football – Chanters Lodge Livingstone

The Flavor of The Experience

Meet Emmanuel Dodia (above), aka DJ Flavor, Guest on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela, hence the headline! The Experience is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm for an hour at 20.30 hrs CAT and is a lively mixture of music, and chat with our Guest of the week.

Emmanuel told listeners that as well as being one of Livingstone’s top club DJ’s at night, he has a full time day job with Zambia Electricity Supply Company (ZESCO), Zambia’s much maligned power company for whom he works as a Customer Care Officer. “How do you cope with the abuse?” I asked Emmanuel, sure that given the amount of load shedding to which the Zambian population is regularly subjected, abuse must be pretty frequent. “We’re trained!” Replied DJ Flavor, laughing. “Please tell your bosses to let the water go over the Falls for an hour or so every day during the next dry season.” I urged Emmanuel. Laughing again he replied: “Do you want more load shedding?” I replied by advising him not to laugh at such a serious matter and that I felt most Livingstone residents would take an hour or so of load shedding, in return for a daily flow of water over the Falls for a limited period of time!

Emmanuel told listeners that he had been a DJ for about four years, a protege of PJMasterz he had started playing at ‘da Fusion’ and doing road shows, before officially opening ‘Ayoba’ one of Livingstone’s liveliest, busiest night clubs right in the heart of the city. Currently Flavor was playing Limpo’s pub (opposite the civic centre) during the week, and at Taonga Safaris on the banks of the Zambezi at weekends. When Milli Jam asked what music he played for his audience he replied that it depended on what they wanted and that he believed in ‘customer care’ in both his occupations! His own personal taste in music was towards R&B and House with Kendrick Lamar and Nicki Minaj being his favourite artists.

The music on this week’s show was good. We opened with tracks from Fuse ODG and Hardwell featuring Matthew Koma. George dropped numbers from Salma Dodia (Emmanuel’s first cousin) and Slap Dee featuring Kantu. Milli Jam chose Kid Ink featuring Chris Brown as well as Katy Perry featuring Juicy J. Our oldie of the week was Jay Sean’s ‘War’ and the prize we give each week to the first person to text us telling us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up. My pick of the week was Magic’s ‘Rude’ – George loved it.

Emmanuel told listeners that he’s been married to his wife Ivy for about eighteen months and that they have a baby girl Amelia, just eight months old. He supports Arsenal (hooray said Milli Jam and I), all time favourite player Thierry Henry, current star Theo Walcott. Emmanuel also loves basketball although he no longer plays. He told us he had undergone a course in public relations at UNZA before taking up his appointment at Zesco.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years from now, Emmanuel said that he would like to be ‘grown up with his family’, adding up to more than just something in music, and holding down a good job. We wished him the best of luck.

16
JAN

Africa, Arsenal, broadcasting, electricity, entertainment, football, livingstone, music, radioshow, victoriafalls, Zambia

The Veterans Experience!

Judy Smetherham (left above) and Di Rapson are truly veterans of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela! It was their fourth appearance as Guests on our show when we featured them on the first 2014 edition of the programme last Sunday night. The show has been running on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station since late 2007 so this marks our seventh year on air. “Why do you keep coming back to Zambia?” Milli Jam wanted to know at the beginning of the programme. “We love the people of Zambia!” The ladies replied and went on to tell listeners that they had arrived back in Zambia on December 22nd flying in from Perth, Australia where they live, and work in education.

Their first stop in the country was Lusaka from where they flew to Mfue in the South Luangwa National Park where they enjoyed Christmas, explaining that Santa Claus had arrived at the lodge in a 4 x 4 with presents for all the Guests. “Not on an elephant?” We wondered. Whilst in the Luangwa they had seen just about all the game there is to see, apart from rhino, but including leopard and wild dogs. From Mfue they had flown to Livingstone via Lusaka on January 3rd, taking in the elephant orphanage in Lusaka on their way. The ladies had been on the river safari since they arrived in Livingstone as well as taking a microlight flight over Victoria Falls that very morning. They were lucky on both outings to avoid the incessant rain experienced in the city for the whole of the previous week. The ladies were looking forward to a one day safari to Chobe NP in Botswana on the following Tuesday, with Chris Tours.

The music on the show was great. We featured our new theme tune for 2014 at the top of the show – Avicii’s ‘Hey Brother’. Tracks from Pitbull featuring Ke$ha and Bruno Mars followed. George dropped numbers from Exile as well as Edma featuring Ty2. Milli Jam added a West African flavour with recordings from Niyola, as well as Kcee featuring WizzKid. George picked Harry Belafonte’s ‘There’s A Hole In My Bucket’ as the oldie of the week, but no-one won the prize we offer to the first person to text us telling us the name of the recording artist. Hardly any wonder! My pick of the week for the ladies (who just LOVE elephants) was ‘Come A Little Closer’ by….Cage The Elephant. We closed with an old number from Charlie Pride.

Judy and Di told listeners that they would leave Livingstone the following week and head for Cape Town for a nine day holiday in that super South African city. After that they would fly to Dubai, from there proceeding on a four day tour to Oman before returning to Dubai for some days, prior to flying home. The ladies also revealed that they had plans in the pipeline to visit Canada and the USA. Milli Jam wanted to know what changes they had noticed in Livingstone since their last visit eighteen months ago, and the ladies noted the improvement in the roads, new street signs and the increase in activity prices – the latter reported through clenched teeth!

In an unexpected move, Judy produced a marvellous book of photos taken in Zambia during their three previous visits, including fabulous pictures of the lodge and its staff, the radio show and its hosts, as well as stunning pictures of the Falls, gorges and Zambia’s awesome wildlife. Pictures of all the various activities they have done in Zambia are also featured in the book! Naturally those present felt that they would each be given their own signed edition of the unique volume but this turned out not to be the case, and the book went away with its owner, never to be seen again. The ‘boos’ in the studio were louder than those for David Moyes at Old Trafford as Man U lost at home yet again!

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing in ten years’ time both ladies said they would like still to be happy, healthy, travelling and creating more books of photos!

10
JAN

2014, activities, Australia, Botswana, Cape Town, Chanters, Chobe, education, entertainment, football, livingstone, music, New Year, radioshow, staff, travel, victoriafalls, wildlife, zambezi, Zambia

The Chrismar Hotel Experience

We were delighted to welcome Robert McCarron (above) as our Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. The Experience is our weekly Sunday night radio show airing on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Rob is general manager of Chrismar Hotel, one of Livingstone larger hotels located on the Royal Mile near the Boat Club, close to the entrance to Mosi-o-Tunya National Park and of course the Zambezi. “The hotel currently has 59 rooms but is in the process of extending by an additional 40 rooms”, Rob told listeners. It was the first time we’ve had one of the general managers of Livingstone’s big hotels on the programme and Milli Jam asked him how he felt to be the first. Robert replied “you have the country’s best known hotel manager on the programme every week, so I’m hardly the first!” I guess I blushed!

Rob told us that he has been in Zambia for 3 years and has, for most of that time, been the manager at Chrismar. He’s an American, a graduate in business management, travel and tourism from Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. “Why did you come to Zambia?” Milli Jam wanted to know. “For a change” the reply. We were not told the type of change required! Rob said the hotel had had a great year in 2013 with increased occupancy and room revenue, enjoying a thriving conference trade, with the majority of Guests coming from within Zambia.

The music on the show was good, we opened with two top Christmas hits from the UK by Sam Bailey and Pharrell Williams. George dropped Zambian tracks from Petersen and Mampi, while Milli Jam chose records from One Direction and Tiwa Savege. Our oldie of the week was Bruno Mars’ Grenade, and we had two prizes on offer to the first people to text us the name of the recording artist on the track. Robert had kindly contributed a dinner for two at Chrismar Hotel to add to the dinner for two with drinks at Chanters that we give away each week on a regular basis, and the two prizes were quickly snapped up by our listeners!

Robert told listeners that he’s married to a Zambian lady with whom he has twin one year old little boys, and yes, they do keep the family awake at night and busy, but he said he himself is a ‘deep sleeper’ so not that disturbed! Rob said that he comes from a family of musicians, his mum is a musician with the Boston Symphony Orchestra while his dad plays piano in piano bars across America. Both his brothers play in bands. He said his own musical tastes were wide and that he especially enjoys rap, rock and reggae.

