The Chanters Lodge Experience With The Milli Jam Ingredient Featuring Jay-Hillz!

Meet Paul Larsson (above left) and Lars Skimmerland (above right) recent Guests at Chanters Lodge, Livingstone as well as stars on the most recent edition of the lodge’s weekly radio show, the name of which is in the title above! The show airs every Sunday evening live from 20.30-21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s longest established and leading commercial radio station. Milli Jam the show’s host is one of Livingstone best known club and radio DJ’s, while Jay is co-host of 107.7 fm’s great Breakfast Show 06.00-08.30 hrs Monday-Friday.

Paul and Lars told listeners that they are both from Norway and working in Oslo the capital. Paul originally hails from Bergen, Lars from Stavanger. They explained that they were on a short weekend break in Livingstone, following a week’s work in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. Milli Jam wondered where they stayed while in Lusaka and our Guests told us that they used the city’s Hotel Intercontinental and that it was ‘great’. Paul and Lars both work for the Norwegian Ministry of Finance, tax department, and were in Zambia conducting a study for ZRA – Zambia Revenue Authority. We swallowed. It was their second visit to Zambia for this purpose, the first had been in March 2014. Paul is a qualified political scientist and statistician, whilst Lars is a lawyer. They have both worked for the Norwegian Ministry for a long time.

The music on the show was latest as usual, opening with Avicii’s ‘Hey Brother!’. We dropped Ed Sheeran’s ‘Sing’ – top of the UK top 40 as we went on air. Tracks from Rehab ft Nervo, T-Sean, Katy Perry, B1 and Aloe Blacc followed, interspersed with chat with our interesting Guests. The prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week was quickly snapped up by regular listener Gift – the answer? The Ting Tings! My pick of the week was a new Lily Allen number and we closed with a track from Lethal Bizzle. Who else?!

Paul and Lars told listeners that since they arrived in Livingstone they had enjoyed their first sight of Victoria Falls even though, while they were looking, they got very wet from the spray! They had taken the sunset cruise on Lady Livingstone and had felt Livingstone’s winter chill as they came off the boat after the sun had gone down. “We thought you Norwegians were well used to the cold weather!” We said. “Africa’s supposed to be hot not cold!” The swift retort from lawyer Lars. The gentlemen also said how much they had enjoyed their one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana on the day of the show and had been lucky to see lots of game, apart from big cats.

Lars told us he is a life long supporter of Leeds United, Paul that he is not much interested in football. They both thought Brazil would win the World Cup. Paul told us he loves jazz music and that they had enjoyed a performance by the Sakala Brothers when they had gone out to the Kalahari Club in Lusaka. They had not had time to rock the Livingstone clubs!

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Paul, a bachelor was not sure, Lars, married with three teenage children wanted still to be working with the Norwegian Ministry of Finance but edging very close to retirement. “Grand children?” I asked. “That too” he said.

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Solar Lighting Donation

This was a nice letter received from the Anglican Church in Livingstone, and there’s a photo of the donation being made!

11th June 2014

Dear Mr. Chanter

RE: APPRECIATION

I hereby write to acknowledge receipt with great appreciation of the Solar Charging and Lighting
Kit that you bought and donated to through Mr. Mwamba one of the trainees that was trained by
us under the Lights For Learning Trainer of Trainers Solar Project.

We are happy to inform you that the above stated kit was on Friday 6th June 2014 donated to Lugwalo Basic School which is about 300 kms from Livingstone. The donation was greatly
appreciated by the school and they will independently write to you and acknowledge receipt of the same.
Thanks for partnering with us in making a difference in the community. We pray that God richly

blesses you and your business.

Yours sincerely

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Y. Chikoya
LIVINGSTONE ANGLICAN CHILDREN’S PROJECT
BOX 60092, LIVINGSTONE, Tel: 0213320694

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Bedroom Renovations

We are happy to report the start of bedroom renovations at Chanters Lodge.

Rooms 9 and 10 were built and opened in 2006 overlooking the then new swimming pool and these rooms have really really worked! Wear and tear takes its toll!

The picture shows Benson Bulongo the tiling expert busy destroying the work he did in Room 9 all those years ago, in preparation for laying new floor tiles in the bedroom as well as new floor and wall tiles in the bathroom.

