charities – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

Adlington For Livingstone!

Mansfield’s Rebecca Adlington is to ride through Zambia, in Africa, for charity in an effort to raise money for the Perfect Day Foundation. The Olympic swimming medalist will cycle from Livingstone, in the very south of the country, to Lusaka, some 280 miles north of her start point. “Cycling is very different to what I’m used to and I’ve struggled a bit with my confidence on the bike, but I’ve done some good test runs in the last few weeks and I’ve spoken to Chris Hoy to get some tips.” Said Rebecca.

Adlington will be joined by 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Joanne Jackson, former Commonwealth champion Ross Davenport, and ex-swimmer Melanie Marshall. The swimmers hope to raise £50,000 for Sport In Action, a non-government funded organisation that inspires change within impoverished communities through sport. Cycling around Africa is a far cry from what Rebecca is used to!

“Bike for Africa is a great challenge and I’m really looking forward to getting out to Zambia for what I’m sure will be one of the most amazing and unforgettable experiences of my life.” Rebecca said.

Once the team has reached the finish point in Lusaka, Rebecca will give swimming lessons to street children and children who have lost parents to AIDS, at a renovated open air pool which Melanie Marshall helped to raise funds for. Bike for Africa runs an orphanage for street children and uses sport to educate and inspire children, who have lost their parents to AIDS.

The ride will last four days and cover nearly 300 miles. The team fly out to Livingstone to start their ride today.

Wonder if I’ll see her at the airport!

5
OCT

Africa, charities, livingstone, sport

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

The Salvation Army March to The Experience!

We were delighted to welcome Ken Hawkins and daughter Emma (above) on to the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela last Sunday night. ‘The Experience’ is our regular Sunday night radio show airing between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Ken is the Principal of the Salvation Army Training College in Lusaka, a post he has held since February this year. He has been with the Salvation Army for some 20 years and the Army has been in Zambia for 90 years! Emma, and her brother Paul were on a visit to Zambia, Emma is special educational needs teacher back in South London, UK. Ken and his family were staying at Chanters Lodge for a short family holiday, wife Ann, mum Alice (84) as well as Paul were back at the lodge listening to the show. Given the Olympic Games in London and the final of Big Brother Africa in Johannesburg being broadcast at the same time as our show, our listener numbers were down. Shame!

Ken explained to our audience that the Salvation Army is a Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that works in over 120 countries and has been described as a ‘Christian church with its sleeves rolled up!’ The Army is also known for its music and Ken said that he already knew of four Salvation Army bands in Lusaka which he described as being of ‘varying quality’. He and Emma are both musicians, Ken plays tuba and piano while Emma knows the cornet and horn. Ken said his musical preferences were jazz and orchestral, Emma that at the moment she just loved Carly Rae Jepsen! She’s not the only one….

Ken’s wife Ann is also a minister in the Salvation Army and teaches in Lusaka. Ken said that he and the family are very happy in Lusaka, loving the life style and the weather.

The music on our show was pretty far removed from gospel. We opened with the latest UK smash hits from Wiley and Example, followed with Zambian offerings from Petersen and Chilu Lemba. Petersen’s track ‘Ama Kwebo In Church’ George explained was saying that there are many things going on in church other than worship. I asked Ken for his opinion on these lyrics but he refused to be drawn! Milli Jam dropped tracks from R Kelly and Madonna. Our oldie of the week was Michael Jackson’s ‘Man In The Mirror’ – the weekly prize went unwon! My pick of the week was The Killers ‘Runaways’ and we closed with Example’s super ‘Say Nothing’.

Although Ken and Emma said they were not much interested in sport they had all the latest news from TeamGB’s sterling, or should I say golden, efforts in the London Olympics including the latest medals for Andy Murray and Jess Ennis! Ken admitted to watching Spurs in his youth but said these days it was very expensive to watch football in UK. The family had greatly enjoyed their one day safari to Chobe National Park in Botswana during their visit to Livingstone, as well as their trips to see the Falls.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Ken said he hoped to still be working in Zambia with his great team, Emma that she would like to be a trained minister in the Salvation Army, still able to visit her parents back in Zambia.

It’s interesting that the international Guests we have on our programme all love Zambia!
No big surprise there – great country, great people! Great show!

11
AUG

activities, Africa, Botswana, charities, Chobe, entertainment, guests, livingstone, Lusaka, music, radioshow, religion, Zambia

From Oklahoma, USA to Livingstone, Zambia

Meet Staci and Lance Norton (standing, left to right) as well as Mackenzie and Madison Gillham (seated left to right) from Oklahoma, USA, our recent Guests at Chanters Lodge as well as 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 popular local radio station. The lodge sponsors the show, which is a mixture of music and chat – popular locally due to the fact that we give away a weekly dinner for two at the lodge to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. This week George chose a track from Zambia’s popular Sakala Brothers and the prize was quickly snapped up by a lucky listener!

