Young Riko

Here’s a nice piece from George Soulchild Kaufela, co-host of our weekly radio show ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela’ airing every Sunday on Zambezi 107.7 fm at 20.30 hrs CAT. We are always keen to promote up and coming young Zambian musicians! So:

Young Riko (aka Riddick Riko) is the name of a rapper signed to Brathahood Music Label, and also a member of the internationally recognized group  ‘BrathaHood Crew’ – made up of great musicians, namely BrathaHood CEO General Ozzy, Manas, Mandela, & Roberto (also Riko’s manager/ producer).

Young Riko has quickly become a sensation on radio and TV in Zambia and often the topic of discussion and conversation in saloons and barbershops popular amongst teenage girls! The Lusaka based rapper is determined to make history and hopes one day to win a BEFFTA and Channel O award as well as maybe one day a Grammy. “Anything is possible!” He says.

Riko has gone from performing at the 2011 Born’N’Bred video awards ceremony to having a video on Channel O. You might remember him on Roberto’s song ‘Osanisiya So’ which has a great video. I must add that he also boasts of his own video to his smash hit ‘Akoyesa Boi’ which premiered on Channel O Africa on 30th August 2012 on a show called ‘O Premiere’.

Young Riko is featured on two songs on Roberto’s 3rd studio album ‘My Name Is’ namely ‘Osanisiya So’
and ‘So Good’ which also features award winning Hip Hop video of the year Mr Veezy aka LV on the same song. Riko is set to make Zambia the home of Southern African Hip Hop, his music is playing around Southern Africa in countries like Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Malawi etc.

Young Riko’s two new songs titled ‘Ma_Pange_Ya_Kwa_Lesa’ and ‘Alipanda’ featuring Stan have continued to received great praise.

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Bridge At Kazungula

From Mmegi Online

The governments of Botswana and Zambia have announced the commencement of the first stage of construction of the Kazungula Bridge across the Chobe River.

The importance of the bridge to the two countries and the Southern African Development Community region cannot be gainsaid. When complete, the bridge will ensure that for the first time, the SADC region is connected by road. The Chobe River forms the only boundary between Botswana and Zambia and over the years, this has slowed down the movement of people and goods from the southern parts of the SADC region to the north.

The water boundary meant that besides the air, the alternative and popular transport link between Botswana and Zambia was through the ageing or unreliable ferries that were prone to breakdowns. This lead to a pile-up during peak periods when the number of trucks carrying goods to and from factories and ports of regional economic giant South Africa overwhelm the carrying capacity of the ferries. But with the construction of the bridge to replace the slow and unreliable ferries, things are likely to change for the better. The Chobe River is vital in the region because in the Kazungula-Kasane area, it straddles the border between Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Plans to build the vital bridge have been on the cards for approximately two decades. Initially, Zimbabwe was to be part of the project but because of its well-known economic and political problems, it was left out though it will benefit from the facility.

With loans from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), it can only be concluded that the bridge will be completed in the next five years. We hope that all stakeholders will come together and put all mechanisms in place to curb corruption and any form of theft that a project of this magnitude may attract. We hope that each and every stage of the project will be monitored and fully accounted for. It is also our hope that the best contractors will be awarded the project to complete it within time and budget. We are tired of losing billions to overnight contractors who dump our projects midway leaving shoddy work behind. We hope the JICA and AfDB will use their position and influence to ensure that they get value for their money.

Once completed, this bridge will make trade within the SADC region and beyond, more endurable and less expensive, as compared to the current situation in which truck drivers spend nights in queues waiting for the pontoons to ferry them across the Chobe River. Some of these trucks carry perishable goods destined for distant customers, and it is a nightmare for the drivers to watch days and nights pass before they can cross to the other side of the Chobe River. The construction of the bridge comes at a time when experts on trade have advised that Africa needs to invest in infrastructure for faster economic growth.

Since the project is going to attract migrant workers from many countries, we hope that residents around the Kazungula-Kasane area will take care of themselves and make the project a blessing instead of a curse.

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Rafiki Village on ‘The Experience’!

Meet Karen Aufderhaar, (pictured above) school principal of Rafiki Village School in a rural area of Zambia some sixty kilometers from Lusaka, and Guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela. ‘The Experience’ is our weekly Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station.