As a Bostonian he loves all his Boston sports teams and, because the owner of the Boston Red Sox is also the owner of Liverpool FC in UK, he’s a fan of that club. This made George very happy. Rob’s first sporting love however is basketball, and he revealed that he is the coach of the Hillcrest School basketball team here in Livingstone as well as the team for Southern Province. As for tourist activities he loved white water rafting and felt that everyone should do that once in their lives. He had swum in Devil’s Pool but had not done the bungee jump. “No time!” He said. “It only takes 7.5 seconds” I replied, and we laughed!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time Rob revealed that he wanted to be the team coach for the Zambian national basketball team while training his 11 year old twin boys in the art of the game! He also mentioned that he would like to have more children. Nothing about hotels we noted!

We closed by wishing all our listeners a very happy Christmas and prosperous 2014.

27
DEC

accommodation, activities, Africa, Chanters, entertainment, football, hotels, livingstone, music, victoriafalls, Zambia

The Mufalali Experience

Quite a lot of the music we played on the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela was related to the late great Nelson Mandela by way of a tribute. ‘The Experience’ is our one hour regular Sunday night radio show live on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. We opened with Johnny Clegg with Savuka’s briliant ‘Asimbonanga’, our pick of the week was U2’s latest ‘Ordinary Love’ from the soundtrack of ‘Mandela – Long Walk To Freedom’, the new movie about the great man’s life, and we closed with Tracy Chapman’s 80’s smash ‘Freedom Now’ begging the authorities to release Madiba. It was the least we could do.

Our Guest on this show was the inspirational Brenda Mufalali (above) newscaster and presenter on Zambezi 107.7 fm and the only lady so employed at the station! Brenda told listeners that she enjoyed working with all the men and that at least ‘they had a mother’! George and Milli Jam grinned. Brenda has a long history in news and broadcasting in Zambia having worked for Radio Chengelo, Radio Mosi-o-Tunya, Guardian Weekly and Times of Zambia during various moments in the past. She told listeners she had been with Zambezi 107.7 fm for the past three years. Apart from news casting and news gathering Brenda has her own very successful, government sponsored weekly women’s programme on air ‘Women In Success’ which explores and highlights challenges faced by women in Zambia. From time to time she also hosts the breakfast show and does other spots on air too.

Apart from the tracks mentioned above, George treated us to the brand new Ozzy track ‘Komboni Dugude’ great track though no-one seemed to know the meaning, it is the lead single from his new album. Soulchild coupled this track with B1’s ‘Sikiliti Ku Bed’. Milli Jam was in the mood for Jay Z and Katy Perry. Our oldie of the week was ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’ the classic from the Righteous Brothers but no-one was able to text us the right name of the performing artist so the prize we give each week was not won.

Brenda told listeners that she was single ‘but dating’ and as yet had no children. It seems that this is the first time she has revealed her social/marital status on air as after the show, the question and answer had clearly produced a buzz around the studios! She revealed her hobbies as ballroom dancing, reading and travelling. She loves the Zambian national soccer team (check the shirt in the picture above) and also seemed to vaguely support Manchester United which did not go down well with the other assembled presenters. She holds qualifications from the Ideal College of Commerce as well as a certificate in journalism. She is a ‘staunch catholic’. Her taste in music is 90’s, slow tracks and gospel. Yes, she does sometimes go clubbing….shock, horror in the audience! The biggest challenge in her job? Confirming stories, and editors, in that order!

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing ten years’ from now Brenda said she would still like to be involved with the media but perhaps not in her present job which should be for younger people by then. She has a serious and great ambition to start and run an orphanage, she herself was an orphan and she wanted to do something for people in a similar predicament. We were sure that with her driven, dynamic, commanding personality she would achieve that!

12
DEC

activities, Africa, broadcasting, children, entertainment, football, livingstone, media, music, News, Publications, radioshow, victoriafalls, Zambia

Akafekwa Mututwa

Akafekwa (above) stepped in as our Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Soulchild – that’s our weekly Sunday night radio show airing at 20.30 hrs every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The Guest whom we had booked was a ‘no show’ and we were very grateful to Akafekwa for filling the gap. He was a great Guest too!

Akafekwa told listeners that he is the sales manager of a newly established company selling porcelain tiles in Livingstone – ‘Tile Giant’ and that he enjoys the job. An accountant by profession he holds both a certificate in accounting as well as an accounts technicians diploma from NIPA in Lusaka. Before joining Tile Giant he had worked for Chrismar Hotels in Lusaka and here in Livingstone. Tile Giant is located in the same premises as The Hard Rock Cafe in Livingstone which provoked a few questions!

How come Akafekwa was on hand to Guest on our show? Well, he had come to the studio with George following a show that George – a rap musician – had been playing at Taonga Safaris who have a great location on the banks of the Zambezi. The place rocks on Sunday afternoons, just ask the elephants! “How long have you known George?” Milli Jam wanted to know and Mr Mututwa explained that they had been school mates together in Mongu, Western Province and had met up again when he, Akafekwa, arrived in Livingstone some 2 years ago. Akafekwa claimed to be George’s manager and Milli Jam immediately wanted to know ‘where’s the album?’ an FAQ in recent months. “It’s coming, it’s coming” we were told angrily!

The music on the show was good, we opened with our theme ‘Feel The Love’ by Rudimental featuring John Newman. The theme will change in the new year and we already have a few ideas for a new theme for next year. We dropped tracks from One Direction and Calvin Harris. George played Zonefam’s ‘Lobola’ noting that this fab Zambian band had picked up a Channel O Africa award just the previous night! He also played his own track featuring Maji – ‘Enter Enter’. Milli Jam gave us tracks from Alicia Keys and Avicii and our oldie of the week from Justin Bieber. The prize we give to the first person to text us telling us the name of the artist on our oldie of the week was quickly snapped up.

Akafekwa told listeners that his favourite type of music is R&B and that his favourite artist is R Kelly. He is, he explained, a big fan of Manchester United and was quite sanguine about the fact that they had only been able to draw with Spurs that afternoon. Milli Jam and I spent a few moments discussing Arsenal’s position at the top of the EPL while others listened! Akafekwa said he had done quite a lot of the tourist activities available in Livingstone but had never done the bungee jump nor swum in Devil’s Pool. He told listeners that he was married with two sons, the youngest of which was just over one month old. “Awwww” we said! His wife is a teacher at Faith Academy Trust School in Livingstone.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, our lively laughing Guest told us that he wanted to be a happily married family man with a very successful country wide tile company to his name – a real tile giant in fact! We wished him the best of luck.

6
DEC

Accounts, activities, Business, education, entertainment, football, hotels, livingstone, management, radioshow, victoriafalls, Zambia

Lewis Simango

There was drama at the start of the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George ‘Kaufela’ da Soulchild, our weekly Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, as the studio was plunged into darkness by a power cut – not a particularly unusual occurrence in Livingstone. After some of us had been obliged to climb the six flights of stairs to get to work (no Zesco – no lifts), we were lucky that our Guest of the week – Lewis Simango (above) – is technically gifted and was well able to start up the studio’s stand by generator. We were lucky! Even so, the genset only operates the system and the transmission so for the first half of the show we did it in the dark!

Lewis told listeners that he is a part time presenter on 107.7 fm and a born again Christian. He has a show featuring gospel music every Sunday called 426. “Why that name?” I wondered. “Because the show airs from 14 – 18 hrs” Lewis replied. “Ah!” I said, feeling dull and knackered from climbing the stairs! Lewis explained that he mostly features gospel music on his show but that he also has a certain man of God from the church of ‘Lion of Judah’ who comes in to preach. “Do you think there’s too much religious broadcasting on this station?” Milli Jam asked. “Certainly not!” the unsurprising reply.

We don’t play gospel music on our show even though we also broadcast on Sundays. On this edition we featured tracks from Showtek, James Arthur, Zone Fam and Kaufela ft Mbototo. Milli Jam played Sean Paul and Bruno Mars. Our oldie of the week was Katie Melua’s ‘Closest Thing To Crazy’ but no-one won the prize. There was one forlorn text message saying ‘these oldies are so hard for us youth’! Seeing that the prize had been won for the previous three weeks running we disputed this! My pick of the week was Ne-Yo featuring Future with ‘Luxurious’. “Everyone’s featuring Future’ said George. We closed with Sean Paul’s hit ‘Turn It Up’.