Emma from Emma’s Wear in Livingstone is busy measuring for new curtains, as well as a bed cover.

We hope the renovated room will be ready by June 7th for it is booked……

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The Swedish Experience!

Meet Carsten Sommer (left above) and Gert Krantz staying at Chanters Lodge and hailing from Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden and the fifth largest in the Nordic countries. Carsten and Gert were kind enough to appear on the most recent edition of our radio show – the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz – airing from 20.30-21.30 hrs every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Milli Jam asked them at the top of the show “how long will you be staying in Livingstone?” and was surprised at the answer “three weeks altogether”. “Just in Livingstone?” “Just in Livingstone!” Carsten and Gert confirmed. They went on to explain that when they travelled they liked to stay for some time in the same place to be able to make friends and really get to know the local culture. “It’s good for Richard’s business too!” Quipped Carsten. I quickly agreed…

Gert is a civil servant and works for the Swedish tax authority in civil registration, he told listeners that he is just a couple of years away from retirement. Carsten told us that he had been a chef for some thirty years as well as a sailor in the Swedish merchant navy, he is virtually retired but still works from time to time in the food section of a local supermarket. Did he miss not working full time? Not a bit of a it! He and Gert had spent three weeks in Ruanda in January this year and they would not have had time for so much travel if Carsten was still working. Gert had accumulated enough leave days to also be able to undertake both trips.

The music on the show was good with latest tracks from Pitbull, Foxes, Avril Lavigne and Usher. Milli Jam and Jay chose music from Roberto, Timaya, Tommy D, and Kelly Rowland. Our oldie of the week, chosen by Milli Jam, was ‘Soldier’ by Destiny’s Child with Lil Wayne and TI. Surprisingly the response was poor and no-one won the prize we give each week of dinner for two with drinks at the lodge for the first person to text us the name of the artist on the oldie track. We surmised that our listeners (apart from Man City supporters) were out drowning their sorrows on the final day of the UK EPL and not listening!

Carsten and Gert revealed that they are both single without children and to Milli Jam’s disappointment, that they had no real interest in sport! Music wise they loved the Zambian music they’d heard around the bars and cafes in Livingstone, only regretting that they could not hear the words and did not know the names of the performing artists. They also revealed they had spent quite some time in Cuba and the Caribbean, and loved the music from that part of the world.

Since arriving in Zambia they had enjoyed the lion and cheetah encounter but had been unable to complete the elephant safari due to the encroachment of a wild elephant into the area, disturbing those beasts used for the safari. They were looking forward to their first sight of Victoria Falls. They had loved the sunset cruise on Lady Livingstone and had been lucky to see elephant on the river banks during that trip.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Carsten said his only plan was to live life one day at a time. Gert wished to be both healthy, rich and still travelling.

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The Richard C Nyathi Experience!

Meet Richard Nyathi (above) – half South African, half Zimbabwean, born and brought up in Zambia, Richard has spent the past fifteen years or so in the far north of Norway – if that doesn’t make him truly Zambian then I’d better look for another reason! Got it! Richard arrived at the studios of Zambezi 107.7 fm to feature as the Guest on our radio show about ten minutes after we’d gone on air with the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring Jay Hillz last Sunday. Truly Zambian as I said! Milli Jam stood in for Richard at the start of the show telling us about his son’s gold and bronze medals in an Under 16’s athletics meeting in Botswana. Great stuff!

The Chanters Lodge Experience airs every Sunday night from 20.30 – 21.30 hrs on Livingstone’s leading local radio station. At the top of the show Milli Jam wanted to know how Richard and I had come to know each other, and we explained to listeners that Richard was one of the first Guests at Chanters Lodge when we opened way back in 1998.

I went on to tell Milli Jam that Richard, and one or two of his friends, were very keen on a group of Norwegian volunteers working in Livingstone back then! The Norwegian girls spent a lot of time at Chanters accompanied by Richard and his friends – so much so that Richard ended up marrying one of them – Marianne Olsen (who has also been a Guest on our show) – and moving to Tromsoe in the far north of Norway. Richard, a civil Engineer by profession, now works in maintenance for Moi i Rana town council. Mo i Rana is a town and administrative centre of the municipality of Rana in Nordland county, Norway. It is located just south of the Arctic Circle. Richard told us that socially Norway is a non racial country but professionally it can be difficult for people with non-Norwegian qualifications to get ahead. Things, however, had been better for him since he moved to Moi i Rana.

