volunteers – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

Kim Musonda in the house – again!

No, not the Big Brother Africa House this time, but the studios of Zambezi 107.7 fm in Livingstone, the city’s leading local radio station and host to the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. That’s the regular Sunday night radio show we sponsor, airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs every Sunday night! Kim was the Guest on the most recent edition. To the uninitiated, Kimberly Musonda (pictured above) was one of Zambia’s representatives in the Big Brother Africa house in South Africa, 2011 edition, on MultiChoice DSTV, staying in the house for 88 days and thus becoming one of the last seven contestants. “Did you fall in love on the show?” We wanted to know. “I had ‘almosts’ and crushes” she replied. We laughed.

Kim lives in Livingstone and was educated at Macha Girls Secondary School in Southern Province though for a large part of her childhood she was brought up in Botswana where her dad was working for the UN. After Grade 12 she toyed with further education in journalism but gave it up to follow a beauticians’ course at Kabwe Trades Training Institute. She is now a qualified masseur and can fix your hair, nails and skin too if you have an appointment. She has established her own business ‘House Of Kim’ and deals in cosmetics, apart from organizing the media dates, promotions and endorsements that have followed her successful stint in the Big Brother House. “How did you manage to get chosen for Big Brother”? Milli Jam wondered. Kim explained that she had applied on line along with thousands of other people and was eventually chosen from some 5000 other auditioned candidates. She said she’d been surprised to be chosen as she is rather quiet by nature and had even nearly missed the auditions. “What did your parents say when they heard you were to appear?” We wondered. “My dad told me not to tell my mum”! Was the reply. “Quiet by nature……” I wondered. She did admit later that she was ‘fun loving’! That somehow sounded more likely!

The music on the show was latest and featured new tracks from Rihanna, One Direction, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys and Ne-Yo internationally and ZoneFam and JK on the Zambian scene. The oldie of the week was Jennifer Hudson’s ‘Spotlight’ and the prize of a dinner for two at Chanters Lodge given to the first person to text us telling us the name of the artist on the oldie of the week was quickly snapped up. As usual we gave listeners all the latest news from the lodge, the social media scene and the US and UK charts.

Kim told listeners about her voluntary work for the “Give A Little To Save A Soul” not for profit organization which collects contributions from the public and distributes them to the old peoples’ home in Livingstone, as well as to local orphanages. She announced that there would be a party at one of the local Livingstone schools on Independence Day – October 24th in order to raise funds and she appealed to the audience for contributions. Are you “married or single?” Milli Jam wondered later. “Neither” Kim replied “occupied”. “We see” we said. “I also have a crush on Chris Brown” she admitted……

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing 10 years from now she replied that she would like to be married with two children, highly involved in the media with a lot of blessings and endorsements. She would also have love to have her own fashion label. I wouldn’t bet against this vivacious, personable, pretty Zambian girl achieving that!

5
OCT

Africa, charities, children, entertainment, fashion, guests, music, radioshow, rsa, volunteers, Zambia

Lucas and Liz Messick

“What a happy loving couple!” I hear you say about the picture (above) of Lucas and Liz Messick, and you’d be right! This young duo from Pennsylvania, USA appeared on the latest edition of our Sunday night radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. The show airs every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s firmly established local radio station and streams live on the internet too! Lucas and Liz were hoping their families back in the States would be tuned in! “How long have you been married?” Milli Jam wanted to know at the top of the show, “just eight months” they replied. “Awwwww”! We said!

Lucas and Liz told listeners that they’d been in Zambia for the past five weeks volunteering at Macha Mission Hospital – Macha Mission is a mission station in the Choma District of the Southern Province of Zambia. The hospital has 200 beds and is a vital service in this rural area. Liz is training to be a physician’s assistant and is doing a two year Masters course at Lock Haven University for her qualification – this stint at Macha formed part of her course. Lucas is an accountant in the family business back home, the family has five stores selling ‘farming implements’ – he admitted that Bruce Springsteen, who has a ranch in Pennsylvania, buys tractors from his company – farming implements indeed! Nothing like hoes and rakes! Whilst in Macha Lucas had been helping with the books at the Mission.

