dead Aid, Why Aid Is Not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa, How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly – And the Stark Choices that Lie Ahead and Winner Take All: China’s Race for Resources and What It Means for the World.

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Heartspring Pulls At The Heartstrings On ‘The Experience’!

Heartspring is a Christian orphanage located in Livingstone, Zambia and is presently the home for 28 orphan boys and 32 girls. It is overseen by a Board of Directors composed of 8 Christian men and women from Livingstone.  Jacob Sianungu is the Chairman of the Board. JL Brazell (pictured above with Janice Soudbash) originally met Jacob in Swaziland when they were both involved in a mission there and together started Heartspring. We were delighted to welcome JL (for the second time) and Janice as Guests on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild. ‘The Experience’ is our regular Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station airing from 20.30-21.30 hrs CAT, and streaming live on the internet. (In this regard we were delighted to get a message during the show from Esmail Jasat in London who was listening to the stream).

Janice and JL told listeners that they were tired from dancing with the children at the Orphanage almost the whole of that day but that they had loved the interaction. They were delighted with the way the orphanage was growing and developing and they felt that the future was bright for the children in care. They emphasised that none of the children would be ‘thrown out’ of the orphanage at a certain age unless they had a secure future. Janice and JL were part of a group of six sponsors of the orphanage staying at Chanters Lodge, and in Zambia to check on the progress of the institution. JL, fund raiser supreme, told listeners that the best way to get people to help sponsor the project was to bring them over to show them the work being done. Janice lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico while JL lives in Kansas to be close to his grandchildren. We learned that both JL and Janice have been married to their respective partners for more than 50 years!

We opened the show with Zambia’s latest smash hit track ‘Sinjonjo’ by Zonefam which surely had the Chanters Girls dancing back at the lodge – and the children in the orphanage too if they were listening! Sinjonjo was played back to back with Charlie Brown’s ‘On My Way’. George featured tracks by Zambia’s JK and Salma. Milli Jam favoured Davido and Taylor Swift. George’s choice of Elton John’s ‘Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word’ as oldie of the week had everyone fooled and no-one won the prize we give each week to the first person to text us telling us who is the performing artist on the track! We won!

JL and Janice told listeners that they and their group had spent some days in Kruger NP in South Africa before coming to Zambia on this trip and had managed to see ‘The Big Five’. They had also visited Swaziland. It was Janice’s first visit to Zambia and she had been suitably impressed by Victoria Falls. She told listeners that she had a daughter living in Burkino Fasso whom she hoped to visit next year. Her son-in-law was involved with Living Water International in that country.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be ten years’ from now, JL said he would like to be driving his own car with grand-children in the back screaming and yelling, Janice that she hoped still to be in good health and travelling. We thanked them for their work with Heartspring and for giving up their time to appear on our show.

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A Bad Day At Work

Thanks to Judy in Australia for this gem. We have started off badly this Monday morning but next time you have a bad day at work think of this guy.

Bob is a commercial deep sea diver for Global Divers in Louisiana. He performs underwater repairs on offshore drilling rigs. Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent it to radio station 103.5FM dial in Indiana, who was sponsoring a worst job experience contest. Needless to say, she won. Read his letter below…

“Hi Sue,

Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother. Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you’ve been feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma with you to make you realize your job’s not so bad after all. Before I can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you with a few technicalities of my job. As you know, my office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It’s a wet suit. This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is this:

We have a diesel powered industrial water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped to the air hose. Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I’ve used it several times with no complaints. What I do, when I get to the bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the back of my wet suit. This floods my whole suit with warm water. It’s like working in a Jacuzzi.

Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it. This only made things worse. Within a few seconds my ass started to burn. I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done. In agony I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. Now, since I don’t have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn’t stick to it, however, the crack of my ass was not as fortunate.

When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my ass. I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing hysterically. Needless to say, I aborted the dive. I was instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression stops totalling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the surface to begin my chamber dry decompression.

When I arrived at the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet. As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the chamber. The cream put the fire out, but I couldn’t shit for two days because my ass was swollen shut.

So, next time you’re having a bad day at work, think about how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up your ass. Now repeat to yourself, ‘I love my job, I love my job, I love my job.’

Whenever you have a bad day, ask yourself, is this a jellyfish bad day? May you NEVER have a jellyfish bad day! !!!!