The music on the show was good with latest tracks from Mr Probz and Indiana at the top of the show, followed by tracks from KCee, Owl City, Katy Perry and Chiko Wise. Our oldie of the week was Beyonce’s ‘Naughty Girl’ and the prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the artist on the track was quickly snapped up. My pick of the week was MNEK’s ‘Every Little Word’ and we closed with a new track from Joel Compass.

Richard told listeners that he had definite plans to move back to Zambia and revealed that he had recently remarried – his new bride was Zambian and the couple were busy trying to finish building their house in Livingstone. Richard had also acquired a plot in Kazungula on the banks of the Zambezi. Milli Jam and I were happy that for once we had a fellow ‘Gunner’ alongside in the studio. Richard revealed that he had been to the Emirates Stadium many times to watch Arsenal ‘live’. His favourite player at the moment – Tomas Rosicky, favourite all time – Dennis Bergkamp. About the manager. “Why can’t he re-invent himself?” was Richard’s question! Music wise Richard is into jazz and reeled off a list of favourite artists, unknown to the rest of us!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years from now our Guest said he would like to be retired, living in his house on the Zambezi and fishing! Milli Jam, who had stood in for our Guest in the early part of the show said he wanted to be the owner of a radio station. “This one?” I wondered. “Why not!” The reply. It was a good show.

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Stephen Gillespie and Mark Scarbrough

Meet Stephen Gillespie (above left) and Mark Scarbrough from Indiana and Tennessee, USA respectively, Guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. The ‘Experience’ is our radio show that airs weekly every Sunday at 20.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Stephen and Mark told our listeners that they had only arrived in Livingstone by coach two hours before the show started, they had been ferried quickly to the lodge from the coach station, fed and then whisked off to the studios of 107.7 fm. Actually and surprisingly they showed no signs of tiredness and were only too happy to explain why they were in town. It was Mark’s 15th visit to Zambia – he has been involved in many projects in the past – but for Stephen it was his first time in Zambia and first time in Africa too!

Stephen and Mark explained that they had already been in Zambia for about five days and had spent time in Lusaka and Mazabuka. Their goal is to build a clinic in Pemba, Southern Province in an area where the nearest medical facility is some 50 kms from the the village. The clinic would aid the poor and needy and would include medical, dental and optical facilities. Financed through donations and fund raising in USA, the clinic would be staffed year round by medical and nursing staff from USA on a volunteer basis, but would of course employ some local personnel as well. “How did you link up?” Milli Jam wondered and Mark explained that they had met at a conference held at Two Rivers Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. The purpose of this particular visit to Zambia was to receive all the planning and other permissions necessary for their venture, as well as to make a video of the proposed project which would assist in raising funds and attracting volunteers. Video making is Stephen’s area of expertise, construction Mark’s.

The music on the show was good featuring tracks from Kiesza, Chris Brown, Emily Sande, Elyar Fox as well as DJ LBC, Zero, Katy Perry and Macky 2. A great mixture of Zambian and international tracks to reflect the eclectic nature of the music on our show. The prize we give each week to the first person to text us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week was very quickly snapped up by Emma. She won a dinner for two at the lodge for texting us speedily to tell us that Lou Bega recorded Mambo No 5. A track and an artist totally lost on yours truly! You live and learn!

Milli Jam wondered how Mark was always able to bring Richard the latest Charley Pride music whenever he stayed at Chanters and Mark explained that he is a friend of Danny Hutchins. Danny Hutchins is a lead back-up musician with the Charley Pride Band. He plays strings and keyboard with Charley Pride, a country music recording artist who is a member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Mark revealed that he is single with two grown up daughters, Stephen is married and also has a daughter. Whilst in Livingstone Stephen would be editing the material he had recorded in Pemba for the video, he also hoped to visit Victoria Falls and to go on safari to Chobe NP in Botswana. The guys had also brought soccer kit with them from the States as a donation to one of Livingstone’s local teams. Mark showed some interest in UK football and revealed support for Manchester United. Fairly normal for our show guests. Jay was cock-a-hoop that his beloved Liverpool show every sign that they will be EPL champions in UK this year, Milli Jam and I were happy that Arsenal had won.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Mark said he would like to be in Livingstone with his daughters Melanie and Jennifer staying at Chanters Lodge, Stephen would like to have led multiple visits to Zambia and to have seen their clinic project staffed, thriving and fulfilling a desperate need.