The Nortons and Gillhams told listeners that they’d arrived in Zambia on May 23rd primarily to visit and participate for a while in the running of The New Day Orphanage in Mpanza in the Southern Province of Zambia, some one and a half hours from Choma. Lance is Youth Minister at Union Hill Baptist Church in Oklahoma and New Day Orphanage is sponsored and run by the Baptist Mission in Zambia. The orphanage is still small with about 14 children aged between 4 and 8 years. They had enjoyed their time in the ‘bush’ helping to teach the children religious studies, as well as basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills. Staci and Lance Norton had visited Zambia last year, but for the girls it was their first visit. Milli Jam was delighted to be able to talk briefly to Lance in the Tonga language!

Madison, the older of the two sisters explained that she was a third year student of early childhood education at South Western Oklahoma State University, and Mackenzie that she is at the same college as her sister studying first year pre-veterinary medicine. For once, when we had girls on the programme, Milli Jam forgot to ask them if they had boyfriends waiting for them back home! The girls told listeners that their dad was a farmer and their mum a beautician back in the USA.

The music on the show had a distinct African flavour with tracks by Exile and Judy from Zambia, Diamond from Tanzania and Naeto C from Nigeria. We also played Loreen’s Eurovision Song Contest winning ‘Euphoria’, as well as Philip Phillips’ ‘Home’ – the girls were happy to hear that Philip had recently won the American Idol show – news they had missed while they were deep in Southern Province, Zambia!

Lance and Staci told listeners that they’d been able to fit in quite a lot of tourist activities since they’d arrived in Livingstone. They had taken the one day safari to Chobe in Botswana, and had been delighted to see a wide range of animals including lion, giraffe and elephant as well as a whole host of birds. They’d taken the helicopter flight over Victoria Falls – the girls admitted to being ‘a little bit scared’. They had seen the Falls from the Zimbabwe side as well as from here in Zambia. They had ridden elephants, walked with lions, encountered cheetahs and the next day were scheduled for a game drive to try and see rhino. They had not done the bungee jump – ‘not brave enough’ they said! Quite a package anyway! They described Victoria Falls as ‘amazing;.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now, Mackenzie calculated that at that stage she would be two years out of vet school and practicing her profession. Madison hoped to be pre-school teaching and raising a family. We wished them luck with their ambitions.

4
JUN

activities, Africa, Botswana, Chanters, charities, entertainment, guests, livingstone, music, radioshow, religion, victoriafalls, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Wendy Callaway on ‘The Experience’

Wendy Callaway (above) was the guest on the most recent edition of our regular Sunday night radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. The show airs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, from 20.30-21.30 hrs and also streams live on the internet. The programme is a good mix of music and chat, popular locally not least because we give away a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge on every show to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. On this show the track was ‘Umbrella’, the singer was Rihanna, and the winning answer appeared on my phone within seconds! Great, seeing that the previous week no-one had won!

Wendy was a very interesting guest. She told listeners that she was in Zambia for a couple of weeks to work with the The Butterfly Tree, a charity which supports rural communities in Zambia often badly affected by illness. The organization’s aim is to help in the provision of safe drinking water and feeding programmes as well as improved health and education facilities. The NGO also has an orphan sponsorship programme and Wendy explained that she had been sponsoring five orphans in Zambia for six years through this scheme. She was delighted, on this her first visit to Zambia, to have already met four of the five orphans whom she had sponsored, now teenagers aged between 14 and 18 and she said they were all doing very well academically. Most of the The Butterfly Tree’s work in Livingstone is based at Mukuni Village and this was where Wendy had been spending time since she arrived.

The music on the show featured tracks from R Kelly, Calvin Harris ft Ne-Yo, Lionel Richie, Lana del Rey and Jason Derulo from an international point of view. Local tracks were from Red Linso and Winston with ‘Kamwala’ and Exile’s ‘Walimbikila’ – ‘old but good’ was the Chanters Girls verdict on this Exile track. The lodge staff are avid listeners to the show and don’t hesitate to let me know what’s good!

Milli Jam asked Wendy if she’d managed to do any of the tourist activities on offer in Livingstone during her first week with us, and she replied that she’d just come back from Chobe in Botswana where she’d been on safari for a few days. She’d also squeezed an elephant safari, lion encounter and a rhino walk into her busy schedule. She told listeners that she’s an accountant by profession, and that having her own business in Southern England affords her the chance to travel and to do the things she wants to do – a chance that might not be there were she working for other people. She told us that she’s an active member of the Rock Choir and had been involved in their best selling 2011 album as well as appearing on ITV TV in a show featuring 8000 choir members in the Wembley Arena. “Wow!” We said – without asking her to sing for us!