The music on the show was the usual great mix. Tracks from The Wanted and Amelia Lily started us off, then George played Ozzy’s ‘You’re The Reason’ and Ty2’s ‘Spotlight’ as his local Zambian choices. The latter was the oldie of the week, and the prize we give each week to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie, was quickly snapped up! Great! Milli Jam dropped Chris Brown’s smash ‘Don’t Wake Me Up’ and we followed with latest tracks from Carly Rae Jepsen as well as Psy’s Gangnam Style – over 200 million hits on YouTube for Korean Psy!

Liz and Lucas told listeners they’d loved their trip to Chobe in Botswana that day and had been lucky to see lions, as well as hundreds and hundreds of elephant. They had enjoyed Victoria Falls and had been to see them from the Zimbabwe side as well. Liz was rather disappointed that there was not more water going over, due to it being the dry season, but thought it a good reason to come back to Zambia again after the rainy season. She had learned some Tonga while in Zambia and she and Milli Jam started chatting away in his language. He loved it!

Lucas expressed a great love of TV show Top Gear and sport – especially American Football – he had even been following a game between Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens that day on the internet at Chanters! He also revealed that he plays the french horn in an orchestra back in America and is into classical music. Liz is more into Christian music and was happy when I told her that Lecrae’s new album ‘Gravity’ was high in the US album charts as we went on air. We give listeners chart and social media news every week on our show.

Saying that they were flying back to America the following day, and asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, they said they hoped to have two children, to be following the Lord and to have great jobs! We wished them well.

21
SEP

Africa, Botswana, entertainment, radioshow, religion, sport, tourism, travel, usa, victoriafalls, volunteers, Zambia

Varndean College In Livingstone!

It’s quite unusual for us to feature Guests staying at Livingstone facilities other than Chanters Lodge on our regular Sunday night radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela – but we were more than happy to host Alrik Green with students Grace Potter and Nino Rapa pictured above. Alrik is a lecturer, Grace and Nino graduate students from Varndean College in Brighton, UK – the guys were actually staying at JollyBoys Backpackers with the rest of their student group. We were delighted to invite them on to our programme so our listeners could hear all about their work with the Kaloko Community on the Copperbelt in Zambia, organized by the Kaloko Trust in UK. Alrik and I have known each other for several years, meeting during one of his previous visits to Zambia. Our radio show airs every Sunday night at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station.

Grace,18 and Nino,17 told listeners that they’d worked for two weeks with the Kaloko Community in Luansobe, some 60 kms from Ndola in Northern Zambia, helping local carpenters to make desks and chairs for local schools that were short of furniture. Were they experienced carpenters themselves, we wondered? “We are now!” Was the smart reply. Where had they stayed while they were there, Milli Jam wanted to know. “In rondavels” they replied, Grace going on to say that the 9 girls with whom she’d shared a ‘dormitory room’ had formed a group now known as the ‘Zambezi Babes’. Had they enjoyed the experience? You bet they had! Some of the group had also helped with some teaching in the local primary school.

The music on the show had an immediate Brighton bias as we featured Conor Maynard’s latest UK smash ‘Vegas Girl’. Conor hails from Brighton and it turned out that Nino and Conor had at one time attended the same school. We coupled ‘Vegas Girl’ with Karmin’s ‘Brokenhearted’ also a huge hit in both UK and USA. Other tracks featured on the show were from Zambian artists B-Flo and Danny, as well as Kelly Rowland’s latest ‘Ice’ featuring Lil Wayne and Nigerian star 2 Face with ‘Bad Girl – Bad Man’. Our oldie of the week was ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ from Puff Daddy Diddy and the prize we give every week to the first person to text us the name of the artist on the track was quickly snapped up! Other tunes were from Cady Groves and Scissor Sisters.

Our Guests told us they are fans of ‘The Seagulls’ – Brighton and Hove Albion, the city’s own Championship football club. “What kind of city is Brighton” Milimo wondered, to which the reply was “big, loud and known as ‘London-By-The-Sea’!” Asked about their favourite musical artists Grace recommended Beyonce, and Nino David Bowie but all three rated Rizzle Kicks – a Brighton band. “So do we” we commented “we’ve played their tracks several times on our show”. Alrik, Nino and Grace all spoke highly of the Zambian music they’d heard when they were on the Copperbelt, and they’d also learned to speak a few words in Bemba.

Had the visitors had time for tourist activities while they’d been in Livingstone? Yes, and Nino would be taking the microlight flight over the Falls the following day.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years time, the students hoped they would be working and living in Zambia, Alrik hoped he would still be teaching and taking students as great as Grace and Nino on tour to places like Zambia! The group greeted friends back at Jollyboys and their families at home in UK. Our show streams live on the net so we hoped the people overseas caught their messages!