Lewis made us laugh when Milli Jam asked what sport he liked and his reply was ‘wrestling’. “Ah!” said Milli Jam “and who’s your favourite wrestler?”. “Well” said Lewis “despite my religion it’s The Undertaker”! Lewis professed no interest in UK soccer. Our Guest said his greatest influence in terms of his show was Jo Austin, and that he had been with 107.7 for almost a year. He loved broadcasting and had joined the station as a result of starting early as a member of the station’s fan club. He also revealed that he is a musician himself, soon hoping to release his first album. He is also an events manager with Livingstone Lighthouse, and so he makes ends meet. He is a single man, Lozi by tribe, “pure Lozi” he said. He had been educated at David Livingstone High School and was undertaking further studies by distance learning.

As the show came to an end, Lewis rushed off the shut down the generator and switch back on to mains power – technical indeed!

31
OCT

Africa, broadcasting, education, electricity, entertainment, football, livingstone, media, radioshow, recording, religion, Zambia

Krystle The Brave!

Sometimes tourists come to Livingstone just to experience the fantastic array of activities available in the area, with viewing the Victoria Falls somehow a secondary consideration on their itinerary. It seems this was the case for Krystle Cummings (above), young, pretty Canadian Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George da Soulchild Kaufela. ‘The Experience’ is the weekly Sunday night radio show we sponsor airing from 20.30 hrs CAT for an hour on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is a popular mixture of music and chat with our invited guest, sometimes someone staying at Chanters Lodge, sometimes a local personality. Members of staff at the lodge have also appeared as Guests on the show.

Krystle told listeners that while she had been in Livingstone, she had ridden elephants, swum in Devil’s Pool on Livingstone Island, flown over Victoria Falls for 15 minutes in/on a microlight, gone white water rafting and swung the gorge swing – this last activity ‘more than once’. The scariest? ‘White water rafting!’ She said. Milli Jam wanted to know if there were any activities she wished she’d done but hadn’t, and she mentioned the rhino walk, and the lion/cheetah encounter! She had also been to Chobe National Park in Botswana for the one day safari and had been thrilled to see so many elephants.

Before arriving in Livingstone, Krystle, a Justice graduate from the University of British Columbia, had spent time in Lusaka, staying with a Zambian family on a short internship with Advocacy for Juvenile Justice. This programme had involved visiting juveniles incarcerated in adult Zambian prisons, with a view to trying to bring about a change in this unsatisfactory situation, which, she said, simply leads to a continued cycle of crime. Juveniles locked up with adults had little chance of reform and much more likelihood of repeat offending, she explained. Zambia was one of the very few countries to offer a chance to non-Zambians to visit the prisons and she described her time in Lusaka as an ‘eye opener’.

The music on the show was good. We opened with tracks from Enrique and Avicii. George dropped numbers from Pilato and General Ozzy. Milli Jam chose music from Beyonce and Daft Punk. Our oldie of the week was Amayenge’s ‘Ten Wala’ and the prize we give to the first person to text us the name of the performing artist was quickly snapped up! My pick of the week was R Kelly’s ‘Genius’. We closed with tracks from Daughtry and John Legend.

Krystle told listeners that although she was still single she had a steady boyfriend back in Canada who was just finishing College, as indeed she herself had just finished. Brian (his name) was studying web design, she said, and revealed that he was an adrenaline junkie just dying to come to Zambia to do the bungee jump! Brian was a Manchester City fan though Krystle herself follow iced hockey more than English football. Milli Jam was very happy that Arsenal were top of the EPL as we went on air and took every opportunity to remind listeners of this fact! Our Canadian guest said she was a fan of Mumford and Sons and had recently been lucky enough to have front row seats at one of their concerts, which she had loved. She was also a fan of Kings of Leon.

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Krystle hoped to have a great job, a nice house and to have travelled to every single continent. Coming from one who had just visited Zambia’s congested run down prisons and risked life and limb celebrating Livingstone’s great adrenaline activities, we had no doubt she would succeed!

4
OCT

activities, Africa, Arsenal, Botswana, Canada, Chanters, children, Chobe, education, entertainment, football, livingstone, music, radioshow, travel, Zambia

Sports Report Experience!