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Mike and Anne Gough

Meet Anne and Mike Gough (above), 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 every Sunday night from 20.30-21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Teachers both, Mike works at The Arnewood School, New Milton, Hampshire in UK while wife Anne is at The Island Learning Centre on the Isle of Wight. Mike is also head of the IT centre at Arnewood as well as the international co-ordinator. Anne’s learning centre helps children with learning difficulties prepare for a return to ‘regular’ school.

“How long have you been married?” Milli Jam asked at the top of the show, Mike sighed (though he denied it) and replied “thirty five years”. Anne and Mike told listeners that they have three daughters and one seven year old grandson – clearly the apple of his grandparents’ eye!

The Goughs explained that they were in this country to research a proposed trip to Zambia for Arnewood students in 2016. They were planning to bring a group of 12/15 youngsters for a month. They told listeners that the students’ itinerary would hopefully include time spent at Hillcrest School in Livingstone with Hillcrest students later travelling to UK on an exchange basis. There would be time spent working at the Butterfly Tree projects at Mukuni Village, building structures with money raised by the students in UK for the project. There would be a safari in Botswana as part of the trip and a week spent volunteering at lion encounter.
Mike and Anne told listeners they had arranged many successful trips in the past to countries as varied as Bolivia, Siberia and Tibet. There was a lot of work involved in planning, as well as selling the trip to prospective students and parents.

The music on the show was good with latest hit tracks from Sigma, The Vamps, David Guetta and Ed Sheeran. Jay and Milli Jam chose recordings from One Direction, Chris Brown and Zambian artists Eddy and Judy. Our oldie of the week was Brook Hogan’s ‘For A Moment’ and the prize we give to the first person to text us telling us the name of the performing artist was won by Mitch, who earned himself dinner for two with drinks at the lodge.

Mike revealed that he was a Liverpool supporter which pleased Jay who is too, and these people spent time congratulating each other on that afternoon’s win again Manchester City. Milli Jam and I were rather irked by this mutual admiration, and felt pleased that the lovely Anne had no interest whatsoever in football. As a couple Mike and Anne love cricket and are executive members at Hampshire County Cricket Club.

They told listeners that they had returned from a two day safari in Botswana that afternoon, they had very much enjoyed the outing and had been lucky to see a vast array of wildlife including lion and, Anne’s favourite, warthogs. They hoped to have time to do some of the many other tourist activities available around Victoria Falls during their stay, but ruled out the bungee jump!

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time Anne said she would like to be on the silk trail exploring China, while Mike wanted to be revisiting communities he and his students had helped in the past, in different countries around the world. We thanked this interesting happy couple for guesting on the show and wished them well in the planning for their trip. We looked forward to welcoming some of their students as Guests on our programme in a couple of years’ time!

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Another Norwegian Experience!

In the six and a half years that our regular Sunday night local radio show has been on air we’ve had lots of Norwegian guests on the programme. The Chanters Lodge Experience goes out live every Sunday between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs (CAT) on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. So, last Sunday we were delighted to welcome three more Norwegian ladies on to the show (left to right above) Ingrid Krogstad, Kristin Alfer and Kristel Linset. All wives, all mums, all Norwegian, all from Trondheim or near Trondheim, all educationalists and all staying at Chanters Lodge! Trondheim is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway, with a population of 181,513. It is the third most populous municipality in Norway, the ladies told us.

Ingrid and Kristel are primary school principals, while Kristin is an education adviser. The ladies were all visiting Zambia as part of their co-operation with several primary schools in the Livingstone area, where they have Norwegian student teachers undergoing practical teaching as part of their college courses. The ladies had brought letters from their Norwegian pupils for their Zambian counterparts and would go back with letters from Zambian children for Norwegian children. Kristin told listeners it was her fourth visit to Zambia but for Ingrid and Kristel it was their first time to be in the country. The ladies also mentioned that in May this year it was hoped to take a group of six Zambian student teachers to Norway for practical experience.

