The Nchimunya Experience

Nchimunya Chikosola

 

Meet Nchimunya Chikosola (above), a worker in production at the studios of Zambezi fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station and hosts of our weekly radio show, the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. The show airs every Sunday night from 20.30-21.30 hrs CAT and is a great mixture of the latest Zambian and international pop hits, and chat with our guest of the week. Nchimunya was the guest on the most recent edition of our show.

Nchimunya told listeners that he had been employed at Zambezi fm (starting as an intern) some eighteen months ago. During that time he had garnered experience not only in production but in marketing and as a presenter as well. Currently he was a driver too! He had been educated locally at St Raphael’s Secondary School. He had spent some time working for Safari Par Excellence in video production and had realised that this was work he loved.

In 2010 his mother had retired from employment with Zamtel and upon receiving her benefits had sponsored our guest to undertake a degree course at the University of Namibia in Windhoek from 2010-2013. He had read Media Studies and Sociology and had loved his time at University, making a lot of friends. Radio featured as part of his course. He told us that studying at university in Namibia was preferable to Zambia as there were ‘no closures that side’. We told him he was very lucky to have such a loving mum, willing to blow her benefits on his further education!

The music on this show was good with latest tracks from Jason Derulo, Martin Garrix ft Usher, DJ Target, Bobby East (controversial Zambian artist), Nicky Minaj and DJ Mish’s ‘Yappata’. Meaning? Unclear.

Nchimunya said that his own personal taste in music was hip hop but that working on radio he had very much widened his listening range and this had increased his interest in Gospel, House, Rap and other genres. He told us he did not really follow one UK football club but tended to ‘go with the flow’. We seriously advised him that on this day this made him a Gunner as Arsenal were celebrating their second FA Cup victory in succession and twelfth in all time! They were in fact ‘the flow’!

Still single and without children, Nchimunya can be found on both Facebook and Twitter. Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing in ten years’ time, our guest told us that he would like to be married with little ones, own a production company and have investment in a radio station.

We wished him the best of luck.

0

The Connecting Classrooms Experience

Ross Duke, Cynthia Chisangano & Doug Staff10479231_846008622113048_1964228741086643608_n

 

Although there were only three guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, there were a lot of different organizations represented. Lights For Learning, British Council, Connecting Classrooms and the Butterfly Tree amongst others! ‘The Experience’ is our weekly radio show airing on Zambezi fm every Sunday at 20.30 hrs for an hour live.

Our guests were (right to left above) Ross Duke, Cynthia Chisangano and Doug Staff. Cynthia and Doug were previous guests on our show back in 2012 while Ross was on the programme for the first time. He told our listeners that it was also his first time to be in Zambia and indeed Africa. Ross and Doug are both teachers in Swindon, UK, Ross at Isambard School and Doug at Crowdys Hill School. Cynthia is a teacher of special needs children at David Livingstone
Secondary School in Livingstone.

Doug and Ross had brought with them from UK a solar lighting system which they had successfully installed in Kamwi Basic School in Mukuni Village (children above). The British Council, Butterfly Tree and Lights for Learning were all involved in the project together with the Rotary Club of Cirencester back in England. Connecting Classrooms were involved in Ross coming out to Zambia to familiarize himself with David Livingstone Secondary School, teaching and reviewing the operation. He was very much enjoying the project. Both Doug and Ross were supported by Connecting Classrooms, a British Council initiative.

The music on the show featured tracks from Ella Eyre, Taylor Swift ft Kendrik Lamar, Tinie Tempah ft Jess Glynne, Jack U ft Justin Bieber, Keri Hilson, Braso, Trey Songz and Macky 2. We were rocking!

Milli Jam wanted to know what had changed in Doug’s life since he was last on our show and he told listeners that he now spent less time teaching in the classroom and more time out on the River Thames teaching canoeing and kayaking. He also told us that his two sons were highly involved in kayak racing – much lighter boats than those we are used to seeing on the Zambezi. They had just completed the annual Devizes to Westminster international canoe race – 125 miles supported by mum and dad,

Ross told listeners that he’s been married for five years and has a two year old daughter. He would love to make a return visit to Zambia with his young family. He is a firm supporter of Swindon Town – devastated to hear that they had lost their play off final at Wembley that very afternoon. Cynthia supports Man U and is single. “Jay’s single” said Milli Jam. “Too young, too young!” Replied the lady!