Karen was staying at Chanters Lodge for some well deserved rest and relaxation having completed almost a year of her two year assignment at Rafiki Village. “Why Chanters Lodge?” Wondered Milli Jam. Karen explained that when she first accepted the voluntary assignment, one of the former directors of the village had told her that when she wanted some time off, a visit to Livingstone and Victoria Falls was a must, and that Chanters Lodge would suite her accommodation requirements. We were pleased to hear that Karen was happy with the recommendation and the lodge.

Karen told listeners that she came from a town near San Antonio, Texas in the USA, and had previously volunteered with Rafiki Foundation at a village in Kenya. She was delighted when the Foundation contacted her asking her to undertake the position in Zambia. She has been an ‘educator’ all her working life, but not always in a school situation, having undertaken education assignments in hospitals and an outdoor centre in the past, as well as teaching senior adults with learning difficulties. She explained that Rafiki Village in Zambia catered for some seventy orphans and was one of ten such villages in Africa. It was a childrens’ home and a training centre as well. It was hoped to expand the school to include secondary education in the near future.

The music on the show was good. We opened with Daft Punk’s number one UK hit ‘Get Lucky’ back to back with Macklemore’s follow up to Thrift Shop called ‘Can’t Hold Us’. Kaufela chose JK ft Petersen with ‘Kanyimbo’ coupled with Mampi’s ‘Wali Lo Welela’. Milli Jam featured Nikki Minaj and Sean Paul. Our oldie of the week was Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’ and the prize given to the first listener to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up! Innocent won a dinner for two with drinks at the lodge.

Karen told listeners that she had enjoyed her days in Livingstone. She was tired from a lot of walking around the Falls area including climbing down to the Boiling Point (Rapid Number 1). She had visited and very much enjoyed Livingstone Museum and had loved her one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana. She was looking forward to a sunset cruise on her last evening in town. Single, without children, Karen said she was a devoted aunty to her two nieces back in Texas. Music wise she favoured James Taylor and Neil Diamond, sports wise famous basketball team San Antonio Spurs. “Spurs” queried Milli Jam and I (Gunners to our boots). We laughed. She said her favourite player was Manu Ginobili.

Karen said she most missed her friends, family and Mexican food in Texas and that she loved Zambian people the most. Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing in ten years’ time Karen answered ‘I would like to be back in my home town in America doing the next thing that God puts before me’. “Sweet” we said!

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David Eliff – From Brazil to ‘The Experience’

Meet David Eliff, an Englishman living in Santos, Brazil, and Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela. ‘The Experience’ is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing from 20.30 hrs to 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. It was the first time we’ve had a Guest hailing from Brazil on the show, so Milli Jam and George wanted to know a lot about Brazil, the football, the girls, the Carnival and the Amazon! David did his best to satisfy their curiosity!

David explained to listeners that he had moved to Brazil after meeting his Brazilian wife Yara in Norway where they were both working. The couple had tried living in Scotland for a while but eventually decided to move back to Brazil. He reported that they will have been married for 25 years this year and in May planned to take a trip together back to Norway as part of their anniversary celebrations. David said that he is a geologist by training but when he and Yara moved back to Brazil he had first worked as a teacher of English to advanced level students. These days he works as a translator of scientific documents from Portugese into English, working free lance. His wife is a doctor of medicine and they have three daughters. David speaks several languages.

The music on the show was good. We opened with a track from Nina Nesbitt back to back with PSY’s new smash ‘Gentleman’. George chose Magg 44 with ‘Shipikisha Club’ coupled with Macky 2 ft K’Millien’s ‘No More Love’ for his Zambian tracks. Milli Jam dropped tracks from DJ Vetkuk and Drake. He chose Destiny’s Child with ‘Soldier’ as our oldie of the week. Listeners get the chance to text us the name of the performing artist on the track to try to win a dinner for two at the lodge. It was a tricky one as most people texted ‘Beyonce’. Milli Jam declared himself the winner! David said his favourite bands were Yes and Jethro Tull.

Our Guest told listeners that he had very much enjoyed a one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana during his stay. He was fascinated to see vultures waiting for a buffalo, killed by lions, to die, so that they could eat the remains. ‘They don’t always wait until you’re dead’ commented Milli Jam cryptically. David had found the Victoria Falls ‘stunning’ and he was very much looking forward to a rhino walk in the Mosi-o-Tunya NP the following day. He told listeners he had chosen Chanters Lodge after research on the internet. He is widely travelled in Africa and has visited African countries as far apart as Ethiopia and Morocco.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, David told listeners he would like to be in good health, living in Brazil and still having the opportunity to travel.