Great guys, great show!

1
AUG

activities, Africa, Brighton, development, education, entertainment, innovation, livingstone, music, radioshow, uk, volunteers, Zambia

The Peace Corps and The Experience

Meet Jenni Kuker (above right) and her mum Jan who 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 regular Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The programme is a relaxing mixture of music and chat. Jenni and her parents, who come from the USA, were staying at Chanters Lodge on a visit to see Victoria Falls. When Milli Jam asked Jenni “what brought you to Zambia?” She exclaimed “adventure!” And went on to tell listeners that she is a Peace Corps volunteer and that she’d been based in Zambia since July 2010, stationed 200 kms east of Lusaka in Luangwa. Her parents were on a visit to see her, as well as to do some sight seeing.

Jenni explained that she held two degrees, one in psychology and one in nursing from University of Portland in Oregon, USA. She told listeners that in Luangwa she stayed in a mud hut without electricity, and had been mostly living on a diet of village chickens and bananas. That part of Eastern Zambia is famous for the production of the latter, and Jenni told listeners she was now expert in the production of banana bread, banana fritters and banana pancakes! She was involved with health care education in a rural clinic and would finish her stint in Zambia in September this year. She was looking forward to showing her parents ‘the village’ and then taking them on Safari in the South Luangwa National Park staying at Flatdogs.

The music on the show was right up to date as usual. We opened with Rihanna’s ‘Where Have You Been’ – her upcoming single release, back to back with Conor Maynard’s ‘Can’t Say No’. Conor’s single was number two in the UK charts as the show went on air. Hailing from Brighton Conor is billed as ‘Britain’s answer to Justin Bieber’. The mind boggles – but it’s a good single. For his Zambian pick George dropped one of his own great tracks ‘Your Love’ featuring Jay Fantasy back to back with JK’s smash featuring Salma ‘Kapilipili’. Milli Jam chose the ‘oldie of the week’ Charice’s ‘Pyramid’ and my phone was hot with folks texting in to tell us the name of the artist, in order to win a dinner for two at the lodge. Jacque won. We closed with Maroon 5 ft Wiz Khalifa and ‘Payphone’.

Jan told listeners that she and husband David (listening to the show back at the lodge) had been married 43 years and were both retired. They had both worked in human resources prior to retirement. They were thoroughly enjoying their first visit to Zambia. Jenni told us that a lack of privacy in the village had been the hardest thing to accept when she arrived in Luangwa, and said she had overcome the problem by building a fence. She wanted to work in specialized surgical nursing when she returned to the USA, and mum wanted her to find a husband. ‘No need to return to the States for that’ texted one bright spark ‘plenty of eligible men in Zambia’. We laughed.

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Jenni replied that she would like to be nursing somewhere in the world with Medecins Sans Frontiers. I’m sure it will happen!

26
APR

activities, Africa, entertainment, garden, health, radioshow, South Luangwa, tourism, usa, victoriafalls, volunteers, Zambia

Musical Instruments from Vancouver to Lusaka

This piece from the Vancouver Sun caught my eye – more especially as I have a sister and niece in Vancouver and family in other parts of Canada too! It’s a great story!

As you read this, there’s a ship bound for Africa with 126 musical instruments on board. They’re all from Greater Vancouver save for one, a double bass, that was trucked here from Toronto. There are violins, guitars, drums, clarinets, trumpets, trombones, cellos, a euphonium, recorders, tubas, that double bass and three pianos, including an old, elegant, and lovingly restored upright that once adorned the hallway of a 100-plus-year-old house on Kits Point.

The ship left Vancouver on Boxing Day for Italy, Oman and ultimately Tanzania, where the instruments will be unloaded and trucked to their final destination, the Ngomo Dolce Music Academy in Lusaka, Zambia and the 100 or so students who study there.

At least if everything goes according to plan, they will. It is Africa, after all, and as Heidi Krutzen (above), the Vancouver harpist who organized the expedition knows, things don’t always run smoothly. Nevertheless, she hopes they’ll arrive in March. And she intends to be there when they do — she left Vancouver Sunday, headed for Zambia by way of Scotland. “I get a lot out of this. I love seeing the smiles on the children’s faces and knowing I’ve made a difference to them. And I learn a lot whenever I’m there.”

