Are you one of this week’s lucky winners? Are you ready to try your luck on today’s quiz question? Click on that little “Listen” arrow above, and join in!
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!
Click to open
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 1 December. I asked you to send in your New Year’s Resolutions - and what an interesting batch of letters!
One of my favorites came from Behzad Payandeh in Tehran, Iran, and while it is not really his personal resolution, but his wish for 2013, I think it bears reading. Mr Payandeh wrote: “All wars in the world must be stopped, countries should stop spending on the military, and all countries should obey UN regulations. I hope 2013 will be a year free from war, and hunger, and strikes.”There were nice resolutions having to do with the importance of family, from Mrs Fatima Rizwan, in Lahore, Pakistan, who wrote: “I am a house wife. I want to teach my children to be honest and full of kindness. If I achieve this, I will be the best human that I can be.”
Mrs Kajari Chattopadhyay, from Murshidabad, India, also spoke of family: she wrote: “ I'm a full–time house wife - so I've got to keep myself fit so that I can look after my family well.” But that’s not all for Mrs Chattopadhyay - she also has vowed to try and keep the world cool, and to do her share to keep down global warming by planting trees. She continues: “I shall try my best to serve distressed people, and in these ways, I shall lead my life in full swing with a cheerful mind.”
Not just women are thinking about their families: Amin Laghari – a member of the Asia International Radio Listeners Club in Dadu Sindh, Pakistan - also made a New Year’s Resolution about family. He wrote: “I hereby resolve to take some time each week to try and understand my family members and share my thoughts on the world with them. Family time is important, and I plan to spend more time with them. Every moment in time is precious, and I want to spend most of them talking, eating, and playing games with my family.”
Long -time listener Muhammad Nasyr, in Katsina State, Nigeria, says he is ready to start a family – he has vowed to marry this year! Will we all be invited to the wedding, Muhammad?
Students Rafey Mehmood from Lahore, Pakistan, and Lamin Ceesay, from Banjul, The Gambia, have both resolved to be the best students they can be, and Miss Usha Hazarika from Assam, India, Mizanur Rahman and Abdul Mannan Teacher, both from Sirajganj, Bangladesh, have all vowed to take better care of themselves by eating healthier.
I was quite intrigued by the letters from Pakistan - almost everybody had the same vision, the same philosophy - which I think is a good one. The note from Mr. Muhammad Asif Bashir who lives in Karachi is representative of letters from several listeners: Mr Shah Nawaz Jiskani and Waqar Ahmed, both from Sindh, Mr. Ayub Naqvi from Karachi, and Dr. Qasim Farooq and Muhammad Azam Khokhar, both from Lahore.
Mr Muhammad Asif Bashir wrote: “A human should try to be better all the time: every moment, every day, every week, every month and every year. Better humans make better societies.” Everyone said it is important to do good work and be the best person one can at all times, and not pin it down to a time-slot.
Last but not least, a New Year’s Resolution from one of my favorite colleagues in the newsroom – although she doesn’t get a present – Miss Amanda Morrow, the chipper young Australian woman who puts our weekend programs together so expertly. Did you know our morning team reports for work at two in the morning! ARRGH! You sure have to love radio to do that! Amanda says her vow is to get more sleep in 2013.
This week’s question is one to test your true tolerance and “peace and love” level … because it is about homosexuals. I know that many of you have real cultural and religious problems with homosexuality, but all it takes is for your beloved son or daughter - or your brother or sister or your best friend - to tell you they are gay, and if you are halfway human, you can be OK with it – for who can repudiate someone they love, especially their child? I am lucky because my mother’s brother is gay, so I grew up thinking nothing of it, as we all adored Uncle David.
The question is inspired by the fact that Sacha, the first baby born in France in 2013, was born to a lesbian couple. I want you to name three countries which have legalised same-sex marriage. Send in the names of three countries - which can include the names of the nine US states - that have legalised gay marriage.
Get your answer in by 4 February, and tune in on 9 February to see if you are one of the lucky winners. As always, be sure you send your postal address in with your answer, your RFI Listeners Club membership number if you have one, 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:
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:
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
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe