The 15 April Sound Kitchen winners

Are you one of this week’s lucky winners? Today you’ll hear who won the quiz about Malawi’s new president. Click on that little “Listen” arrow above and join in!

Hello everyone!

You’ve surely noticed by now we’ve been experimenting with the Sound Kitchen recipes … on Saturdays, at 5.16 universal time, tune in to hear if you are amongst the week’s winners. The winners names are here on our website, too. Look for Short features/Sound Kitchen winners.

Tune in on Sundays, at 4:22, 5:52 and 7:22 universal time, for the quiz question ... and whatever else is cooking up in the Sound Kitchen.

I have wonderful news! The Sound Kitchen Listeners' Cookbook is to finally become a reality. First it will be put online and then we’ll get to work on a printed version. The web team has asked for photos of your prepared dishes, as well as of you. So if you sent in a recipe, get back into your kitchen and get cooking … but before you tuck in to your fabulous dish, take a minute to take a picture or two of the final product. And of yourself, too!

The projected date for the online version of the cookbook is sometime this month. Keep your fingers crossed!

This week’s question was read on 15 April and was the about the southern African country, Malawi. The country’s president, Bingu wa Mutharika, had just died, and the country’s vice-president had been sworn in as president. I asked you to send in the name of Malawi’s new president.

And the answer is Joyce Banda. She was elected as Bingu wa Mutharika’s running mate in 2009 but they had a parting of the ways in 2010 and Mutharika expelled her from their common political party the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

However, because she had been elected as his running partner, he could not remove her from the office of vice-president. Banda, after being forced from the DPP, formed her own political party, the People’s Party. As noted by listener Iris Cassell, Joyce Banda has become southern Africa’s first female head of state.

Malawi’s new president has long been involved in humanitarian and development projects: in 1997, she created the Joyce Banda Foundation, whose primary focus is education and sustainable development. But it has evolved over the years: from a primary and secondary school for rural children, it now also hosts an orphan care centre, whose work includes providing access to education. It cares for over 600 children through six centres. The foundation also hosts four medical clinics for 200 villages and assists the rural communities with development needs in the area of agriculture, health and other daily needs.

Go President Banda! Here’s hoping she continues all her good work for the people of Malawi.

The winners this week are all women, in honor of Ms Joyce Banda. From India: Miss Aarti Jawale of the Marconi DX Association in Maharashtra; Ms Puspo Maitra from the Women’s Listening Club in Murshidibad, and from Assam Miss Karobi Hazarika. From Kampala, Uganda, Toto Claudia-Okwi from the Kumi Central RFI club and, last but not least, from Banjul, The Gambia, Ms Iris Cassell.

Congratulations, winners!

This week’s question is about the Nato summit held in Chicago at the beginning of the week … I want to know the agenda. What did the heads of state and government from over 50 nations, including the 28 Nato countries, as well as Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, discuss at the summit on 20-21 May?

Send me your answer by 21 June; the answer and the winners will be announced on the 1 July programme. Be sure you send your postal address in with your answer … and be sure and tell me if you are a Mr or a Mrs or a Ms or a Miss – I don’t want to get it wrong!

Send your answers to:

[e-mail]

or

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

or

By SMS … Now you can send your quiz answers via your cell phone !!!!

Dial your country’s international access code, and then:
33 6 31 12 96 82. Don’t forget to include your mailing address in your text.

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, or just your general all-around thoughts to:

[e-mail]

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