It was on a 2011 visit to Zambia that Krutzen learned about the Ngomo Academy. She and a colleague, Jocelyn Banyard, were there working on behalf of Malambo Grassroots, a society they’d created to foster education, village health and income generation for women, when she heard about the stifling three-room schoolhouse and its struggling staff of four full-time and two part-time teachers endeavouring to teach western music to about 100 eager students using a few electric keyboards, drums and, bizarrely, a harpsichord. They even had a small collection of handmade instruments.

“I thought it was wonderful what they were trying to do there,” Krutzen recalls, “but Africa wasn’t supposed to be about music for me. It’s what I do all the time, so I didn’t want to get involved. But when I got home, the wheels started spinning.”

An email to colleagues at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra about the school resulted in a violin, a violin case and a piece of music. The next day it brought a piano. After that, a deluge “from the opera, the freelance music community, music schools, music businesses, the jazz community, the world music community”.

But before it could be sent anywhere, it all had to be recorded, stored, wrapped and boxed, a task that took Krutzen hundreds and hundreds — and hundreds — of hours to accomplish.

No wonder she wants to see it arrive.

25
FEB

Africa, Canada, charities, Lusaka, music, People, volunteers

Lauren MacLean Dreams Livingstone!

It was fascinating to talk to Lauren MacLean (above), a guest at Chanters Lodge, 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 airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm from 20.30 to 21.30 hrs CAT, sponsored by Chanters Lodge, and co-hosted by two of Livingstone’s best and brightest DJ’s/presenters! The show also streams lives on the internet on the 107.7 fm site.

Lauren, a nurse by profession, hails from Stonewall, Manitoba, Canada. Before she and husband Robert, owner of a trucking company, left for Africa they raised funds from friends and family to help needy people in Livingstone. Since they arrived, she told listeners, they’d been visiting various projects with the team from Dream Livingstone, a local NGO. Amongst other visits were those to Project HIV and Village of Hope. Lauren told us that as a result of their visit they would be going ahead to make the donations they had planned. “Fantastic!” We said.

Lauren told listeners that on their African adventure, before they’d come to Zambia, she and her husband had spent time in Botswana which they’d enjoyed, despite there having been a lot of rain. They’d also spent two weeks on safari in Tanzania where they’d had a fantastic time in the Serengeti and at the Ngorongoro Crater. From Tanzania, Lauren and Rob had gone to Zanzibar, which they’d enjoyed, although Robert, a scuba diver when he’s on vacation, was disappointed that the windy weather had prevented him from diving in the Indian Ocean.

The music on the show was right up to date as usual. We opened with the latest number one singles from both the UK and USA respectively – Cover Drive’s ‘Twilight’ and Adele’s ‘Set Fire To The Rain’. George chose ‘Bola’ by Ozzy, Ben Blaze and Kabova, being a tribute to the Zambian national football team and the great progress they were making in the African Cup Of Nations, 2012 edition. George coupled this with a super new single from K’Millian simply titled ‘Number 1’. Milli Jam dropped Chris Brown’s ‘Strip’ and ‘International Love’ by Pitbull and Chris Brown. Both great tracks.

Our ‘oldie of the week’ was Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’, and the prize for telling us the name of the artist by text, was quickly snapped up! Our pick of the week – tip for the top – was Alyssa Reid featuring Jump Smokers with ‘Alone Again’. We closed with Alexandra Burke’s ‘Elephant’. As usual we gave listeners details about Lodgeblog, our Twitter account @livilodge and all the latest chart news from UK, USA and in this instance Canada as well!

We wondered whether Lauren and Rob had been able to do any of the tourist activities in Livingstone having been so busy with their wonderful volunteer projects. Lauren replied that that very morning they’d taken a helicopter flight over Victoria Falls which had been awesome, and then had spent the day seeing the Falls from the ground. They’d loved it. “How long will you be in Zambia?” Milli Jam wondered and Lauren explained that the next day they’d be leaving for their 27+ hour journey back to cold Canada. She assured listeners that they would be back in Africa one of these fine days..

Milli Jam wondered where Lauren would like to be, and what she would like to be doing, in ten years’ time. She replied that as she loved her job, she hoped she would still be nursing and also that she and Rob would have started a family. We thanked her for her work for the underprivileged in Zambia and for appearing on our show, as well as wishing her the best of luck.

