Another Norwegian Experience!

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We are always happy to welcome Norwegians as our guests on the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, our weekly radio show airing for an hour live every Sunday night on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Over the eight years the show has been broadcast there have been many Norwegian guests. Lene Sivertsen (right), Anita Hind Andresen (centre) and Marianne Olssen (above left) were the latest Norwegian visitors to appear on our programme. For Marianne it was her second time to be with us, but a first for Lene and Anita, and in fact a first time in Zambia for those two ladies.

Lene and Anita told listeners they were from a Norwegian NGO – SMISO – established to fight against incest and sexual abuse in Norway and now largely funded by the Norwegian government. They were in Zambia to liaise with Response Network, a Zambian NGO, based in Livingstone, Southern Province of Zambia, which believes in development that mobilizes people’s own human and environmental resources, as they have seen that self-esteem, knowledge and creativity grow with responsibility. Lene told us that statistics for sexual abuse of young people are remarkably similar across the world – some 9% of girls and 1% of boys aged between 14 and 18. SMISO offers counselling and support to affected youngsters. Marianne told us that she was the facilitator between SMISO and Response Network.

The music on the show was good featuring ‘Hello’ Adele’s new worldwide smash hit, as well as tracks from KDA ft Tinie Tempah and Katy B, Justin Bieber, Ne-Yo, Mic Burner, Melissa Steel, Drake and Drimz.

The ladies said they had enjoyed their view of the Victoria Falls but were disappointed there was so little water – they vowed to come back again at an earlier time of year when the Falls were full. They had a two day one night safari planned to Chobe NP in Botswana during their stay which would see them spend a total of about two weeks altogether in Livingstone. They had no intention to bungee jump. They had spent a night in one of the rural villages near Livingstone to observe the rural way of life, had eaten Zambian food and were thoroughly impressed with the warm and welcoming attitude of Zambians wherever they had gone.

On a more personal note, Lene told us that she was in a relationship and had a 19 year old son, currently serving in the Norwegian military, Marianne that she was newly a very proud grand mother, and Anita happily married with 2 children aged 16 and 18. Both Lene and Anita work full time for SMISO. All three ladies live in Tromsoe in the far north of Norway up by the Arctic Circle.

The ladies told listeners that they had been happy and comfortable at Chanters Lodge. With regard to the future they all expressed the opinion that they were pretty happy with their lives as they were and they would be delighted for that situation to continue!

 

31
OCT
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Another Dutch Experience!

Martijn Bazen

 

Meet Martijn Bazen, guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient ft Jay Hillz, our weekly radio show airing every Sunday at 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. This was the second weekend running that we had featured a Dutchman on our programme – hence the title of the blog. Martin lives in Scheveningen, one of the eight districts of The Hague, ‘Dutch Capital of Peace and Justice’ we were told!

Martijn was on a flying visit to Livingstone, (though he actually arrived in the city by coach from Lusaka), to see the Falls and to spend a day in Chobe NP in Botswana. He told listeners he had enjoyed both of these activities, but that he would come back to Zambia with his family one of these days, to see Victoria Falls when they were full!

Martijn explained that he was in Zambia for five weeks on a voluntary basis helping Makeni Ecumenical Centre in Lusaka with their finances and accounts – he is a Finance Manager by profession. Makeni is a suburb in Lusaka where The Makeni Ecumenical Centre is situated, providing primary, secondary and adult education courses in a variety of vocational subjects, as well as clinics, family planning services, and an AIDS orphan village.

Until recently Martijn was a lecturer in economics and financial management at the University of The Hague, (he holds a Masters in Economics from the University of Amsterdam) but will soon take up an appointment as Finance Manager for the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra in Amsterdam. Was he excited about his new job Milli Jam wondered? You bet he was! Who wouldn’t be!

The music on our show was far from classical, featuring tracks from Olly Murs, One Direction, Robin Schultz, Ben Haenow and Kelly Clarkson, Mr Jeezy ft Izrael and Roberto, as well as Demi Levato and Ciara. Our guest told us that he has a very wide taste in music, he loves everything from classical to Bob Marley.

Married for 19 years to Justine, a lawyer, the couple have a 16 year old daughter and a 12 year old son, a violinist and footballer respectively! The family support Manchester City and Ajax but our guest declined to discuss the Netherlands’ recent failure to qualify for Euro 2016. Shame!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, he said he hoped to be a doting grand father and to be happily enjoying his every day! We thanked him for the help he was giving the Makeni Ecumenical Centre and for appearing on our show!