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Jobless, Homeless But Live On The Experience!

No, not George Kaufela, Milli Jam or even me! But the Guests on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela, our weekly Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm in Livingstone, Zambia. Australians Lyn and Malcolm Macdonald (pictured above with Milli Jam) explained to listeners that before setting off on their round the world trip which had brought them to this country, they had given up their jobs, sold the boat that had been their home and taken off! They’d arrived in Zambia a few days earlier, having taken the Tazara train from Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia. The journey takes days – the Macdonalds described it as ‘a great adventure’.

Malcolm had been a doctor specializing in tropical medicine in the far north of Australia, wife Lyn was a nurse by training, subsequently involved with public health. They had been living in Cairns and working in remote places mostly involved with treating Aboriginal people. They were also engaged in an humanitarian refugee programme. Our Guests told listeners that this was the first time either of them had been to Zambia. They had visited Tanzania as Malcolm had worked in that country more than twenty years ago and had wanted to go back and see old friends, which they had done. They had stayed for one night in Lusaka after their epic train journey, choosing Wayside Guest House with which they declared themselves to be very satisfied. They had flown to Livingstone on Proflight.

The music on the show was appealing to various tastes. We opened the show with tracks from The Saturdays ft Sean Paul (‘How About Us’ number one in UK as we went on air) and Madcon. George chose Zambian music from Roberto featuring himself (!) and then a track by T-Sean. Milli Jam went for Alicia Keys and Jessica Sanchez ft Ne-Yo. He chose a track from Eric Benet as the oldie of the week and the prize of a dinner for two at the lodge was quickly snapped up! My pick of the week was Kodaline’s ‘High Hopes’. We closed with John Legend’s ‘The Beginning’.

Malcolm and Lyn described their first view of the Falls as ‘a bit of a fairy tale’. They had loved the full flow of water prevalent at this time of the year and described the experience as ‘spectacular’. They had climbed down to the Boiling Point as well going on to the main bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe, resisting the temptation to bungee jump – they had a myriad of excuses for not doing so! As one does have! They  had rounded off their day with lunch at The Royal Livingstone which they had loved. They were looking forward to a microlight flight over the Falls as well as the sunset cruise on Lady Livingstone the following day. They were planning a few days in Botswana before flying back to Australia for a short break, then heading off for China and the Far East.

This lively, interesting and outgoing couple told listeners that they had been married for 12 years and that there had been nothing like love at first sight! Between them they had seven children and six grandchildren whom they adored! Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, they said they would like to be retired, living in tropical Northern Australia, raising chickens, growing fruit and vegetables and all the while spoiling their grand children.

Sounded like a good idea to us!



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Solborg Folk On ‘The Experience’!

Once again we were delighted to welcome a group of Norwegians as Guests on the latest edition of ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela’, our regular Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, from 20.30 – 21.30 hrs live each week. Meet (from left to right above) Caroline Nordahl, Terje Todnem and Simen Hauge, all from Solborg Folk High School in Stavanger. Terje explained that “Norwegian Folk High Schools are one-year boarding schools offering a variety of exciting non-traditional and non-academic subjects, as well as academic subjects. The idea of folk high schools is learning for life, an opportunity to grow both individually, socially, and academically in small learning communities”. He also informed us that Solborg has 150 students and 8 courses. Caroline and Simen were part of a sports course.

Terje is one of the teachers at Solborg and Caroline and Simen students at the same institution. The three were part of a group of fifteen staying at Chanters Lodge as part of their visit to Zambia. Terje told listeners that he usually took a group to Kenya during the Norwegian winter, but had hesitated to do so this year due to the elections in that country and the possible threat of violence. He had chosen Zambia instead. He said he was happy that he had done so and that he and the students were having a great time in this country.

The students told listeners that they had spent time in Lusaka as well as in Kafue National Park before moving down to Livingstone where they had, amongst other activities, spent two nights living in a village some 20 kms from Livingstone. “How was it?” We wondered. “Interesting!” Seemed to be the reply! “No electricity and purely Zambian food” They added! The group had also had a wonderful two day one night safari to Chobe NP in Botswana and had been excited to see both lion and leopard, as well of course, as hundreds of elephant. For all of the group it was their first visit to Zambia.