8
FEB

Africa, Canada, charities, entertainment, livingstone, music, radioshow, volunteers, Zambia

Trine Lise Sletteng & Britania Lomax on ‘The Experience’

Chanters Lodge has enjoyed tremendous support from the Norwegian community in Zambia, and indeed from Norwegians in Norway, since the lodge opened in July 1998. In recent years, we have often accommodated students during the notoriously ‘slow’ months in Livingstone of January and February. This year is no exception, so we were delighted to invite Trine Sletteng (left) and Britania Lomax (above) on to the most recent edition of ‘The Experience’ – that’s our regular Sunday night radio show on
Zambezi 107.7 fm, airing at 20.30 hrs for an hour, and streaming live on the internet. Our show is a great mixture of Zambian and international pop music as well as lively chat with our guests of the week, and is hosted by Milli Jam and George Kaufela, two of Livingstone’s top DJ’s/radio presenters.

Trine and Britania, guests at the lodge, are student teachers at the University of Tromso in northern Norway, Trine is in her 4th year of study and Britania her 3rd. The girls told listeners that they were in Zambia for one month’s practical teaching training at Nansanzu Basic School in Livingstone, but they had not yet started their work due to a string of unforeseen circumstances at the school. They were scheduled to begin their teaching stints the following day. “Nervous?” We wondered. “More nervous about appearing on radio right now!” They replied, but we assured them that there was no need to be nervous about either event! We were sure the Grade 8 and Grade 9 students they were scheduled to teach would be delighted to see and learn from them. Between them the girls would be teaching art, history, home economics and English.

The music on the show was great and rather different on this edition. We opened with ‘Drive By’ from Train – not a well known band in Zambia. This was coupled with ‘Only Human’ by Tim McGraw featuring Ne-Yo, a track from Tim’s latest country album. George featured ‘Vitumbuwa’ a huge Zambian hit for 2in1 (the word means fritters, fried food hawked by street traders in Zambian cities). He coupled that with Slap D featuring Maureen Lilanda with ‘Iyo Nyimbo’. Milli Jam picked Sean Paul’s ‘Hold On’, back to back with K’Naan featuring Nelly Furtado with ‘Anyone Out There?’

One of the reasons our show is popular locally is that we give away a prize of a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge every week to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. This week the track was Destiny’s Child’s ‘Bootylicious’ and the prize was quickly snapped up! Another regular feature on the show is our ‘pick of the week’ – a track that we’re tipping for chart success in the future. This week our selection was Flo Rida ft T_Pain and LMFAO with ‘Run To You’. We closed the show with Cover Drive’s hot single ‘Twilight’.

Trine and Britania told listeners they were single and married respectively and that Tromso had been very warm recently but was very cold when they left for Africa. “Very warm?” we queried. “Yes” they said, it was +1C. We laughed and gave them an idea of what ‘very warm’ meant in Livingstone! The girls told us about the walking safari they’d done a few days previously in the Mosi-o-Tunya National Park as well as the gorge swing and flying fox they’d braved that very day. Had Livingstone been what the girls expected? “Oh yes!” They said “we were told its real name is Luvingstone and we do love it!” We loved them too, wishing them the best of luck while they were here!

Faced with the inevitable ‘last question’ Trine said that in ten years’ time she’d like to be settled down with a good job, nice home and two children. Britania told listeners she would be ‘travelling the world one day at a time’. “Good luck!” We said!

31
JAN

Africa, Chanters, education, entertainment, livingstone, music, Norway, training, volunteers, Zambia

Dave & Hazel Roberts guest on ‘The Experience’

Meet old friends of mine Dave and Hazel Roberts (above), lively guests on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. For the uninitiated ‘The Experience’ is our popular Sunday night radio show airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, and streaming live on the internet. Zambezi 107.7 fm studios are situated on the 6th floor of Mosi-o-Tunya House, the large office block in downtown Livingstone opposite Livingstone Museum, and that’s where we go to broadcast our live show every Sunday evening!

The programme is a great mixture of international and local music as well as fascinating conversation with our weekly guests. We give away a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge every week to the first listener to text us, telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. This week the track was Phil Collins’ ‘Do You Remember?’ The prize was quickly snapped up by Mwiinga. We also feature my ‘Pick Of The Week – Tip For The Top’ and my selection on this particular show was JLS with ‘Pieces Of My Heart’ – we’ll see what happens in the charts if and when the track’s released as a single.