Asked where they would like to be and what they would like to be doing ten years from now, Doug said he would like to be doing more work at schools in Livingstone as well as completing a longed for trip to Canada. Ross wasn’t sure but still wanted to be teaching. Cynthia, thanking the British Council for their care for her, still had ambitions to complete her Masters and PhD.

Great guests, great show!

0

The Chris Tours Experience

20150521_111432

 

We were delighted to welcome an old friend of Chanters Lodge, Chris Mweetwa (above with wife Prudence), as our guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, our weekly radio show airing every Sunday at 20.30 hrs for an hour live on Zambezi fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. It was Chris’s second appearance on the programme, his first having been in 2011 when he was the proprietor/driver of just one Toyota Corolla taxi. My how things have changed! Chris’s company handles all of Chanters Lodge safari requirements to Chobe as well as staff transport.

Chris told listeners that he had established his company – Chris Taxis and Tours – in 2011. The company now had one twenty eight seater bus and five eight seater mini buses as well as a taxi. Chris Taxis has five full time employees including 4 drivers and a consultant. In 2012 they were able to establish the company’s website and two years’ ago started to receive their first reviews on TripAdvisor. These things had enormously helped the company to take off and increase sales. The company is able to offer transfers and safaris throughout this part of Southern Africa but their main focus is still on excursions to and safaris in Botswana. To emphasise the point Chris told listeners that he had recently returned from carrying out a guest transfer from Johannesburg.

The music on the show was good with latest hits from Lunchmoney Lewis, Galantis, D’Banj, MC Wabwino, Kantu and Tough Love. Others were from Years and Years, as well as David Guetta ft Nicki Minaj.

Chris told listeners that he had remarried in 2011 following the untimely demise of his first wife and that altogether had five children. He is a staunch member of the SDA church in Maramba and heads their development committee. His favourite music genre is gospel. Milli Jam wanted to know which UK football team Chris supported and was delighted to receive the answer ‘Arsenal’. Some time was spent discussing the about to finish, UK season.

Chris put some of his success down to making and achieving goals and told us that the biggest challenge he faced with his business was the seasonal nature of the tourism industry in Livingstone. Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, he said that he would like to construct and be operating from his own business premises, succeed in making his business more international and subsequently be able to employ and help more people

0

The Neopolitan Experience

Giovanni Ceperano

 

Meet Giovanni Ceperano from Naples, Italy, (hence the title), on holiday in Zambia, and guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. ‘The Experience’ is the weekly radio show we sponsor every Sunday night on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone longest established commercial local radio station. The show goes out live from 20.30 hrs for an hour and features local and international pop music, as well as chat with our guest, and social media as well as pop chart updates.

Giovanni said that this was not his first trip to Africa as he had been on safari to East Africa some time back, visiting Kenya and Tanzania. On this journey he had stayed for a week in Kruger NP in South Africa and had been lucky to see all of the ‘Big 5’. Since arriving in Livingstone a few days ago he had been on the sunset cruise on African Queen, and the day of the show he had spent the day in Chobe NP in Botswana where he had seen hundreds of elephant as well as a pride of lion. In between times our guest had been to see Victoria Falls from both Zimbabwe as well as the Zambian side and thought the view from both sides ‘very beautiful’. Had he bungee jumped? No he was ‘scared for that!’

Our guest told listeners that he works for the internal security police in Naples and that he has been a detective in that section for some twenty years. Was his job dangerous, we wondered, going after high powered criminals? “It can be” said our guest. ‘Just a minute’ I said – ‘you’re scared to bungee jump but you chase criminals for a living, how does that work?’ Giovanni laughed.

The music on the show featured hot tracks from Blonde ft Alex Newell, Rudimental, Kantu and DJ Gesh, Britney Spears ft Iggy Azalea, P Square ft Don Janzzy as well as DJ Muzengaman.

Giovanni told he us he was not married and that he had an eight year old son Stefano. His favourite band is U2 and he likes both rock and pop. He loves to go out dancing to discos in Naples when he has time. He’s a big fan of Napoli FC, currently fourth in La Liga and goes to watch – again when his job allows the time. Napoli FC is famous partly because of Diego Maradonna one time player for that team.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years from now Giovanni said he would like still to be doing the same work and travelling. He said he was off to Cape Town the next day and we wished him all the best

0

Ben Tshin

Meet Ben Tshin (above) from Toronto, Canada and Guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, our weekly radio show airing at 20.30 hrs for an hour every Sunday night on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station.

