Anakazi Center

EcoDiva Founder & Co-Founders of R’ashion Camp Zambia on Voices of Anakazi!

ECODIVA!
Taryn is from Pittsburgh. She studied fashion design and art therapy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she worked for designer Anna Sui in New York and styled films and celebrities, while assisting director David Zucker in Los Angeles. She teaches “Sustainability and the Fashion Industry” at FIDM as well as “Eco Fashion”/”Recycled Fashion” at Environmental Charter High School, Hollywood Media Arts and Youth Environmental Network Zambia in Africa. Her unique repurposed Kimono quilt can be seen on HGTV’s the Antonio Treatment; PAPER Magazine featured a tissue paper, Alexander McQueen, replica dress; and she is very proud of her R’ashion class at Environmental Charter High School for designing an Alice in Wonderland dress out of chip wrappers and juice containers. She has been featured in the movie Hot, Rich and Green and in the Huffington Post. Taryn and partner Billy Lombe are in the process of creating, R’ashion Camp Zambia, an Eco Fashion exchange camp in Zambia Africa. The purpose of the camp is to educate youth from the US and Africa how to turn waste into fashion whilst taking care of our beautiful planet.

*During Earth Week 2012 Taryn’s Eco Fashion Website, www.EcoDivasTV.com, launched the first fully greened music video “Uber Super Feeling!” shot in Zambia, Africa at Munda Wanga Botanical Garden and Los Angeles, California at Jalan Jalan Imports for Zambian pop star Kachanana. Taryn shot, directed, produced, edited and repurposed all of Kachanana’s dresses, with the help of YEN Zambia members, B2K dancers, ECHS students and the Zulu Maniacs.

R’ASHION CAMP!

Billy M. Lombe was born in Lusaka, Zambia and grew up with the passion of taking care of the environment. When he was young he planted trees and grew vegetables at his family’s home. He is now CEO of an organization called Youth Environment Network (YEN) Zambia, which he founded in 2007. Presently Billy and Taryn Hipwell are in the process of creating a camp, R’ashion Camp Zambia, that educates students in the US and Africa about the environment through Recycled Fashion.
Throughout the last 10 years Billy has dedicated himself to the issues surrounding development and environmental sustainability from the perspective of youth empowerment and community development. His academic background is based extensively in social work, promoting environmental conservation and behavior change. He has worked for various youth-oriented organizations in Zambia, Kenya and the rest of Africa as a whole…ranging from the YMCA to Habitat for Humanity to Cosmos Education to Green Warriors Movement (GWM) Kenya. Billy is also currently serving as a Southern Africa Regional Coordinator for one of the biggest youth climate change networks, African Youth Initiative on Climate Change (AYICC) www.ayicc.net. In each setting, he has applied his skills to develop, implement and monitor programs geared towards engaging and empowering youth and the general community. Billy trains teachers and youth to become peer educators and active participants in the fight against environmental degradation and climate change. His current work with Youth Environment Network (YEN) Zambia has also contributed to this growth and has served to enhance his ability to work internationally in settings geared towards youth and community participation in environmental conservation matters.
Since 2008 to date Billy has been featured both on Zambian’s national TV stations, radio and print media to talk about youth, climate change and advocating on critical environmental issues. Some of Billy’s tree planting stories have also been featured on the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) website.

Promoting ICTs for Women and Girls in Africa

Join us on Saturday April 21, 9am PST, 17hrs GMT and 18hrs CAT as we speak to the Director General of the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) Mrs. Margaret Chalwe-Mudenda about the revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and its vast implications for the developing world. We also discuss the growing gender digital divide in Africa, particularly in Zambia and what ICTs mean to African women. The discussion will include such issues as the notion of ICTs for empowerment and as agents of change and ICTs in the fight against gender-based violence. Through our discussion we will explores ways in which women in Africa utilize ICTs to facilitate their empowerment; whether through the mobile village phone business, through internet use, or through new career and ICT employment opportunities.
Under Parts III, IV and VI of the Zambia Information and Communication Technologies Act No. 15 of 2009 ( the ICT Act) ZICTA is empowered to prescribe the manner of application for electronic communication licences and assignment of scarce resources as well as prescribing their standard terms and conditions. Pursuant to the mandate referred to above the Authority issues these guidelines.
The authority also seeks to ‘Promote the interests of consumers, purchasers and other users of Information and electronic communications services, including in particular, persons with disabilities and the aged in respect of accessibility, quality and variety of services and equipment.”

TO PARTICIPATE:
Saturday April 21, 9am PST, 12 noon eastern 18.00 Cat
Call 347-237-4270, skype or listen live online at www.zambiablogtalkradio.com.
Tweet @anakazi

Inspirational Woman Beulah Jedidah Mzyece shares her story…on Voices of Anakazi 04/14/2012

I was born on the 15th October 1968 in Chipata Eastern Province of Zambia. I am the 6th born out of seven siblings. My parents were farmers. I suffered from polio at the age of 7 and have used a wheelchair for my mobility since then. I grew up on a farm and it was about 8km to the nearest primary school where my dad used to take me to and from every day on a bicycle till end of grade 2 when I went to Chileshe Chepela, a boarding school so far away from home. At the age of 10, I went to live alone because of school. I grew up a very bitter person as I always questioned the Character of God, saying “If God really existed, why he would allow bad things to happen to children who are innocent.” I had been taught there was a God of love who cared and protects. Within me I had come to a conclusion there was no God and at the age of 14, I completely stopped going to church as it didn’t mean anything to me. So while in secondary school, I was invited to a special prayer meeting where some had come to share the word of God in our school, and I gave my life to Jesus in 1984.

After secondary school, I went to do a designing and tailoring course and majored in women’s clothing and specialized in making curtains and matching bedcovers.

I felt God’s call on my life soon after I gave my life to Christ, but off course I didn’t believe it as I thought I had no confidence to speak before people .Well I must confess, I was too reserved, shy and I also didn’t like attention as people looked at me so much, so I thought being in front of people would give them an opportunity to be looking at me, hahahaha!!! So in 1995 I was at the Victory Conference in Lusaka, and there was a pastor who was teaching on Missions. I don’t know but somehow I got to this class without really knowing what I was going to be listening to. After the first hour and half of teaching, I just knew God was speaking to me so clearly about Missions as my heart went out for people who never heard the gospel. I told God to prepare me and confirm when it was time to go. I struggled a bit about this call till 1999 when God spoke to me again that it was time to go. It’s funny because I was busy doing my work when God spoke to me through Radio Christian Voice. The radio was announcing different events that were going to take place. They mentioned Youth with a Mission (YWAM) had organized a five week Missions Encounter trip to Mozambique. I felt this message was meant for me, so I got in touch with YWAM and went on that Missions Encounter Trip to Mozambique. During the five week trip, I just knew this is what God wanted me to be doing, impacting people’s lives for eternity with God’s word. Soon after the trip, I s decided I was going to do my missions training in YWAM, which I did in 2001 January and have since then been in YWAM, serving God in different nations. God spoke to me that he wanted to glorify himself through my life, if I was willing to give myself completely to him in service.

I must confess that I am no longer bothered by people looking at me because of my wheelchair, I think instead I have used my wheelchair as my partner in ministry , it exposes me, so that I can expose who God is to the people.

I’am currently in Argentina and have been serving for four years training missionaries in the area of Biblical Counseling. I came to Argentina in 2007 September, to study Biblical Counseling, and afterwards I stayed as part of the staff. God has been so gracious to me, in taking me to different places to go and share about his mighty name.

TO PARTICIPATE:
Saturday April 14, 9am PST, 12 noon eastern 18.00 Cat
Call 347-237-4270, skype or listen live online at www.zambiablogtalkradio.com.
Tweet @anakazi

Meet Glenda McCoo Wina!

Glenda Puteho McCoo Wina has a long and close relationship with the people and the nation of Zambia. She arrived in Lusaka from her home town of Los Angeles in 1963, the year before Independence, in what was then the Protectorate of Northern Rhodesia, to marry the Honorable Sikota Wina. He was a leader of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) and Parliamentary Secretary in the first majority-elected government.
Like her husband, Mrs. Wina was also a journalist. She wrote freelance articles for several foreign newspapers, including the Times of London. She then became a reporter for the Northern Star, a national weekly newspaper headquartered in Lusaka, and advanced to become Editorial Page co-Editor and Women’s Page Editor. When Mr. Wina became Minister of Local Government, she went into government service as Production Officer in the Zambia National Tourist Bureau, responsible for national and international advertising and promotions. As planned, she stepped aside after a few years to allow a qualified Zambian to be promoted to the position.
In the private sector, she started her own public relations and freelance journalism firm, where she edited and interviewed on economic subjects for Television Zambia. She wrote regularly for the Northern Review, a national business magazine based on the Copperbelt. She then joined the board of directors of International Advertising and Promotions, Ltd., formed by her brother-in-law, the Honorable Arthur Wina, and other investors.
Not long after her arrival in Lusaka, the idea of establishing a twinning or sister city relationship with the city of Los Angeles began to be discussed. She became an enthusiastic supporter of a special relationship between her two home towns. The relationship was formalized in May, 1968.
In 1971 Mrs. Wina returned to Los Angeles with her daughter, Mpambo. She became the first African-American news anchorwoman with a network owned-and-operated television station in Los Angeles, KNXT, and one of the first specialist reporter-editors in health and science subjects in a major market, and won numerous awards and honors. From that time through the present she also maintained communication with friends and relatives in Zambia, and has been actively supportive of Zambian visits, interests and projects in Los Angeles.
Mrs. Wina says that the continent of Africa has played an important role in her family’s life for generations. Her mother and father went to Meharry Medical School in Tennessee and shared a boarding home with Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, before he went on to become Malawi’s first President. An uncle of hers attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania with Nigeria’s first President, H.E. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, and was acquainted with H.E. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, who also attended Lincoln. Her mother attended the birth of the Zambian nation on October 24, 1964, with the Wina family, and was planning to practice medicine in Zambia before she passed away. Mrs. Wina’s sister, Millie McCoo, lived with her in Lusaka for several years before going on to join the U.S. Foreign Service. She became a senior officer, opened the U.S. Foreign Press Center in Los Angeles, and served on the Los Angeles-Lusaka Sister City Committee.
Mrs. Wina is now Director of Special Projects and Assistant Manager in the County of Los Angeles Office of Protocol. She has made a point of being available to help with events and projects hosted by the community of Zambians in California, organizations focused on Zambia’s best interests, and individuals with whom she shares the passion for our people both here in Diaspora, and in Zambia.
She says, “Zambia is where I learned or developed many of qualities that I like most about myself, so it’s always like home to me.”