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The Sound Kitchen

Egyptians go to the polls

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Hello everyone!

Welcome to The Sound Kitchen. You can catch the programme on-the-air every Saturday at 4:52, 6:22, and 7:52 universal time. You’ll hear the winners' names announced and the week’s quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you have grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day,” quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music, so tune in every Saturday!

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Hot news! The RFI Listeners Club is going strong! As a member of the RFI Listeners Club, you’ll receive extra goodies when you win a quiz – so join today! All you have to do to become a member of the RFI Listeners Club is to send us two identity photographs, your full name, your postal mailing address, and if you have one, your email address.

Your official RFI Listeners Club membership card and number will be sent to you by my good colleague Sébastien Bonijol in the Listener Relations department. Every time you enter a quiz, include your membership number – and if you win, you’ll find an extra special present in your mailbox. So don’t put it off – send your photos and mailing address to Sébastien today!

Sébastien Bonijol
RFI – Relations Auditeurs
80, rue Camille Desmoulins
92130, Issy-les-Moulineaux
France

Nota bene: The RFI Listeners Club used to be called “Club 9516”. So if you are a member of the “Club 9516”, you are already a member of the RFI Listeners Club. Your “Club 9516” membership number still works – no need to reapply. Just include your membership number on your quiz entries.

Look at that beautiful link to the Sound Kitchen Listeners Cookbook! It actually happened! I’m very happy about it, and I hope you enjoy looking at it – and trying out some recipes. Please feel free to send in any comments you have, and we would love it if you’d send in photos – of you, and your completed dish. Don’t hesitate to use the “zoom” tool on countries where there are a lot of forks; that will separate them so you can read the titles easier. Click on the title, and the recipe will appear.

Also, if you are interested in corresponding with other Sound Kitchen listeners, let me know. I’ll figure out a way to get you together.

Today’s question was read on 15 December, when there were important goings-on in Egypt. I asked you what was happening in the land of the Pharaohs on 15 December.

And the answer is: On that day, Egyptians went to the polls to vote in a referendum on the draft charter of a new constitution. There were, in fact, two rounds of votes – on 15 December and again on 22 December. With voter turnout at about 32.86 percent, 63.83 percent of the votes were “yes” votes, and the draft passed.

The new constitution limits the presidency to two four-year terms – if you recall, Hosni Mubarak ruled for 30 years – and it requires a stronger parliament. It also contains provisions against torture or detention without trial. According to opponents, the constitution’s principal defect is that it protects the Egyptian military from legal and parliamentary oversight.

Not much changed as far as the legal system goes: the new charter preserved an article from the old constitution declaring that the principles of Islamic law are a main source of legislation, but there was a new article, which broadly defined those principles as the established schools of Sunni Muslim scholarship. Independent scholars have said that whether the new provisions make a difference will depend on who controls their application.

The winners this week are: Tanimu Yahaya Kaoje, from Kebbi State, Nigeria; Mrs. Reema Goyal from the SW Listeners League in Punjab, India; Mrs. P. Apparna from the DW Listener’s Club in Hyderabad India; Mr. Abdul Sattar Ansari from Karachi, Pakistan, and Rafey Mehmood from Lahore, Pakistan.

Congratulations winners!

This week’s question is about a very important Hindu festival which started this week in India. It’s 55 days long, and it only happens every 144 years! And always in the same town: Allahabad.

My question to you is: What is the name of this festival? And what do the pilgrims do at the festival? In order to be cleansed of sin, what is the most important thing for a pilgrim to do at this festival?

Get your answer in by 18 February, and be sure and tune in on 23 February to see if you are one of the lucky winners! As always, be sure you send your postal address in with your answer … and, if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:

english.service@rfi.fr

or

Susan Owensby
RFI – The Sound Kitchen
BP 9516
75016 Paris
France

or

By SMS … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen cell phone !!!!

Dial your country’s international access code, or “ + ”, then 33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Remember, it’s not just the quiz which wins you a prize. If your essay goes on the air, you’ll find a package in the mail from the Sound Kitchen. Write in about your community heroes – the people in your community who are quietly working to make the world a better place, in whatever way they can. I am still looking for your “This I Believe” essays, too. Tell us about the principles that guide your life … what you have found to be true from your very own personal experience. Or write in with your most memorable moment, and/or your proudest achievement.

Send your mini book reviews, your musical requests, your secret “guilty” pleasure (mine’s chocolate!), your tricks for remembering things, your favourite quotations and proverbs, descriptions of the local festivals you participate in, your weirdest dream, or just your general all-around thoughts to:

thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr

Include a phone number, if you can. I’d like to call you and put you on-the-air … and send you a thank-you gift for participating.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

All the best,

Susan

 

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