Norwegian Students On ‘The Experience’

Meet the three delightful students we have staying at Chanters Lodge, Livingstone, Zambia for a few weeks, undertaking their practicals at Libala Basic School in Livingstone. All three are in their final year at University of Tromso in Norway, studying for a degree in teaching. From left to right in the picture above, Ellen Marie Steen, Bjorn Danielsen and Lillian Ballo as they appeared last Sunday on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient. That’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show airs from 20.30 to 21.30 live, and sort of streams on the internet too!

These young, intelligent and energetic Norwegians told listeners that Tromso, where they are at University, is a very cold place in the winter situated as it is in the furthest north of Norway near the Arctic Circle. “How are you coping with this Livingstone heat?” Milli Jam, our programme host, wondered. “We are happy to have air-conditioning and a swimming pool at Chanters Lodge” they replied with feeling! “Are you enjoying the interaction with the Zambian children at your school?” Milli Jam wondered. “Very much” they said, adding that they found the Zambian children very well disciplined even though the school classes were much larger than those in Norway.

The music on the show was right up to date as usual, featuring at the top of the show the current UK number one ‘Beneath Your Beautiful’ from Labrinth and Emeli Sande, back to back with Tyler James – Single Tear. Tracks from Judy, B-Flow, Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber and Bastille followed. We kept a promise to make our oldie of the week very easy on this show – we give away a dinner for two every week to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing on the track – and we dropped Lionel Richie and Diana Ross with ‘Endless Love’. The prize was won in a matter of seconds! We closed the show with Bruno Mars and Young Wild Girls.

Milli Jam wanted to know if the students had had any time for tourist activities and they replied that so far they had been working very hard, although they had been to see Victoria Falls and had taken a sunset cruise on the Zambezi. Later during their stay they intended to go white water rafting, on safari to Chobe in Botswana and to swim in Devil’s Pool on Livingstone Island. Bjorn was toying with the idea of bungee jumping, the girls were not! “Are you married?” Milli Jam wondered. Giggles. “No replied Ellen but I’m dating a music student in Norway”. “My boyfriend’s a builder” said Lillian. Bjorn told listeners that he was young, single and free! “Get in girls!” Milli Jam told our audience.

“What do you think of Zambian food” Milli Jam wondered, and to our surprise these Norwegian youngsters replied “we love eating crocodile meat!” “Eish!” said I. Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time Lillian replied that she would like to be married with three children and a pop star! (Not so outlandish seeing she already has three singles released in Norway). Bjorn wanted to be happy, taking life one day at a time and enjoying an adventurous life. Ellen Marie said she was very bad at planning her life and felt that Bjorn’s ideas were excellent!

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Doug Funk

Remember Doug Funk (pictured above)? You should! He appeared on our radio show and the blog in May this year, and we were delighted to welcome him back again to Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. The show airs on Zambezi 107.7 fm every Sunday night from 20.30 to 21.30 hrs and is a cool mixture of international and Zambian music, chat and news. Doug hails from Canada, telling listeners that “he lives on Vancouver Island, an island in the Pacific Ocean, a fantastic place”.

Doug works for a wealthy philanthropic family involved in more than 100 projects in Africa, centred mostly on Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi but also extending into South Africa. All the projects are linked to education, and indeed at the end of the show when Milli Jam asked Doug if he had any message for the listeners, his reply was “education, education, education” and he certainly walks the talk! He told listeners that he is busy promoting a programme called ‘Happy Books’ which is a reader programme for developing reading skills in African youngsters. 10 schools in Zambia already have these books. Doug makes two trips a year to Africa to assess the progress of his projects, the rest of his time is spent on the massive administration demands of his work.

The music on the show was super, opening with ‘Doom and Gloom’ the latest by The Rolling Stones especially for Arsenal supporters after the team’s dismal performance the previous day. We followed up with tracks from Calvin Harris featuring Florence Welch, Winston and Red Linso, CQ featuring Exile, Rihanna, LMFAO, Nas, Rebecca Ferguson and Ne-Yo. The oldie of the week was Nas’s ‘The World Is Yours’ but the prize we offer to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist went unwon! It was a tough one! We give listeners latest chart news each week and on this show for the first time we gave details of an African chart – unsurprisingly topped by three Nigerian acts.

Doug explained that he had only arrived in Zambia from Zimbabwe the previous night and would be leaving for Mazabuka the following morning, where he had a project at the community school. That afternoon he had been out at Mwandi to assess progress on classroom buildings there. He gave us an update on his THRASS programme saying how important it was for rural youngsters in Zambia to have a better grasp of English as that was the language of exams, and lack of English a primary reason for exam failure. Doug felt the programme was progressing very well in Zambia.

Milli Jam asked Doug what was his favourite Zambian food and his reply was “nsima, but not three times a day”! He revealed that his projects are sponsored by an outfit called ‘Solon’ – one of the seven wise men of ancient Greece, he divulged. As usual we greeted Guests at the lodge, family at home and the Chanters Lodge staff.

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New Frontiers

Why New Frontiers? Well Pastor Crispin Kazaka, Alison and Norman Amey, pictured above left to right, are all involved with Newfrontiers ‘a worldwide family of churches together on a mission’ – Crispin through his church The Jubilee Community Church in Dambwa, Livingstone and Alison and Norman through their church,The Community Church, Honiton in Devon, UK.

All three came together to appear as Guests on the most recent edition of our weekly Sunday night radio show – The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. Alison and Norman were visiting Livingstone, and staying at Chanters Lodge, with a view to helping Crispin firmly establish his church in Livingstone, not necessarily through financial donations. They also told listeners that they were involved with Sikanzwe Village near Kazungula on the Zambezi, organizing loans for small scale fishing businesses. They had returned to Zambia to assess progress.

Our weekly radio show is a lively combination of chat and music and the latest programme celebrated five years of broadcasting every Sunday night between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm! We featured tracks from Swedish House Mafia, Taylor Swift, Petersen and Scarlet, as well as Ty2, Ke$ha, Cover Drive and Owl City. Our closing number was from Kelly Clarkson. Each week we give away a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge to the first listener to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie of the week, and this week the track was by Zambia’s very own sensation Ty2. The prize was quickly snapped up. “I wonder how many dinners we’ve given away in the past five years?” I speculated. “Hundreds” replied George “but not to us!” Ah….

Crispin told listeners he had been a pastor for 14 years and that he was widowed with five children to raise on his own. He bought and sold commodities to help ends meet. Norman had served in the British Police force for 30 years retiring in 2011  having risen to the rank of Inspector. He told listeners he did miss his job, but was happy to have more time to devote to community service through his church. Alison told listeners that she is a tutor of mathematics teaching students having difficulty with Maths. “You’d be busy if you lived in Zambia” said Milli Jam “we Zambians are not very good at Maths”!

Norman and Alison told listeners that they would be leaving Livingstone the next day, heading for Chikankata near Mazabuka, to check out a new church that had been established there. They had not been there before and they were looking forward to the trip. Asked about their musical tastes Norman said he liked Bruce Springsteen and U2 whereas Alison liked listening to Christian music. Crispin liked Zambia’s Sakala Brothers, finding them inspirational.

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Alison said she would like to be a grandmother, Norman that he would like to see Crispin’s church firmly established in Livingstone and Crispin that his church would have started a rehabilitation centre for people having problems with alcohol and drugs.

We wished them the best of luck.

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The Alpha Experience!

Abi Kajumba (above left) and Erin Winfield were the latest Guests at Chanters Lodge, Livingstone, Zambia, to get roped into appearing on our Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is called The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela, and airs between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs every Sunday night – it streams live on the internet too!

Why ‘The Alpha Experience’, well Abi and Erin both work for Alpha. Erin told listeners that the Alpha course is a course which seeks to explore the basics of the Christian faith, described as “an opportunity to explore the meaning of life”. Alpha courses are currently being run in churches, homes, workplaces, prisons, universities and a wide variety of other locations. The course is being run around the world by all major Christian denominations. The girls were spending a few days in Livingstone before moving on to Lusaka to attend an Alpha training workshop at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, being attended by delegates from more than nine other African countries. They were much looking forward to the experience.

Erin originally hails from Arkansas, USA but has lived in England for the past seven years, she’s married and her husband is training for the priesthood in the Anglican church in UK. Abi is still single, has a Ugandan dad and an English mum and has spent years of her life in both countries – she described her mum as ‘brave and adventurous’ – we got the impression on the show that these girls are too, as they described the activities they’d undertaken while they were in Livingstone! They’d walked out to Livingstone Island and jumped into the Devil’s Pool, right on the edge of Victoria Falls. They’d enjoyed a sunset cruise on the Zambezi, as well as undertaking a one day safari to Chobe National Park in Botswana. They’d also taken the flight of angels in a microlight over Victoria Falls! Brave and adventurous indeed!

The music on the show was right up to date as usual – we opened with Little Mix and ‘Wings’, back to back with Fazer’s ‘Killer’. George chose hot Zambian tracks from Roberto and JK, while Milli Jam chose songs from Taio Cruz, and up and coming R&B star Jeremy Greene. Our oldie of the week was from Beyonce and Jay Z, and the prize we give every week to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie was quickly snapped up by a certain Felistus. She won a dinner for two with drinks at Chanters Lodge! We closed with Cover Drive’s latest UK hit, ‘Explode’.

Erin told listeners that her musical taste leans towards acoustic jazz as well as more popular artists such as Jason Mraz and Mumford and Sons – in terms of sport she loves to swim. Abi favours pop and gospel music and loves to play tennis. Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now. Erin said she hoped to be living and working in an Anglican parish with her husband the priest, travelling and changing lives. Abi would like to be married with children, still involved with Alpha, as well as having become a successful author of novels for children – travelling on the royalties earned! We wished them the best of luck and thanked them for appearing on the show.


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New York! New York!

“It’s strange” I said to our Guests at the start of the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge weekly radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone leading local radio station “when people say they’re from America the general reaction is not as excited as when Americans say they’re from New York!” Mike and Jennifer Westcott (above) laughed and proclaimed New York to be their city, and the best city in the whole world! We declined to argue! Mike and Jennifer had been staying at Chanters Lodge for a few days at the end of a hectic three week stay in Africa, having arrived in Livingstone a few days earlier from South Africa. They told Milli Jam, one of the co-hosts of our show, that they would be leaving for Johannesburg the following day, and for home in New York the day after that. “Had they had a good time in Zambia?” George da Soulchild Kaufela (the other co-host) wondered. You bet they had!
This lively, talkative New York couple told listeners that their visit to Livingstone had started with a sunset cruise on the Zambezi with the Lady Livingstone. Thereafter they had visited Victoria Falls and seen it from both the Zambian and Zimbabwean sides. Jennifer commented that there was more water on the Zim side and we explained that Zesco, our beloved electricity company, diverted the water above the Falls on the Zambian side for their hydro-electric scheme. That day the Westcotts had also been on the lion encounter out at Thorn Tree and had loved it. The day of the show was Mike’s birthday (happy birthday Mike!) and he and Jennifer had been to Chobe in Botswana for the one day safari. They had had a great time. One of the highlights of their visit to Livingstone had definitely been a visit to Livingstone Island for tea, and for Jennifer a swim in Devil’s Pool, Mike had allegedly ‘chickened’ out of jumping into the pool!
The music on the show was pretty hot as we opened with Rita Ora’s ‘How We Do (Party)’ debuting at number one in the UK singles charts as we went on air. We coupled that with TreySongz ‘Simply Amazing’, also big in the UK. George dropped tracks by CQ and Petersen ft Joe for his Zambian selection while Milli Jam picked Mary J Blige featuring Rick Ross as well as Usher’s ‘Numb’. Each week on the show we try to give away a prize of a dinner for two to the first person to text us telling us who’s singing our oldie of the week. On this show I chose Elvis Presley’s ‘Jailhouse Rock’ but no-one got it. Problem. Our pick of the week was Ellie Goulding’s awesome ‘Anything Could Happen’ and we closed with Paloma Faith’s ’30 Minute Love Affair’.
Jennifer told our listeners that she was a primary school teacher in New York and Mike a qualified butcher working in a large New York supermarket. They are both third or fourth generation New Yorkers, they had known each other 12 years and had been married for 5 of those. Jennifer explained that they had met online “before it was a trend”! They both loved to travel and hoped in ten years’ time to still be living in New York and travelling a lot. They loved baseball and ice hockey sports wise. “Not soccer?” Asked Milli Jam – they shook their heads forlornly. Musically they said they were both into pop top 40 so I guess they guested on the right show!!