Dave and Hazel told listeners this was their third visit to Zambia. They’d stayed in Livingstone from1998 to 2000 when they’d spent two years as volunteers at David Livingstone Teacher Training College, teaching student mathematics teachers. The Roberts’ are both qualified maths teachers, and noted on air that the standard of maths teaching in Zambia had not been very good in the past. They felt they’d contributed a lot to help rectify this situation during their time in Zambia. They’d volunteered through VSO twice more after leaving Zambia, once in Malawi and once in Senegal and they’d also enjoyed both these tours of duty. Their current visit was part of a four week African holiday which had taken them first to South Africa then to Zambia. They were enjoying meeting old friends in Livingstone as well as visiting old haunts like Chanters Lodge, and they told listeners proudly that they’d been two of the very first customers at the lodge when it opened in 1998. “That’s true!” I confirmed.

The music on the show was good, we opened with ‘Hurts Like Heaven’ a track from the brilliant Coldplay album ‘Mylo Xyloto’ back to back with ‘Convertible’ a great new recording from Chris Brown. George chose Exile’s ‘Auwe’ coupled with Ty2 featuring Kaufela with ‘Spotlight’ – this was a special request from Dave and Hazel who demanded to hear some of George’s work. “It’s a great track!” They said. “Of course!” We said. Milimo dropped Bei Maejor’s ‘Fell In Love On The Dance Floor’ and Ne-Yo’s ‘Regardless’. Coldplay’s ‘Paradise’, the current UK number one, closed our show.

Dave and Hazel told listeners they were from UK and that they had two adult children as well as two young grandchildren. Although neither of them were from that part of Britain they were currently living near Wakefield, West Yorkshire in order to be near their grandchildren. They’d been married for 44 years, having met in 1966 at a meeting for maths teachers in Germany. “Was it love at first sight?” Milli Jam wanted to know. “No!” Quipped Dave in his Welsh accent (for he is of that race) “it was maths at first sight!”. We laughed. This lovely, loving couple wished they had more time to spend in Zambia but sadly would be driving to Lusaka the following Tuesday and flying back to UK two days after that.

We wished them well and ‘bon voyage’, thanked them for taking the time to appear on our show, and hoped we’d see them back in Livingstone again one of these fine days!

11
JAN

Africa, Chanters, education, entertainment, Germany, guests, livingstone, Malawi, music, radioshow, rsa, travel, volunteers, Wales, Zambia

Hannah Lainton and Claire Richardson on 107.7 fm

These two ladies (above) could be sisters couldn’t they? As it happens they’re not, but they are very good friends – just as well seeing they’re spending the next 7 months together travelling the world!

Hannah Lainton (left) and Claire Richardson stopped off at the studios of Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, last Sunday night to guest on The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George ‘Kaufela’ da Soulchild, our weekly Sunday night radio show airing live between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs, also streaming live on the internet. Lively and entertaining guests they were too!

Staying at Chanters Lodge, Claire and Hannah told listeners they both hail from UK and that they’d taken a sabbatical from their jobs back home to see the world. Claire is with Deloitte UK and Hannah with C,B & I. They’d met through mutual friends when they were at University – different ones – and had been friends ever since. Asked why they were in Livingstone, the girls explained that they were volunteers with The Butterfly Tree an NGO providing support for rural communities in Zambia through safe water, feeding programmes and improved health education facilities. The girls were working with ladies in Mukuni Village for a month teaching business innovation and entrepreneurship. They were very much enjoying the challenge and although they had not yet met Chief Mukuni they had met the village Prime Minister!

The music on the show was great as usual! We opened with Wretch 32 featuring Ed Sheeran – not Wretch’s UK number 1 smash ‘Don’t Go’ but a sweet track called ‘Hush Little Baby’. We coupled this with David Guetta featuring Jennifer Hudson and ‘Night Of Your Life’ – racing up the UK charts as I write! George featured tracks by Oga Family ‘Ngili Ngili’ and B1 featuring T-Boy. Milimo dropped ‘Hello’ by Game featuring Lloyd, back to back with ‘All Over’ by Gyptian. Our ‘Oldie Of The Week’ was ‘Coat of Many Colours’ by Dolly Parton and there was a great response from listeners telling us the name of the artist singing, in order to try and win the coveted prize of a dinner for two at Chanters Lodge! We closed with Mohombi’s ‘In Your Bed’.