23
OCT
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The Avi Assist Experience

Albert de Hoon & Gloria Bitebekezi

Meet Albert de Hoon and Gloria Bitebekezi, guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient ft Jay Hillz. The Experience is our weekly radio show airing every Sunday live for an hour at 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Albert hails from Amsterdam, Netherlands, Gloria from Kampala, Uganda. They are both part time workers for the Avi Assist Foundation, promoting flight safety in East and Southern Africa.

The independent, non profit AviAssist Foundation promotes professionalism in African aviation safety. It analyses the problems and works on practical solutions to them. The Foundation provides pro-active safety support to aviation organisations (government and industry) in the 24 States of the ICAO East and Southern African (ESAF) region. They are also involved with fire fighting advice and there is an annual conference, this year to be held in Rwanda.

Gloria and Albert told listeners that they were in Livingstone to run two short courses on airport wildlife management for airport staff drawn from all over Zambia. We were informed that in most cases birds form the biggest danger to aircraft taking off and landing at airports worldwide and have been the cause of plenty of accidents. Staff at Harry Nkumbula Airport in Livingstone seemed to think that elephant were a bigger problem in their case!

It was Gloria’s second visit to Zambia but first to Livingstone, Albert’s first visit to Zambia. Albert told us he is a full time employee of the Civil Aviation Authority in the Netherlands, while Gloria has her own consultancy in Environmental Management back in Kampala, where she is married to a lawyer. They are both happy to give their services to Avi Assist from time to time.

Gloria has three children all schooling, while Albert has a little girl aged one and a half, already missing him back in Holland! Gloria told us that her musical tastes were for gospel and jazz, while Albert was into house and loved Tiesto among others. The music on our show was good, highlighted by tracks from Foxes, Philip George, The Vamps, Sarkodie ft Stonebooy and Slap D.

While they were in Livingstone the guys hoped to do the rhino walk as well as the ‘under the spray’ tour. Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now, Gloria was not sure, while Albert wanted to be happy, healthy and travelling.

16
OCT
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Another Aussie Experience!

Connie Stevens & Wallis Woodhams

Meet Connie Stevens and Wallis Woodhams (above), Australian travellers and 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 94.1 fm, Livingstone leading local radio station. Our guests told listeners that they were traveling as friends, that they both hailed from Perth, Western Australia and that this was their first visit to Zambia. In fact they revealed that this was also their very first visit to Africa! “Is it what you expected?” Asked Milli Jam. They thought about the question for a few seconds and then answered “on the whole yes!”

Connie and Wallis said that they were almost half way through their two week trip to Zambia and that they were loving it. They had already visited Botswana for a full day safari in Chobe NP where they had seen ‘thousands of elephants’. They had walked with lions, and on the morning of the show they had completed a half day birding safari in the Mosi-o-Tunya NP in Livingstone where they had been lucky enough to see more than thirty three different species of birds, all correctly identified by their knowledgable and charming guides. They had also see the rhino in the park on the same trip. In addition to that, they had seen Victoria Falls and visited the Livingstone Museum. On the previous Saturday they had dined on the five star dinner train in Livingstone.

The music on the show was great with tracks from Fuse ODG, Ellie Goulding, Naughty Boy featuring Beyonce and Arrow Benjamin. Milli Jam and Jay chose work from T Sean ft Jusic, Ruff Kaida and T-Boy, Christina Millan, Urban Hype and Cynthia Morgan. Our pick of the week was Sam Smith’s haunting ‘The Writing’s On The Wall’ and we closed with the appropriate for Livingstone ‘Heatwave’ from Robin Schultz ft Akon. Connie said she loved classical music whereas Wally was more into music from the 50’s and 60’s.

Our guests told us that Connie was the manager of a bird shop in Perth, selling exotic birds and also garden ornaments, while Wallis was in the earth moving business preparing construction sites. Connie is a widow with a son and a daughter and two grand children, Wallis is a divorcee and has two sons. They had heard about Chanters Lodge, where they were staying, through Dianne Rapson, a frequent visitor to the lodge and a three time guest on our show. Connie and Wallis were well pleased with the recommendation.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing 10 years from now, Connie said she would like to be retired and relaxed, Wally said he would like to be working, relaxing and fishing!