The music on the show was great, featuring tracks from Maroon 5, Bastille, K.Koke ft Rita Ora and Justin Timberlake. George dropped tracks from Mampi – ‘Nikutantule’ (‘let me put you out of stock’!) and our very own Shyman’s ‘Longa Katundu’ (‘pack your bags if you’re being abused’). Milli Jam featured awesome tracks from Emeli Sande and Brandy. Our oldie of the week was a Buddy Holly track ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’ but no-one could text us the name of the artist on the record to win the prize of a dinner for two at the lodge! I won! (I’d watched the movie of the same name during the week!).

Whilst in Livingstone for a few days following the show, the group would have a ‘Surprise Day’ the next day and then would continue with school visits and interacting with the local population which was part and parcel of their visit to Zambia. Surprisingly Milli Jam did not start interrogating our Guests about relationships on this show! Our Guests did not show a huge amount of interest in football, though Caroline admitted to being a Manchester United fan and Simen Real Madrid. Simen, Caroline and Terje told listeners that they were very excited to have been granted an audience with former Zambian Republican President Dr Kenneth Kaunda before their return to Norway, and that they were very much looking forward to the meeting in Lusaka.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing 10 years from now, Simen said he wanted to be involved in sales and marketing as well as boxing, telling listeners that he was a former junior amateur boxing champion back in Norway. Caroline wanted to be involved in helping people with special needs such as Down’s Syndrome. Terje hoped to be retired but still bringing groups to Africa twice per year and given their great experience this year in Zambia, he hoped this country would be very much on their itinerary!

We wished the group the best of luck for the rest of their visit to Zambia, and in the future.

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‘Nearly’ Doctors Rock The Experience!

“Is there a doctor in the house?” We wondered at the start of the latest edition of ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela’. That’s our weekly Sunday night radio show airing at 20.30 hrs CAT for an hour on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Why? Well Adam Moody and Courtney Fiebig (pictured above) are both medical students in the final phase of their training and hence are ‘nearly doctors’!

The guys explained to listeners that as part of their course they have to spend eight weeks working in hospitals overseas, and they were spending four of those weeks working at Livingstone General Hospital while staying at Chanters Lodge. Adam said that his first four weeks he had spent at a hospital in Soweto, South Africa while Courtney had worked in Hanoi, Vietnam. Did they enjoy South Africa and Vietnam respectively? ‘Challenging’ seemed to be the word.

Both Adam and Courtney hail from Sydney, Australia and are single. Courtney has a fiancee back in Australia, also a doctor, while Adam admitted he’d been going out with the same girl for a mere 13 years. We teased him as to when he would tie the knot but didn’t really get a satisfactory answer!  Adam and Courtney are both students at the University of Sydney, and for both of these bright, cheerful and clever young people, medicine was their second university degree. Adam had run away from engineering, while Courtney had found herself working in a hospital after her first degree and realised that medicine was what she wanted to do!

The music on the show was good. We opened with One Direction’s charity single for comic relief – a cover of Blondie’s ‘One Way Or Another’, back to back with ‘Falling’ from Haim. George chose Shyman’s new single ‘Longa Katundu’ featuring Shimasta, coupled with JK’s ‘Allow Me’. Milli Jam played Justin Timberlake’s beautiful ‘Mirrors’ along with Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’. Our oldie of the week was ‘Guys Do It All The Time’ a tribute to Mindy McCready the American country star, recently sadly passed away. I picked Mariah Carey’s ‘Almost Home’ as my track of the week.

Adam and Courtney told us that Adam had been doing more of the tourist activities available in Livingstone than Courtney, as Courtney was visiting Livingstone for the second time and had done many of the popular activities before. They had both, of course, been to Victoria Falls – and gotten drenched – as you do at this time of the year. Adam had taken the helicopter flight over the Falls and had also done the rhino walk in our local Mosi-o-Tunya national park and thoroughly recommended this great activity. The guys had been to Chobe in Botswana for an overnight with four safari activities and had enjoyed that too! They told the presenters that they had chosen Chanters Lodge for their four week stay in Livingstone based on the lodge’s reviews on Trip Advisor, its location and the good rates on offer for a long stay. They said it had worked out well.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time Adam said he would like be only working part time and to have plenty of time for fishing, while Courtney hoped to be married with two children and living by the beach. They both favoured going into general practice when they had qualified rather than any specialization. They went on to thank the people of Livingstone and in particular the staff at Livingstone General Hospital for being so welcoming and hospitable toward them during their stay.