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Justin Brinkhoff on ‘The Experience’

Meet Justin Brinkhoff (above) from Denver, Colorado. Colorado was a ‘swing state’ in the recent US election and also one of the states that legalized the social smoking of marijuana in a vote at the same time. “What did you think of the election?” we asked Justin when he appeared as a Guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. (That’s our regular Sunday night radio show on local radio in Livingstone). “We were happy Obama won” replied Justin “and the vote on marijuana was somehow a natural progression, as the drug was already allowed in Colorado for medical purposes, we’re not yet sure how the law will be implemented.”

Justin told listeners that he worked for Visa, the credit card company, but revealed that the company did not give him an unlimited free credit card with which to go on holiday (surprise, surprise!) He’s a computer programmer and he revealed that he was in Zambia with his wife Rebekah who was resting back at Chanters Lodge where they were staying. Before coming to Livingstone they had spent a fantastic week in the South Luangwa National Park, staying at Flatdogs. During their safaris they had seen four of the ‘big five’. They had not seen rhino but had made up for this by taking the rhino walk with Bwaato Adventures in Livingstone the previous day, they had seen all nine rhino in the Mosi-o-Tunya NP and had been thrilled! The day of the show, Justin and Rebekah had taken the one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana and had seen an amazing number of elephant and crocodile – as you usually do in Chobe.

Milli Jam wanted to know Justin’s musical tastes and he revealed that he’s still very much into 80’s rock, loving bands like Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses and AC/DC. On this show we featured tracks by Bruno Mars, Example, Exile and Nalu, Mr Vezzy, Rihanna ft Chris Brown and Alicia Keys. Our oldie of the week was by Zambian artists Amayange and the prize for guessing the artists on the track – ‘Dyress’ was quickly snapped up by text, and once again we had a great response. My pick of the week was Tulisa’s ‘Live Your Life’ and we closed with Carrie Underwood’s ‘Two Black Cadillacs’ – after a little presenter confusion!

Justin revealed that when he and Rebekah, a project engineer in a construction company back in America, had been in the Luangwa Valley they had spent one day volunteering in one of the local schools in Mfue and they had loved the experience, relating well to the children who had sung and danced for them! It was their first time to come to Africa. They hoped to spend some time in Zimbabwe and South Africa after leaving Zambia. Justin revealed that they had first met on a blind date organized by his brother in law and that he and Rebekah had been married for two years.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time Justin replied that he and Rebekah would like to be travelling full time with their children! “Get in” we said!

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Brian Suto & Jen Gase rock ‘The Experience’!

What do the average Washington DC investment adviser (with Charles Schwab ) and partner, an IT project manager, do on their Sunday night in Livingstone, Zambia just 10 kms away from the mighty Victoria Falls? Why, appear on the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela of course! That’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing weekly between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Joking apart we were delighted that Brian Suto and Jen Gase (pictured above), our Guests at Chanters Lodge, agreed to appear on our show. Lively and interesting Guests they were too.

Brian and Jen told listeners that although they’d only arrived in Livingstone at lunch time the previous day, on their first afternoon they’d already taken the sunset cruise on the Zambezi on Lady Livingstone which they’d thoroughly enjoyed. On the morning of the show they’d been to Mukuni Big 5 for the lion encounter and then walked out to Livingstone Island to swim in Devil’s Pool, which they described as ‘stunning’. The following day they were scheduled for a half day’s white water rafting before they left Chanters for the Zambezi Waterfront to link up with G Adventures. They explained that they were booked for an eight day camping overland trip with Gap, taking them from Zimbabwe to Johannesburg via Kruger NP. “Looking forward to it?” George, the host for the day, wanted to know. “We are” replied Brian “but I’m not too sure about the camping.” Jen gave a knowing laugh. “Washington investment adviser camping?” She seemed to be thinking, sure……

George wanted to know if the couple lived near the White House and our Guests said that they lived just 10kms away. Had they met President Obama? We wanted to know, they had not, but they hoped to and were delighted he had won the election. So were we. Music wise Brian told listeners he was into rap, whereas Jen liked softer music such as Mumford and Sons. On this show we featured tracks from The Wanted as well as Christina Aguilera at the top of the show. Zambian tracks were from T-Sean and Zone Fam, which we followed up with offerings from Lana del Rey and Keri Hilson. Our oldie of the week was Danny’s ‘Could I Be’ and we had a great response from listeners by text telling us who was singing the track – all trying to win dinner for two at the lodge. Vuuka won.

Asked where they’d met, Brian and Jen said it had been in Florida where they’d been working for the same company. “Was it love at first sight?” George wanted to know “not really” seemed to be the reply. They told listeners they’d been married for two years. Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing 10 years from now, Jen said she wanted still to have Brian by her side along with 2+ children, Brian seemed to want to be running a small lodge somewhere other than in America – as you do when you’re an investment adviser!!

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