We were delighted to be able to broadcast the latest edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Kaufela last Sunday as usual. Why? Well, Zambia was in national mourning for late Hon. Kennedy Sakeni, chief government spokesman, and in the past we wouldn’t have been able to broadcast a music show, but the rules changed and national mourning applied only between 06.00 and 18.00 hrs daily, so that was alright then. On the show we offered condolences to the late’s family and friends. Why a sports report experience? Because our Guest on this show was Heinz Nawa Munene (above) intrepid, talkative and knowledgeable sports reporter on Zambezi 107.7 fm. It was Nawa’s second appearance on our show and we were delighted to welcome him back!

Mr Munene reminded listeners that he’d last appeared on our programme in 2009 and informed us that as well as being a sports presenter with three shows per week on Zambezi fm, he’s also a trainee primary school teacher undergoing a course at Mosi-o-Tunya College in Livingstone – he hopes to finish his teacher training later this year and to start teaching full time in the new year. We expressed the wish that in that case he would continue to present on 107.7 fm and he confirmed that he would. Milli Jam raised the question of the future of Herve Renard the Zambian national football coach following the national team’s recent elimination from the 2014 World Cup and Nawa thought it was time for a change. A fairly heated debate followed! He also expressed the wish to see many more talented, locally based, players in the national team squad in the future – he named plenty of the ones he had in mind!

The music on the show was great despite one of the presenters having a different, rather than the current, play list in his pocket – causing some initial confusion! We opened with tracks from Jason Aldean and Jessie J’s latest ‘Square One’. George chose Zambian tracks from Espe and Krummy, King Dandy Krazy ft JK. Milli Jam dropped items from Wale and Toni Braxton. Our oldie of the week was Beyonce’s ‘Listen’ surprisingly currently back in the UK charts, and the prize of a dinner for two at the lodge to the first person to text us the name of the artist was quickly snapped up. My pick of the week was Jennifer Hudson’s newie ‘Bleed For Love’.

Nawa told listeners that he was still single after all these years but definitely hoped to be married by 2017. He seemed to have a definite plan in this regard despite being teased by other presenters. He revealed that for a while recently he had also been a TV sports presenter with Muvi TV which he’d enjoyed a lot, allowing him amongst other duties, to meet top sports personalities like Kalusha Bwalya and Renard himself. He also enjoyed commentating on football matches which he did regularly on 107.7 fm for Council Pirates home games in Livingstone. He was scathing about the management of that team and bemoaned the fact that Southern Province was the only province without a team in the Zambia Premier League. He also revealed that he is the administrator for a local amateur team Eastlands FC. Busy chap our Heinz!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now this young, hardworking, driven, young sports enthusiast said he would like to be in South Africa as a full time presenter with DSTV’s Supersport TV channel. We wouldn’t bet against that!

If you missed the show and would like to listen to the Podcast, here’s the link (thanks to George Soulchild!)

13
SEP

Africa, children, education, entertainment, football, livingstone, radioshow, training, Zambia

Natalie Foxworthy Live On ‘The Experience’

Meet Natalie Foxworthy (above), Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Soulchild, our weekly radio music and talk show airing every Sunday night on Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. Natalie was on holiday in Livingstone following a visit to Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, concerning her work as a Projects Officer for Education and Youth Development with Children International.

“What does Children International do?” Milli Jam asked Natalie at the top of the show and she explained that for over 75 years, Children International has been providing critical assistance to children and families struggling in poverty. Through their one-to-one child sponsorship program, they reduce the burden of poverty on impoverished children, invest in their potential and provide them with opportunities to grow up healthy, educated and prepared to succeed and contribute to society. Sponsorship of a child is US$25 per month and Natalie estimated that there are some 18,000 children being helped in Zambia. Natalie oversees Children International’s projects in 13 different countries around the world. A former Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador she did her Masters in International Development at the University of California, San Diego. She hails from Los Angeles. During this visit to Zambia, Natalie had visited some of the poorest ‘compounds’ in Lusaka including Chibolya, Kanyama and George.

Natalie told listeners that she had thoroughly enjoyed her few days in Livingstone. She had flown down from Lusaka with Proflight and on her first afternoon she had loved the sunset cruise on Lady Livingstone, being lucky to have seen a great sunset as well as game in, and on the shores of, the mighty Zambezi. She had been out to Livingstone Island and swum in Angel’s Pool, telling listeners that the water was very cold but she had loved the experience of swimming right on the edge of the stunning Victoria Falls! She had also enjoyed a lion/cheetah encounter that very afternoon. Natalie hoped to visit the Livingstone Museum and to buy some souvenirs before heading back to Lusaka, and then on to Kansas where she now lives.