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Tromsoe University Rocks ‘The Experience!’

After the opening theme of our Sunday night radio show – ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Kaufela’ which airs weekly between 20.30 and 21.30 hours on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station – Milli Jam always asks me to introduce our Guests. Usually this is not an issue but on the most recent edition the Guests (pictured above left to right) were Oystein Lund, Tove Leming and Lars Rotvold and if you’re not Norwegian, as they are, one can struggle with the names, and one did!

Oystein, Tove and Lars are lecturers at the University of Tromsoe in the far north of Norway where temperatures can drop to as low as -20C and where in mid-winter the sun does not come up and in mid-summer it does not go down! “A very different climate from Livingstone!” I remarked to which the response was “yes this place is hot!” Oystein is an expert in information and communications technology, Tove in social sciences and Lars in organizational skills and leadership. The group were visiting Livingstone to follow up Tromsoe University’s long standing links with the David Livingstone College of Education – DALICE, which has seen Norwegian student teachers visit DALICE and Zambian teachers trained in Tromsoe in the past. “Gosh!” I wondered “how did the Zambians cope with those cold temperatured?” With difficulty seemed to be the consensus of opinion.

Our Norwegian visitors were very much into the music we played on the show, and reminisced about a 2005 concert in Tromsoe featuring Peter Gabriel and Johnny Clegg which Nelson Mandela had attended in person, at which they had been excited members of the audience. On this edition we opened with tracks from Bingo Players featuring Far East Movement then Muse. George played Zambian tracks by Mampi and Bryan. Milli Jam chose Usher featuring Will.i.am and Timbaland. Our oldie of the week, when listeners can win a dinner for two at the lodge if they can text us correctly naming the performing artist, was by Mario Vasquez and to my surprise the prize was won. My pick of the week was Ellie Goulding’s ‘Explosions’ and we closed with Amelia Lily. Our Guests told us about the popularity of Admiral P in Norway, a rapper with a Zambian mum and Norwegian dad who rapped in Norwegian. “Bring it on!” We said!

Tove told listeners that at one time in the 80’s she had worked in the north of Zambia in the agricultural sector and had a love for the country and its people. Lars had visited the country before but it was Oystein’s first visit. The group had enjoyed a sunset cruise on the Zambezi and a visit to the Falls during their stay, and that day they had taken the one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana which they had very much enjoyed, despite not being lucky enough to see big cats. Talking about tourist activities we took the chance to update listeners on the ‘Red Nose Hell And High Water Challenge’ which will see five UK celebrities travel 100 kms of the Zambezi by canoe, raft etc camping on the banks of the Zambezi all the way in aid of comic relief. The challenge was being fully covered by BBC Radio 1. Mel C, Greg James and the other participants hoped to raise a million pounds for the education of children in Zambia.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing our cheerful, and happy Guests told us they would still like to be working at the University of Tromsoe and fully involved with Africa. Great Guests, good music, nice show – as usual!

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Dr Margaret Sherrat

Dr Margaret Sherrat (above), Guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient told us before we went on air ‘I don’t want to talk about myself’! And indeed she did not! We did manage to garner that she was a doctor in an inner city practice in the city of Newcastle in the north east of England, that she had been doing the job for some thirty years and that it was a pretty tough assignment. We also gathered that she was active in her church and that one way or another she had done a lot for charitable causes, the vulnerable and for people with problems. We loved her humility as she started to tell listeners all about how difficult it was to live in the north of England in the middle of winter when all the ice and snow made getting to work so difficult!

Margaret was staying at Chanters Lodge with a friend from England of Zimbabwean origin and told listeners that she had found out about our lodge from two guide books – Lonely Planet and Bratt’s Guide to Zambia. She and her friend were happy with the lodge and the friendly staff. They had been to see Victoria Falls from both sides of the border and had been amazed at its size and beauty. They had taken a sunset cruise on the Zambezi from the Zimbabwean side which they had enjoyed, especially as they had seen a lot of wildlife in and on the banks of the river. They had clambered down to the boiling point by rapid number one on the Zambian side, and Margaret told listeners that this had reminded her of fell or mountain walking in UK which was one of her hobbies.