The show was different for us, to the extent that it was the first time for many years our show had not been co-hosted by George da Soulchild Kaufela, who, regular readers will know, had hosted his last show the previous Sunday before heading off to college in Lusaka. We were delighted to welcome Jay Hillz to the show as Milli Jam’s new co-host, thus the title becomes The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. The guys chose great music. We opened with a track from Zedd, back to back with a new single from Canadian Nelly Furtado. Jay rocked us with Rihanna’s ‘What Now’ and a Zambian track from Tyce – ‘Kazizi’. Milli Jam dropped Ne-Yo’s ‘Bigger Than This’ while his Zambian choice was by B1 with Sokola Bonzo. Our oldie of the week was a Nicky Minaj track and the prize we offer each week to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist on the oldie, was quickly snapped up.

The ladies explained to listeners that as well as having student teachers on practicals in Livingstone, there were others in Mongu. Kristel and Ingrid would be leaving for Mongu in Western Province with other members of the group the following Wednesday and they were looking forward to seeing a different part of Zambia. They had much enjoyed a two day one night safari to Chobe NP in Botswana, from which they had returned the same day as our show went on air. They were only slightly disappointed that they had not seen any big cats. The ladies were looking forward to seeing Victoria Falls and maybe doing some of the other activities available in the Livingstone area during their visit.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Ingrid said she would like to be retired. Kristel wanted still to be healthy and a school principal while Kristin wanted still to be working, with her successful family doing fine. Were their husbands missing them at home? We wondered. They laughed and said “seeing we left home on Valentine’s Day, they probably are!” It was a pleasure to host these lively, funny, bright Norwegian mums on our show!

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The Last Kaufela Experience!

The latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela (the two guys featured in the photograph above, George is on the left), was rather sad – and not just because Liverpool had thrashed Arsenal 5-1 the day before – something that made Milli Jam and I sad but George ecstatic! No, it was sad because it was in fact George Mukwita’s (aka Soulchild aka Kaufela) last show, for the time being anyway.

George was therefore the Guest on, as well as the co-host of, the programme. Fired because of his Liverpool affiliations? Not a bit of it! As he explained to listeners he has been accepted on a three year course at the Co-operative College in Lusaka to study for a diploma in Agric-Business Management. “So you’re going to be a farmer?” I speculated, but George replied that he was more interested in the business management aspect of the course which would include accounting, marketing and economics amongst other subjects.

“What’s brought this on?” Asked a glum Milli Jam who has co-hosted our show with George since 2009. George replied that he felt it was time for him to further his education, seeing that it was not really safe for a young Zambian man to rely on radio presentation and music to make a good living in years ahead – he wanted more strings to his bow. George told us that initially he was being helped through college by his aunt, but that he hoped to secure part time work, possibly on radio in Lusaka, to help with the substantial college expense. He also hoped to be able to play some shows to raise funds – George is an accomplished musician amongst his many other talents. He would be a boarder at the mixed gender college.

We played one of George’s tracks on the show – ‘Took You’ by Roberto featuring Kaufela, back to back with Chiko Wise ft B1 with ‘Kumwanda’. We opened the show with ‘Dibby Dibby Sound’ by DJ Fresh vs Jay Fay featuring Ms Dynamite back to back with the latest from The 1975. Tracks from Beyonce featuring Jay Z, and Toni Braxton with Babyface also graced the show. The prize of a dinner for two with drinks that we offer to the first person to text us telling us the artist on our oldie of the week, went unwon for the second week running, prompting someone to text asking us to play another track so that there could be a winner. We declined. They didn’t know Paolo Nutini sang Candy, so that was that!

George told listeners that he would be leaving Livingstone the following day and that he had already co-hosted his last breakfast show on 107.7 fm. He said there was so much he would miss about Livingstone including friends and colleagues and of course co-hosting the Chanters Lodge Experience. We said we would only reveal George’s replacement on the programme the following Sunday. George thanked all the listeners as well as the owner of the station Swithin Haangala for ‘helping him grow’ as a broadcaster and presenter. He had been in Livingstone for nine years and had loved it!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years from now, George said he wanted to be alive and breathing, opening doors for himself and others. We thanked him for his inspiration and hard work on our show and wished him all the best for the future. Then we sat down and cried because Arsenal had lost 5-1 to Liverpool!!

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