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OCT
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Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown

Meet Gordon Brown (above) frequent guest at Chanters Lodge, Livingstone and also our guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, The Experience is the weekly radio show sponsored by Chanters Lodge airing every Sunday night at 20.30 hrs for an hour live on Zambezi 94.1 fm, and is an easy mixture of latest international and Zambian pop music, interspersed with chat with our guest. Gordon told listeners that this was his fourth or fifth visit to Livingstone in recent years, and that he found Chanters to be a good place to stay, not a luxury lodge, but homely, comfortable, clean with good food and helpful, friendly staff. That made us feel happy!

Gordon is Canadian from Victoria, BC and spent 35 years as a primary school teacher, headmaster and administrator in the Canadian education system. He had been ‘retired’ for the past twenty years. He is a widower with a son, daughter and four grandchildren all living quite near him in Victoria. Our guest told listeners that he first came to Zambia in 1996 under VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas), a quasi British government outfit, as a lecturer at David Livingstone Teacher Training College in Livingstone. He had also spent time in Ghana under the auspices of VSO.

The music on the show was good with tracks from Fuse ODG, Nero, Hayden James, Chris Brown, Beatenberg, Kayo, Majik Links ft K’Millian and Fifth Harmony. Gordon’s own taste in music he described as ‘very 50’s’! Sports wise he follows ice hockey and his grandson’s support of Wolves in UK has given Gordon a little interest in EPL soccer in UK.

Gordon is very much involved in The Canadian Harambee Education Society (CHES) which helps girls get secondary education by raising funds for scholarships for Kenyan and Tanzanian girls who gain Secondary School placements, but have no funds for school fees. Also by placing CHES girls in boarding schools (wherever possible) to maximize their success. They also support special projects when donations are so targeted such as building dormitories, enriched learning centres and services to support them. CHES sends volunteers (often retired teachers) as agents in Kenya. Gordon is currently busy on a project to provide admin facilities for CHES in Kenya.

Gordon had spent the day of the show in Chobe NP and had been delighted to see both lion and leopard, as well as the usual array of elephant and other animals on the trip. During his visit he would be going across to Zimbabwe to see the Falls from that side, plus a visit to Nakatindi Community School to review progress, as he had been involved in the establishment of that school.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now he replied that he would like to be alive and productive.

25
SEP
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The Zambelly Experience!

Ramya and Mina

Why the Zambelly Experience?! Well, Ramya Kumar (above left) and her mum Meena were guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient ft Jay Hillz, the weekly radio show sponsored by Chanters Lodge and airing every Sunday night on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Ramya is one of the leading lights in the Zambian belly dancing team, soon to participate in a competition in Cape Town. You’ll find more details on the group’s Facebook page here. For sure that’s the first time we’ve had a belly dancer on our show, though we were not treated to a demo in the studio – more’s the pity…

Ramya and Meena hail from Boston, Massachusetts and were visiting Livingstone staying at Chanters Lodge. Ramya works for the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, a Federal agency and the leading national public health institute of the United States. CDC have an office in Lusaka and Ramya is half way through her two year contract and apparently loving life and Africa, despite the current difficulties of living in Zambia. She holds a Masters in Epidemiology from Boston University – ‘ the science that studies the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations’ for the uninitiated like me! Mum is a banker back in Boston.

The music on the show was good with tracks from Fuse ODG, Justin Bieber, R City ft Adam Levine, Sigala, Macklemore ft Ryan Lewis, Kayo, Ozzy ft OC, Lilanga and Zeus. Jay Hillz led the show as Milli Jam was out. The ladies said they both had very broad tastes in music – everything from Bollywood to Johnny Cash via Radiohead!

The ladies told listeners that they had been on the Lady Livingstone sunset cruise while they had been in town as well as visiting the Falls which they declared to be ‘very dry’. They had also been on a one day safari to Chobe and were very excited as they had managed to see lions, watching over the carcass of a dead elephant from which they. the lions, had clearly been dining. They had seen a host of other game too. They were leaving back to Lusaka early the following morning.

Asked where they would like to be and that they would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Meena said she would like to be retired with grandchildren visiting Zambia. Ramya wanted to have babies, a husband and a Phd in Epidemiology – apparently no great ambition to be big in the world of belly dancing!

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The Joost Vranken Experience!

Joost Vranken

Meet Joost Vranken (above) from Ghent in Belgium, and guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. The Experience is the weekly radio show we sponsor on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show airs every Sunday evening live from 20.30 – 21.30 hrs.

Joost told listeners that he was in Zambia on holiday and was spending a week or so in Livingstone at Chanters Lodge. He was comfortable at the lodge describing the operation as quiet, homely and friendly. He’s an administrator back in Ghent working for De Lijn, a big Belgian transport company. Joost went on to tell us that he had first come to Zambia in 1991 as a history teacher at Kawambwa Boys Technical Secondary School. In those days national service was still compulsory in Belgium but he was able to come to Zambia to work, as an option to serving in the military.