Asked about her plans for the future, this serious minded, hard working, married British lady (she had greeted husband Pete listening to the programme live back in UK) told listeners that she hoped to be able to expand her business and therefore be able to grow her charity work and other interests. “Great!” We said.

14
MAR

activities, Africa, Botswana, charities, development, education, infrastructure, innovation, management, music, radioshow, uk, wildlife, 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

‘The Experience’ is Mission Possible!

Meet Ruth and Richard Wallis from Cambridge, England, guests on the most recent edition of ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela’, our weekly radio show. ‘The Experience’ is a great mixture of local and international music, as well as lively and interesting conversation with our guests. Chanters Lodge sponsors the show which airs live every Sunday from 20.30 – 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm. The programme has been a popular regular feature on local radio more or less continuously since October 2007. The station reaches an audience within a 75 km radius of Livingstone and also streams live on the net. The links are on the station’s site here, and on the lodge site here.

Richard told listeners he’d worked in Zambia for ZCBC (Zambia Consumer Buying Corporation) between 1972 and 1977 and explained that ZCBC were the stores in which Zambians shopped before there was Shoprite! The company was a parastatal (quasi Government) organization. He must have shocked our audience telling them there were so many shortages in those days, that when the stores were due to receive a consignment of cooking oil, sugar or other essential commodities, the first thing management did was to call the police, asking them to come and control the inevitable crowd who would flock to the store the moment they heard that a commodity was back in stock! Long queues and rationing were the order of the day.

After Richard returned to UK amongst other positions held he was the managing director of Scripture Union‘s chain of retail book stores. Ruth had been working for the same chain. Steven told listeners his first wife Susan had died in 2005 and in 2007 he and Ruth had married. In the same year Richard established Mission Possible with a mission to advance the Christian faith by serving the poor, forgotten, and marginalised by serving children and families at risk, training Christian leaders and distributing Christian literature. Mission Possible works in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda as well as Zambia in Africa, and in some European countries too. While back in Zambia Ruth and Richard would be conducting leadership training for upwards of 100 interdenominational pastors in Livingstone. “Great stuff!” We said, and meant it!

The music on the show was right up to date. We opened with Jesse J’s UK number one ‘Domino’ back to back with ‘More Than This’ from One Direction. George’s Zambian selection promoted CQ featuring Exile with ‘Ndekeleni’ and ‘Ikashishita’ by Pilato featuring Chif. Milli Jam dropped ‘Losing’ by Joe Thomas and ‘Try’ by Frank Ocean. We usually give away a prize of a dinner for 2 at Chanters Lodge every week to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie of the week, but this week no-one listening knew it was Paul Simon singing ‘Boy In the Bubble’, so no prize! Sometimes I do make it tough! My pick of the week was Madonna’s ‘Masterpiece’ and we closed with hot Nigerian Davido’s hot ‘Demi-Duro’.

We wondered whether Ruth and Richard would have time to do any of the tourist activities during their week in Zambia with daughter Anna and grand-daughter Beatrice. “Well” said Ruth “we’ve already seen, heard and felt the Falls!”. “Felt the Falls?” I wondered. “Yes” said Ruth “I’ve never felt so wet in my life!” We laughed. “Do you work?” I asked Ruth and she explained to listeners that apart from helping Richard with Mission Possible she drives a mobile post office for Royal Mail back in England. Richard also revealed that he chauffeur drives for a limousine company to help meet the expense of running their NGO. “Any famous passengers?” I wondered. “Sometimes” he said “recently Ken Clarke”, explaining to listeners that Clarke is currently Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice in UK.

This Christian, engaging and loving couple told listeners that when they left Zambia at the end of the following week they would be proceeding to Rwanda for more missionary work. Their answer to the inevitable question? In ten years’ time they hoped to be still fit, strong and fulfilling Mission Possible’s mission! Bet they are too!

25
JAN

Africa, charities, entertainment, leadership, music, radioshow, religion, training, uk, Zambia

Tim and Diane Seaborn Brown on ‘The Experience’

We were delighted to have guests all the way from San Francisco, California on the most recent edition of ‘The Chanters Lodge Experience with The Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Soulchild Kaufela’ our weekly Sunday night radio show, airing at 20.30 hrs CAT on Zambezi 107.7fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station and streaming live on the internet. Our popular show is known locally just as ‘The Experience’. Each week we offer a great mixture of local and international popular music, interesting and entertaining conversation with our guests of the week, as well as pop chart news from the UK and USA. One thing that makes our programme popular is that we give away a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge every Sunday to the first person to text us, telling us who’s singing our ‘oldie of the week’. This week the track was Dionne Warwick’s ‘Heartbreaker’ – I thought our audience would struggle but we got a text with the correct answer very quickly!