Ben told listeners that he hailed from Toronto, Canada though his roots are in Indonesia. He works for World Vision Canada, he told listeners that World Vision Canada is the nation’s leading agency dedicated to improving the lives and futures of the world’s most vulnerable children. They have over 50 years of experience and are dedicated to providing real and lasting change to over 100 million people in World Vision supported communities. Ben was in Zambia to check on some of their projects in Southern Province and had decided to take a weekend off to visit Livingstone. In the course of his job he had visited many African countries including South Sudan and Uganda. World vision are also involved with health and food security issues.

The music on the show was great. We opened with Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest hit back to back with a new single from Alesso. Milli Jam and Jay dropped numbers from K’Milliann and Ozzy representing Zambia, as well as international stars Clean Bandit and Natalie la Rose. Our pick of the week was a new track from Ciara and we closed with Cheyenne from Jason Derulo. Ben said his musical tastes were largely Canadian but his favourite all time band is U2 – he was excited to have tickets for one of their Canadian concerts later in the year.

Ben told us that he had studied System Design at University in Waterloo, Canada. He has been married for two years, his wife Julia is a doctor. He is a fan of ice hockey and supports Manchester United. We reminded him of their last three results – all losses! While in Livingstone Ben was staying at Chanters Lodge and had been impressed with the mighty Victoria Falls. The afternoon of the show Ben had done a half day’s white water rafting which he described as ‘extraordinarily exciting’! He said had enjoyed the food at Chanters Lodge which made us happy!

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Ben said ideally he would like to be retired but that might be a tall order. Alternatively he would still like to be involved with World Vision and travelling widely through Africa and the rest of the world.

0

The Simon Mwewa Experience

Meet Simon Mwewa, (above) Livingstone entrepreneur and guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz, the weekly radio show we sponsor on Zambezi fm, one of Livingstone’s three local radio stations. The show has been airing every Sunday night at 20.30 hrs CAT since the end of 2007! The show is a lively mixture of chat with our guest and the latest international and Zambian music, guests are often visitors staying at the lodge but local entrepreneurs and celebrities also feature.

Simon told listeners that he was not related to late Dr Simon Mwewa, former Mayor of Lusaka, and that it was just a coincidence of names. He hails from Luapula Province in the north of Zambia but was mostly brought up on the Copperbelt. He moved around a lot as a youngster as his father was a civil servant working in local government and was frequently transferred from city to city. Following his secondary education at Kitwe Boys, Simon graduated from Copperbelt University in Forestry and spent years in the forestry sector, mostly in wood processing and product management. He had eventually moved to Namibia involved in marketing forestry products before moving back to Zambia in late 2013.

As of now Simon is co-owner of the popular Fez Bar in down town Livingstone which also sells food – steaks, pizzas and burgers – and provides entertainment three or four nights per week. Simon said business was picking up following the traditional slow start to business in Livingstone in the early months of the year. Simon also has a business selling tyres, and a start up marketing Chinese medicine.

The music on the show was good featuring tracks from Clean Bandit, Michael Calfan, David Hasselhoff, Ty Dollar Sign, Phyno, Teliq, Flo Rida and Camster ft Afunika – a lively mixture as I said!

Milli Jam wanted to know Simon’s taste in music and our guest told listeners that he liked both gospel and hip hop. He revealed he had been married to Monica for twelve years and the happy couple had three young children – two girls and a boy. He loves playing chess as well as table tennis but business means he has less time for these activities than in the past. Football wise he is a supporter of Power Dynamos and Arsenal. Milli Jam was happy with this revelation. Simon’s all time favourite Arsenal player? Thierry Henry.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now, Simon said he would like to be the owner of a very successful, much expanded Fez Bar and a wealthy entrepreneur.

We wished him the best of luck.

0

The Maninga Experience

Alberto Maninga

Meet Alberto Maninga (above), manager of Baobab Communications in Livingstone, and guest on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient featuring Jay Hillz. The Experience is the weekly radio show sponsored by Chanters Lodge, airing at 20.30 hrs CAT for an hour every Sunday night on Zambezi 94.1 fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station. The show is a lively mixture of latest international and Zambian music, combined with chat with our guest of the week.