On completion of his national service he had taught for a number of years at Nkrumah Teachers Training College in Kabwe. He holds a degree in African History and Languages from Ghent University in Belgium. He set up a business in Zambia but left to return to his home country in 2007. Asked about the difference between Zambia and Belgium he said ‘the people, the space and the light’. He clearly misses Zambia!

The music on the show was nice featuring tracks from Lost Frequencies (a Belgian artist), Calvin Harris, Chvrches, Demi Levato, Jay Rox, Big Sean ft Jhene Aiko, T-Sean ft JK and Sean Paul. There were a lot of Seans in there! Music wise Joost is into jazz and stars like Van Morrison.

Joost said he and the friend with whom he had travelled had very much enjoyed the white water rafting on the Zambezi during their stay but not the climb out of the gorge. His friend had bungee jumped while he looked on in shock and horror!

On the sports scene he is into squash and was very much involved in the administration of the sport in Zambia when he was based in Kabwe, even accompanying the national under 21 team to the All Africa Games in Botswana. He supports his local team in Ghent in the Belgian league and in England Arsenal. We were happy about that!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years time, our guest said it was a big question but that he would like to be healthy, happy and if possible involved with business in Zambia. In this regard he talked of Zambian honey. ‘A Zambian honey?’ I wondered (Joost is single). “No” the reply “the Zambian honey industry”. “Ah!” I said.

31
JUL
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Howard University Zambian Experience

Annabelle Dorion & Juliette Fombi

Meet Annabelle Dorion (above left) and Juliette Fombi, students at Howard University in Washington DC, USA, and guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. ‘The Experience’ is the weekly radio show airing on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, from 20.30-21.30 hrs every Sunday night sponsored by Chanters Lodge and is a lively mixture of latest international and Zambian pop music interspersed with chat with our guest-of-the-week. We also give listeners social media and pop chart updates.

Annabelle and Juliette told listeners they had been in Livingstone for the past three weeks on internships at Livingstone General Hospital. They are third and fourth year students at Howard studying pharmacy, and their work at the hospital had been based at the HIV/Aids section dispensing medication and offering counseling to patients. They had been accommodated at Chanters Lodge throughout their stay in Livingstone and had been happy at the lodge, it had been comfortable and convenient, they said. The girls actually seemed sorry they would be leaving for home in America in a few days’ time. The work had been an eye opener and they had made friends.

The music on the show was latest and varied featuring tracks from Fuse ODG, David Zowie, Years and Years, Chefy 187, Natalie la Rose ft Fetty Wap, Salma Sky, Olly Murs and ‘Yoga’ by Janelle Monae ft Jinneda. Our pick of the week was by Jake Miller and the closing track from Little Mix

Milli Jam wanted to know if the girls had had time to undertake any of the many tourist activities available in Livingstone and the girls bemoaned just how expensive most of the activities were for students on a budget. However they had enjoyed seeing Victoria Falls and on Annabelle’s birthday the previous weekend they had taken the sunset cruise on the Zambezi which they had thoroughly enjoyed. “No bungee jump?” I wondered. They laughed and said they’d been scared to do that. They had though, enjoyed some leisure time at the various pubs and clubs in Livingstone. They told us they were both single and had ‘no time for boyfriends’. We wondered about this….

Annabelle’s roots are in Philippines and Juliette’s in Cameroon. Living in Washington had they met President Obama? – Annabelle had! We were impressed. Both girls said they loved all types of music and had no real favourite though Juliette loves Nigerian tracks. Annabelle supports Arsenal in England which made Milli Jam happy and both girls were delighted that USA had recently won the Women’s Football World Cup.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, both girls said they would like to be fully qualified pharmacists, working, married and with families. We thanked them for coming on our show and wished them a nice few days in South Africa when they left Zambia and a safe journey home to Washington DC later in the month.

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JUL
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Power of Love Foundation on ‘The Experience’

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Why the Power of Love Foundation Experience? Well, the Power of Love Foundation is a secular United States charity focused on developing innovative, cost-effective solutions to address the AIDS epidemic. They work directly with women and children impacted by the AIDS epidemic and create long-term solutions that go beyond handouts. The Foundation is very active in Matero, Lusaka where there are some 5000 children infected with HIV/Aids. Matero is one of Lusaka’s huge sprawling low cost housing ‘compounds’. The Foundation is caring for some 275 of these children providing medication, care and support. Amongst other things the Foundation has provided some 20,000 mosquito nets into Matero in the past few years. They have also provided over 550 loans to small business.