Dr Sherrat explained that she preferred classical music and that her favourite composer was Chopin. On this show we gave her some of the latest international and Zambian popular music from artists such as Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Eminem and Adam Levine. George dropped tracks from Mampi as well as Angozed a Zambian/Angolan combo with a great track translated as ‘Move Your Body’. We speculated that the Chanters Girls listening back at the lodge would be doing exactly that! Milli Jam featured tracks from Flo-Rida with Sia and Far East Movement. Our oldie of the week was Redemption Song by Bob Marley and the prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly won. Our pick of the week was Biffy Clyro’s ‘Black Chandelier’ and we closed with Robyn’s electrifying ‘Dancing On My Own’.

Margaret told listeners that she and her friend had really enjoyed their game drive in the Mosi-o-Tunya NP that day and had seen a whole variety of different game including elephant, giraffe and hippo. She hoped that when they went to Chobe NP in Botswana the following day they would see lion, but I warned her that it was a bit of a lottery. She explained that she had travelled quite widely to countries as far apart as America, Bangladesh and South Africa, including visits to India. She rented rooms to students in Newcastle and had made lots of friends that way. She explained that she was involved with Food Banks in England and told us how the system operated to help people with financial challenges to eat regular meals.

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Margaret said that she was not sure, but volunteering in Africa was one thing that came to mind.

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Marcel & Julie Menard

Meet Marcel and Julie Menard (above), Guests on the most recent edition of the ‘Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela’, our regular Sunday night radio show airing from 20.30 to 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Marcel and Julie hail from Canada, although from different parts of that vast country, but are currently based in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. Marcel is a health, safety and environmental engineer working for Adnoc on a rig in the Persian Gulf – an operation that churns out a mere 300,000 barrels of crude oil every day! Julie was a nurse for most of her working life but subsequently retrained as a teacher. She recently retired from her job in UAE teaching English as a second language.

The Menards were visiting Zambia by invitation of their friends the Bohling family who live in Kitwe on Zambia’s Copperbelt. They had originally met Jenna, Kyle, Sharon and Kevin in UAE and were delighted to come to Zambia to spend some time with them. During their visit to Kitwe Marcel had been taken 5220 feet down to the working surface of the Mopani copper mine – a trip he had found fascinating. The mine employs some 19,000 people. They had also spent time at Nsobe Game Camp 60 kilometres south of Ndola. They had been recommended to Chanters Lodge by the manager of Kafue Lodge in Ndola. Happy with their stay at Chanters? Yes they were. They described it as ‘cozy’ and ‘a great place to chill’.

The music on the show was up to standard despite the dearth of new releases common at this time of year in UK and USA. We opened with our theme tune for 2013 – ‘Feel The Love’ from Rudimental ft John Newman. We followed up with Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’ which Marcel and Julie dedicated to their friends the Bohlings. Other tracks were from PSquare, Magg44 ft Karen, Exile ft K’Millian, LMFAO and Pitbull. The oldie of the week was MJ’s ‘Rock My World’ and the weekly prize of a dinner for two at the lodge to the first person to text us the name of the artist on the track was quickly snapped up! Our pick of the week was Timbaland’s ‘White Wedding’ and we closed with One Republic’s haunting ‘If I Lose Myself’.

Marcel and Julie told listeners they had enjoyed lots of tourist activities while they’d been in Livingstone including the sunset cruise, a leopard, lion and cheetah encounter combo, linked with an elephant back safari, as well as a fabulous dinner on the steam train. Marcel had also taken a 15 minute helicopter flight over the Falls.The day of the show they had taken a one day safari to Chobe National Park in Botswana and had been lucky to see a pride of lions during the trip. They’d been amazed by the size and beauty of Victoria Falls which had surpassed all their expectations. Julie had described their steam train dinner activity as ‘very romantic’ and on being questioned this charming, happy couple revealed they had been married for 15 years. Julie has one son from a previous relationship.

During their visit Marcel and Julie made a very generous contribution of education materials to a school at Mukuni Village and commented on the fantastic progress they saw near Chanters Lodge on road repairs in Livingstone.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years’ from now, they said they had plans to retire to Malaysia when Marcel finished work in five years’ time, before eventually returning to Canada.

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