The music on the show was good and we featured tracks from Sneakbo, Iggy Azalea, Zonefam, Miguel, Bruno Mars, Lawson and Sebastian Ingrosso amongst others. Our oldie of the week was The Kinks – You Really Got Me but the prize went unwon – just too old for our young Zambian listeners I guess! Kaufela and his granny asked to be considered for the prize of a dinner for two at the lodge!

Natalie told listeners that she’d been married for three and a half years and that she met her husband in El Salvador when she was stationed there with the Peace Corps. As yet they had no children. They both loved soccer, Natalie’s an avid Barcelona supporter while her husband prefers Real Madrid. She loves Latin music and speaks fluent Spanish. She had found Chanters Lodge through the Trip Advisor site and had enjoyed her stay at the lodge. She felt she could not visit Zambia without coming to see Victoria Falls and had loved the sight both from Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Asked where she would like to be and what she would like to be doing ten years from now the gracious and interesting Natalie said she would love to be living in Africa, and working for an NGO involved with youth development. We wished her the best of luck.

18
JUL

activities, Africa, airlines, Chanters, charities, children, education, entertainment, football, health, livingstone, Museum, music, radioshow, usa, victoriafalls, zambezi, Zambia

Clive Siviye Rocks ‘The Experience’

Meet Clive Siviye, Guest on the most recent edition of The Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring George Kaufela Soulchild – that’s our regular Sunday night radio show airing on
Zambezi 107.7 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, from 20.30 – 21.30 hrs and streaming live. If Clive was a footballer he would probably be described in the media as ‘much travelled’! Why? Well he’d worked for Radio Chengelo, Sky FM, YAR FM and Falls FM – all local radio stations in Zambia, before he came to work for Zambezi 107.7 fm in Livingstone. Clive told listeners that he is a newscaster and current affairs presenter with the station, for whom he has worked for about four months. Was he happy at 107.7 fm? Yes, we got the impression that he was.

Interestingly, Clive told listeners that he had originally wanted to become a catholic priest, and with that calling in mind he had trained for more than four years with the Jesuits before deciding that perhaps the church as a career was not for him. Radio Chengelo, being a catholic radio station, made the link for him to be able to move into a career in journalism/broadcasting. In 2009 Clive was selected by the American Department of State for the award of a scholarship allowing him to leave for George Washington University in Washington DC to study investigative journalism for thirteen months. He had very much enjoyed his time in the States and had travelled widely. “Would you like to go back?” Asked Milli Jam and Clive agreed that yes, he would love to go back to do a Masters degree.

The music on the show was hot with a wide African influence – George dropped a brand new track from K’Millien – ‘Osa Limba Mutima’ back to back with Chefy’s smash hit ‘Foolish Me’ – a remix. Milimo (Milli Jam) chose Danny K’s ‘Brown Eyes’ with Davido’s ‘One Of A Kind’. We played Icona Pop’s number one recording ‘I Love It’ and the title track from Darius Rucker’s album ‘True Believers’. The oldie of the week was Ne-Yo’s ‘Miss Independent’ and the prize we give each week to the first person to text us telling us who’s the performing artist on the track was snapped up after the play had barely begun! My pick was Will.i.am’s ‘Bang-Bang’ and we closed with ‘Walk Like Rihanna’.

Clive told listeners that he was still single but that he had three sisters, one of whom is his twin and who are all married, he also has a younger brother. His musical taste revolved around ‘oldies’ and his favourite artist is Elton John. He is a Chelsea supporter and his favourite player Juan Mata. “They’re trying to sell him, Marinho does not like him” George told us! Kaufela is for Liverpool! Another string to Clive’s bow is that he is a fully fledged IAAF athletics coach and in his younger days was Zambia’s 400m champion.

Living in the tourist capital of Zambia he had experienced many of the tourist activities available but claimed to be ‘too tall’ for bungee jumping! A lame excuse we opined. Asked the inevitable final question of where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, Clive said that he wanted to be married with children and working for Al Jazeera.

4
JUL

Africa, communications, education, entertainment, football, music, radioshow, religion, sport, travel, usa, Zambia

Page 4 of 8 «...2 345 6...»