Milli Jam wanted to know how business levels were at Baobab’s internet cafe and Alberto told listeners that times were tough. The fact of more and more Zambians owning smart phones and therefore having less need of desk top internet facilities had taken its toll. However, the cafe was also the Livingstone agent for Coppernet, one of Zambia’s biggest internet service providers, so income was generated from that source. They also provide printing and photocopying services but the company was looking to diversify. Alberto had been in charge for the past few years.

Alberto told listeners that he had started in business as a cross border trader and in the days of Zambia Airways, Zambia’s national airline, wound up in 1992, had travelled world wide buying and selling. This had led him to England where he had spent some twenty years in various jobs and enjoying further education particularly in IT. Asked why he had decided to return to Zambia he said that the lure of ‘home’ had been too strong to resist. Although he hailed from Livingstone, his father had been a police officer so he had ended up being educated at various different schools across the country.

The music on the show was great. We opened with latest tracks from Wiz Khalifa and Omi. Milli Jam dropped tracks from Afunika, Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida and Macky 2. Our pick of the week was Sia’s ‘Big Girls Cry’ and we closed with ‘Can’t Stop Playing (Makes Me High) (Oliver Heldens Remix) (feat. Ane Brun)’ by Dr. Kucho! & Gregor Salto. There’s a mouthful! Alberto said his favourite music genres were country as well as rock and roll. Hhis favourite band? U2.

Even before he had gone to England to live, Alberto had been an Arsenal fan and had really enjoyed Saturday afternoons standing on the North Bank, Highbury supporting his team! Brought back memories for yours truly! His favourite all time players Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright – take your pick. His favourite current star? Alexis.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years’ from now he said he wanted to be a farmer with milking cattle and rabbits. We wished him the best of luck and thanked him for coming on our show.

 

0

The Braithwaite Experience

Anthony and Kate Braithwaite

 

Meet Anthony and Kate Braithwaite, guests on the most recent edition of the Chanters Lodge Experience with the Milli Jam Ingredient ft Jay Hillz. ‘The Experience’ is our weekly radio show airing on Zambezi fm, Livingstone’s leading local radio station, every Sunday night since November 2007! Just imagine! The station transmits our show on 94.1 fm at 20.30 hrs CAT for an hour live. The programme is a lively mixture of latest international and Zambian popular music as well as chat with our Guests, often clients staying at Chanters Lodge, as indeed were Anthony and Kate (above).

Anthony told listeners that he and Kate, who had been married for five years, had been living in Lusaka for the past three years. Anthony who is British, with Barbadian roots, met Kate, who is Zambian, in England “on a blind date a long long time before we actually got married” we were told. Kate professed to being ‘rather shy’ and Anthony answered most of our questions. Milli Jam wanted to know Kate’s tribe and upon being told she was Bemba cast huge doubts on the shyness issue! We carried on…..Anthony has two children ‘of his own’ and six grand children as well as loads of step children! He also has two business degrees from UK universities.

Anthony told listeners that he is a venture capitalist working for Global Trading Offshore in Lusaka looking to help the development of Zambia by providing access to capital, particularly for entrepreneurs, and was involved with various projects in Lusaka. He and Kate were visiting Livingstone, he for the first time, partly for pleasure but partly for business looking at a real estate project in the city.

Anthony told us that he is very much involved with fund raising for the Kucetekela Foundation, a Zambian NGO concerned with the provision of secondary education to bright children with financial challenges. In this regard he was particularly grateful to Best Of Zambia and Stanbic Bank for their support.

The music on the show was great, we featured tracks from Jess Glynne as well as Sigma ft Labrinth. Others were from Rihanna, Willz and Wezi with their Zambian smash ‘Toliwe’. Milli Jam chose work from Omarion and Izrael ft Nalu. Our pick of the week was from the sensational James Bay and we closed with a new track from Usher ft Chris Brown.

Whilst in Livingstone Anthony and Kate would visit Victoria Falls and were looking forward to a one day safari in Chobe NP, Botswana. Anthony told listeners his preferred listen to music is reggae and that he is a long term supporter of Liverpool FC. Jay enjoyed that revelation, others did not!! Anthony is also a black belt in Tae Kwan Do and gives free lessons to vulnerable children in Lusaka as and when he has the time.

Asked where he would like to be and what he would like to be doing ten years from now, Anthony said he would be retired in his beach front property in Barbados with regular visits to London and Lusaka. Sounded pretty good to the rest of us!

 

0
Page 4 of 4 1234