“So”, I said to the girls “you’ve sold your houses, divorced your husbands and ditched your employers to travel the world!” Hoots of laughter! They confessed that they weren’t married but went on to greet ‘friends’ Andy and Nick listening live to the show on the internet back in UK (we love that streaming!) as well as other family members and friends.

The girls were much looking forward to an overnight safari in Chobe National Park Botswana the next day – sincerely wishing not to be visited in their tent by lions during the night. They hoped to zip line and go white water rafting during the time they would be in Livingstone. Hannah and Claire greeted their families and friends in UK and new friends in Zambia and said ‘hello’ to listeners in Tonga! Great stuff – until Hannah confessed to supporting Stoke City!

30
AUG

activities, Botswana, Chobe, victoriafalls, volunteers, wildlife, Zambia

Laura Goble & Carla Roberts Have Impact on 107.7fm

Meet Laura Goble (left) and Carla Roberts pictured above, project and volunteer co-ordinators respectively with African Impact in Zambia, an organization with over 5 years experience facilitating quality volunteer programmes they are the African specialists in volunteering. These two pretty, funny, lively, vivacious young ladies represented the organization brilliantly on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild, our regular Sunday night radio show airing live on Zambezi 107.7 fm at 18.30 hrs GMT and now streaming live on the internet. We had proof that the streaming is normal, receiving messages from England and Scotland while we were on air. Very excited about that we were too! Thanks to Edward Chanter and Isaac Mwanza 107.7 fm is now available on the Chanters Lodge website too! Scroll to Radio Show on our site!

Laura comes from South Africa while Carla hails from Ireland, we discovered as Milli Jam started to interview the girls. They explained to listeners that at the moment African Impact has 20 volunteers in Livingstone, all staying at Livingstone Backpackers and involved variously in education and health projects. We were told that the majority of the volunteers came from UK but also from other European countries such as Holland and Germany. Milli Jam seemed taken aback that Laura and Carla were not staying at Chanters Lodge – “how did you meet Richard then?” He wanted to know. “We met him at the airport while we were all waiting for clients” the girls explained. “Are you in the habit of picking up old men at airports?” The clearly envious Milli Jam continued. “Only if they’re good looking like Richard!” was the wonderful reply. (Flattery will get you dinner for 2 at Chanters Lodge! Lol!)

The music on the show was a great mixture. The girls requested Flavor’s track ‘Sawa Sawa’ a smash hit in Zambia for the Nigerian star, which they dedicated to all the African Impact and Livingstone Backpackers staff, as well as volunteers listening to the show. Before that track we’d opened with ‘She Makes Me Wanna’ by JLS featuring Dev, the current UK number one, back to back with Ester Dean featuring Chris Brown and ‘Drop It Low’. More African tracks were Dandy Krazy with ‘Donchi Kubeba’ and Ty2 ft Kaufela with ‘Spotlight’. We played Ice Prince ‘Oleku’ as well. Oldie of the week was the late Akim Simukonda’s haunting ‘Bana Bandi’ (‘don’t hate each other when I’m gone’ his advice to his many children recorded just before he died). We asked for the name of the artist singing Bana Bandi by text to win a prize of dinner for 2 at Chanters Lodge with drinks and the prize was quickly snapped up!

The girls told listeners they’d done loads of the activities available for tourists – everything from elephant riding to the zip line, excluding bungee! That very day they’d returned from a weekend on Bovu Island which they’d loved. “It used to be famous for fun and games” I commented. The girls just giggled. Enough said.

“Are you married?” Asked Milli Jam. “No” the girls replied. “Boyfriends?” Milli Jam persisted. “No” replied the girls. “George!” said Milli Jam as we laughed. Asked about their musical tastes, Carla surprised us ‘Aqua’ she said. “What!?” I exclaimed “Barbie Doll Aqua?” “Yes” said Carla. I was stunned. ‘Pink’ said Laura much more understandably. Milli Jam closed with the usual question of where the girls would like to be and what they’d like to be doing 10 years from now but the answer didn’t go much further than “errr Africa”.

Good show this one!

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accommodation, activities, Africa, Chanters, Customers, education, entertainment, livingstone, radioshow, rsa, training, volunteers, website, zambezi

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