As we closed the show Mike and Jennifer gave a special shout out to Steve Hamwandi, a Livingstone taxi driver, who they said had given them excellent service during their stay. Great stuff!

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Varndean College In Livingstone!

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

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

The music on the show had an immediate Brighton bias as we featured Conor Maynard’s latest UK smash ‘Vegas Girl’. Conor hails from Brighton and it turned out that Nino and Conor had at one time attended the same school. We coupled ‘Vegas Girl’ with Karmin’s ‘Brokenhearted’ also a huge hit in both UK and USA. Other tracks featured on the show were from Zambian artists B-Flo and Danny, as well as Kelly Rowland’s latest ‘Ice’ featuring Lil Wayne and Nigerian star 2 Face with ‘Bad Girl – Bad Man’. Our oldie of the week was ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ from Puff Daddy Diddy and the prize we give every week to the first person to text us the name of the artist on the track was quickly snapped up! Other tunes were from Cady Groves and Scissor Sisters.
 
Our Guests told us they are fans of ‘The Seagulls’ – Brighton and Hove Albion, the city’s own Championship football club. “What kind of city is Brighton” Milimo wondered, to which the reply was “big, loud and known as ‘London-By-The-Sea’!” Asked about their favourite musical artists Grace recommended Beyonce, and Nino David Bowie but all three rated Rizzle Kicks – a Brighton band. “So do we” we commented “we’ve played their tracks several times on our show”. Alrik, Nino and Grace all spoke highly of the Zambian music they’d heard when they were on the Copperbelt, and they’d also learned to speak a few words in Bemba.

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

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

Great guys, great show!

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Zambia Meets UK For Children With Special Needs

Meet Chris Bentley, Cynthia Chisangano and Doug Staff, our Guests on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient, featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. The show is sponsored by Chanters Lodge and airs every Sunday between 20.30 and 21.30 hrs on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station – ‘Let The Waves Flow’ is their motto, and they certainly did last Sunday night!

Two of our Guests – Chris and Doug hail from UK and were visiting Zambia as part of a reciprocal partnership between Zambia and the UK, of schools, or departments in schools, catering for children with special needs. Cynthia is in charge of the department of children with special needs at David Livingstone High School in Livingstone, while Chris and Doug are teachers at Crowdy’s Hill School in Swindon, UK. That school has some 130 students with special and complex needs, some with mental health issues. The original contact was made by Cynthia who in 2010, perusing Facebook as we in Zambia often do, came across the page for the British Council and a feature about possible reciprocal arrangements between schools worldwide with departments of special needs. She was on to it in a flash and the link between David Livingstone High School and Crowdy’s Hill was established. Cynthia visited UK earlier this year and Doug and Chris told listeners they were much enjoying meeting the staff and children involved in Cynthia’s department at David Livingstone High School.
This music on the show was the usual rich mixture that Milli Jam, George and I create each week! Tracks were from Misha B, Angel, Paulina Rubio and Far East Movement ft Cover Drive. Others were from Danny and Slap Dee, with tracks from Sean Paul ft Kelly Rowland as well as Usher. Our oldie of the week, chosen by Milli Jam, was by Destiny’s Child. Worried about the poor response in recent weeks to our offer of a dinner for two at the lodge to the first person to text us the name of the artist featured in our oldie of the week, we came in half way through the track telling listeners to ‘come on and text’ and the response improved immediately and the prize was won. A lesson learned.
Doug told listeners that he was married with two sons, Chris is engaged to be married and Cynthia’s single. The group’s main aim at the moment is to ensure the sustainability of their project – to this end they are interested in David Livingstone High School becoming a British Council ‘Learning Hub’ attracting new sponsored finance and more importantly new computers and internet connectivity for the school and, out of hours, for the community. We wished them the best of luck in their endeavors.
 
Milli Jam wondered whether Doug and Chris would have time for any tourist activities during their visit to Livingstone and the guys explained that they would go white water rafting and later on the sunset cruise the following Tuesday. They were much looking forward to their day off – granted them by Cynthia who was their boss for the week! She would stay at the school and work! Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now, Chris said he hoped still to be teaching children with special needs, maintaining his links with Zambia, Doug wanted to be coaching canoeing and kayaking in Canada. Cynthia wanted to have her doctorate and to be a national advocate for children with special needs in Zambia.