Our guests Diane and Tim Seaborn Brown (above) told listeners they’d been married for 39 years and that Tim had recently retired from his job as a high school teacher of maths and computer science. When we asked Diane if she’d also retired she was rather hesitant with her answer. She did tell listeners she’d owned a pre-school for 25 years educating 100 students at a time and employing 10 teachers. She’d also spent time as a stock broker and as a recreational therapist for children with Down syndrome. Tim hailed originally from New Zealand where he and Diane had first met on a blind date, organized by mutual friends. “Was it love at first sight”? Asked Milimo (as usual). “Yes!” they agreed in unison! “One of the first things we did together was to watch a rugby match” Diane told listeners, explaining that as an American she’d understood very little of the game and totally didn’t understand that no-one was yelling and screaming when one of the teams scored points! “Quite different from the States!” She observed.

The music on the show was as entertaining as it should be. Flo Rida’s UK number one ‘Good Feeling’ opened the account, back to back with One Direction’s ‘One Thing’. George chose ‘Kawilo’ by B-Flow, Maureen Lilanda and Danny, coupled with Ozzy’s ‘Chimutengo Chamango’ for our local tracks, and Milli Jam picked ‘Oh Yeah’ by TI featuring Trey Songz and ‘Party’ by Beyonce (this latter track in honour of Beyonce’s recently born baby.) My tip of the week was the haunting ‘Home Again’ – Michael Kiwanuka’s UK hit. ‘Troublemaker’ by Taio Cruz closed the show.

Tim and Diane told listeners about their fabulous African adventure explaining that they were about half way through their journey. Before arriving in Livingstone for four days they’d spent three weeks on an overland tour through Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho in the company of 17 young Australians. From Livingstone they would leave the following day for Zimbabwe and then on to Johannesburg. A four day safari in the Kruger National Park was on the agenda as well as two weeks ‘lying on the beach’ in Zanzibar. This energetic, loving couple would then spend some time as volunteers in Arusha before taking off for another safari through the Serengeti.

Having been asked the usual closing question Tim and Diane told listeners that ten years from now they’d still like to be travelling worldwide and saw no reason why this should not be the case. We saw no reason either!

17
JAN

Africa, Botswana, charities, education, entertainment, music, Namibia, radioshow, Tanzania, tourism, travel, usa, Zanzibar

Go Zambia!

My niece and her husband recently settled in Cardiff and are about to open their own catering business – no wonder then that this story in WalesOnline grabbed my attention! We wish Professor Hall the best of luck in her remarkable project!

“Artwork by school children and professional artists in Cardiff and Zambia will go on display in an exhibition marking the start of a new link between the two. Professor Judith Hall is working to set up Go Zambia – a new community link between Cardiff and the Chongwe district in the Lusaka Province of Zambia. The aim is for experts in Cardiff to help the African community to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which include reducing maternal and child mortality, improving environmental sustainability and achieving universal primary education.

The exhibition marks the first public event to raise awareness of the burgeoning link and all the art on display has been inspired by Zambia. Prof Hall, a consultant anaesthetist at UHW and head of the department of anaesthetics, intensive care and pain medicine at Cardiff University, founded the charity Mothers of Africa to reduce maternal mortality and has been working in Liberia, Ethiopia, Togo and Benin. Now she is in the process of setting up this wider link with Zambia.

“The idea is to have a multi-disciplinary project which can work more intensively in this country compared to what we’ve been doing before,” she said. “The main problems in the district are communication problems – there’s one road running through the district with a modern hospital at one end and a slightly older one at the other end. But most people live inland where travel is difficult and it can take hours to walk to the road and get help.

“Access to clean water and electricity is a problem immediately after you leave the road. Healthcare is arranged around health posts most of which have no electricity. Solar panels could transform practice. “Each post is run by a qualified nurse, working in isolation. There is no continuing education for staff. As a result morale and standards are probably very low because of this. Pregnant women cannot be delivered at night because there is no electricity. Many die on their way to hospital.”

Prof Hall, a former Welsh Woman of the Year, has organised the exhibition, featuring work by primary and secondary school pupils in Cardiff and professional artists, at the Butetown History and Arts Centre during January to raise awareness of Go Zambia.”

Awesome!

31
DEC

Africa, charities, children, Wales, Zambia

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