On the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient ft Jay Hillz, we were lucky enough to have Alka and Suresh Subramanian with their son Jay, as guests on our programme. In the photo Suresh is on the right, Jay next to him and Alka 4th from the right, (they were on their way to Chobe). Alka and Suresh are the prime movers of the Power of Love Foundation. Alka told us that she had given up her job as a professor at the University of South Dakota in order to concentrate full time on her work for the Foundation. Suresh is a Vice President with Hewlitt Packard, and when the couple are not visiting Zambia they are home in San Diego, California. Funds are raised in the States for their Zambian project.

What had first inspired the couple to help Zambia specifically? Wondered Milli Jam. “We fell in love with Zambia at first sight” they replied. “We just love the Zambian smile!” They told us this was roughly their seventh trip to Zambia.

The music on the show was up to our usual high standard and a good mix with tracks from Deorro ft Chris Brown, Axwell / Ingrosso, Miley Cyrus, Bruce Springsteen, Chef 187 ft F-Jay, Sockodie ft Ace Hood, DJ Cosmo ft Kayo and Major Lazer. Alka’s musical taste is locked into oldies with the Beatles and Abba her favourite bands. Suresh loves jazz.

This engaging couple told us that they had met while they were at school together in India, they had been married for 34 years and had two other offspring apart from Jay. They had moved to USA to do their doctorates and now US citizens they had lived there for more than 30 years. They love it. No, theirs was not an ‘arranged marriage’ they responded to my question on the matter. Nor had they ever met Sachin Tendulkar and they could not explain how India had failed to win the recent cricket World Cup!

When not working Alka likes to hike in the mountains near their home, while Suresh has his own small plane which he loves to fly, telling us that one day he would love to fly across Africa! They do enjoy football but this turned out to involve Real Madrid and Man U. Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now Suresh said he would like to be retired and together with Alka spending more time in Zambia helping more communities. We thanked them for coming on the show and for the great work their foundation was doing in our country!

 

26
JUN
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The Zambia Air Force Experience!

Cephas Mudaala

Meet Captain Cephas Mudaala (above) of the Zambia Air Force and guest of the week 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 for an hour live every Sunday night on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is a great mix of local and international pop music and conversation with our guest. We also give social media and pop chart updates, each and every week.

Cephas told listeners that although he is based in Lusaka, he was currently in Livingstone for a month on training. After completing secondary school at St Raphael’s School in Livingstone Cephas had joined Fairmount Hotel as an accounts clerk, then Sun International in the same capacity. He had joined Zambia Air Force some twelve years ago. Working his way up he had obtained the rank of Captain, was a trained pilot and now an instructor of pilots! He flies the MA60 – a Chinese aircraft. “So you sing the R Kelly song “I Believe I Can Fly”? I enquired. “R Kelly – one of my favourite artists” the dead pan reply!

The music on our show was good. We played tracks from Fuse ODG, Walk The Moon, Zedd ft Selena Gomez, Olly Murs, Rixton, Afunika, Kevin McCall, Iggy Azalea ft Jennifer Hudson and Jaguar ft 2 Kind – the latter one of Zambia’s latest hot acts!

Cephas told us that he is married and that his wife is also in the Zambia Air Force – a lieutenant by rank, though apparently in command in the home! “Was it love at first sight?” Milli Jam wondered. “Funny that!” Remarked Cephas “when we met, the first thing I said to her was ‘we will marry’ and she had laughed, but I had the last laugh!” He and his wife have a two year old little boy Luyando. ‘Love’ it means! “Naughty?” I wondered. “Very!” The reply.

Having been brought up in Livingstone Cephas said he was very familiar with the many tourist activities in Livingstone and although he had never bungee jumped he had almost’ done it and ‘would love to do it’. He had also never jumped out of a plane – we guessed that he flies planes so that others can! He and his wife had recently though had a great time at Mukuni Big 5 riding elephants and walking with lions.

It transpired that our Guest supports Manchester United, claiming that he was ‘forced into it’ by his elder brother. Just imagine! We then spent some time discussing Arsenal players and Jack Wilshere’s two goals for England in an international that afternoon. When not flying planes, teaching others to fly or looking after Luyando, Cephas enjoys sleeping and listening to music.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Cephas said he would like to be a General in charge of Zambia Air Force.
“Yes Sir!” We said……

19
JUN
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