We rounded off the show with greetings for Guests and staff at the lodge, news from the Chanters Lodge blog, our Twitter account as well as our weekly contributions on Facebook and Pinterest. Chart news from the US and UK latest pop charts is standard on the show too!

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Something Silly For Saturday

From Derek for ‘Silly Saturday’!

THE STUDENT WHO OBTAINED 0% ON AN EXAM…AND HOW HE DID IT

Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die?
* his last battle

Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed?
* at the bottom of the page

Q3. River Ravi flows in which state?
* liquid

Q4. What is the main reason for divorce?
* marriage

Q5. What is the main reason for failure?
* exams

Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast?
* Lunch & dinner

Q7. What looks like half an apple?
* The other half

Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become?
* It will simply become wet

Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ?
* No problem, he sleeps at night.

Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?
* You will never find an elephant that has only one hand..

Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in other hand, what would you have ?
* Very large hands

Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?
* No time at all, the wall is already built.

Q13. How can u drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?
*Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.

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Family Planning

Annie, 6 years old, gets home from school after her first family planning lesson.

Her mother, very interested, asks;” How did it go?”

“I died of shame!” She answers!
“Why?” Queried her mum.
“Well” said Annie

Koos from over the road, says that the stork brings babies. Sally next door said you can buy babies at the orphanage.
Piet in my class says you can buy babies at the hospital. 

Her mother answers laughingly “But that’s no reason to be ashamed?”

“No, but I couldn’t’ tell them we were so poor that daddy had to make me himself!”

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Chela Katwishi Rocks! (In London)

Thanks to George da Soulchild Kaufela for this nice piece about my old friend Chela Katwishi who will MC at the 2012 UKZAMBIANS Excellence Awards In London this Saturday!

Chela blossomed from the literary world at a tender age of 18 and found himself in the world of broadcasting. His broadcasting career took off as an assistant producer in 1989 at Zambia Broadcasting Services, later renamed Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC). He subsequently rose through the ranks to senior producer, Radio Two & Radio Mulungushi. Having acquired his advanced diploma in broadcast journalism at the Africa Literature Centre in Kitwe, Chela was awarded best overall public relations student upon graduation.

At 28, he was appointed youngest senior private secretary to former Zambia President late Dr. Frederick Chiluba at State House. He spent the next 10 years working for privately owned Radio Phoenix in Zambia. He steadily rose through the ranks to assistant supervisor. He attained a masters degree in international journalism at Cardiff University in Wales and subsequently taught & trained at various radio stations in Zambia, under the Media Institute of Southern Africa as programme officer: radio & good governance.

Chela became the first Zambian radio presenter to promote Oliver Mtukudzi’s ‘Tuku’ Music single-handedly on Zambian airwaves and he has won various radio awards in different categories. Appointed director of programmes & marketing for the first privately-owned television station in Zambia, MUVI TV, he was later appointed as director of news, current affairs & marketing for MUVI TV. He accepted a further appointment as general manager for MOBI TV in Zambia.

Chela worked as real talk researcher / assistant producer at OH TV, London and is currently working as a client liaison manager for a privately-owned accounting firm in London. To top it all, he is currently pursuing a PhD programme on a part-time basis. This MC has interviewed various presidents and heads of state, including high profile personalities on radio & television and has been master of ceremonies and DJ for several state functions, society weddings, private parties and various occasions worldwide. As a veteran MC, he will surely keep everyone entertained throughout the evening. Guest MCs include Mansour Bellow and Brenda Mulenga.

The UKZAMBIANS Excellence Awards are prestigious Zambian Diaspora Awards bestowed upon the most celebrated, highest achieving Zambians, groups, and friends of Zambia. The Awards serve as a platform for distinguished academia, accomplished entrepreneurs, successful business professionals, top personalities and others within the Zambian Diaspora and is the highest profile community event in the history of Zambians in the Diaspora. The UKZAMBIANS Excellence Awards 2012 will be held on Saturday, 9th June in London.

Big up Chela! Get in!









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