For breakfast, Therese gave us oatmeal porridge with sliced ​​banana, but also french omelette with onions and tomatoes. It was very tasty. She knows our breakfast habits well by now. After breakfast, we started to distribute the various packages we had brought from Sweden. First, there was the medicine for a patient at the IME hospital with a damaged spleen. My physician in Sweden had prescribed it to me before we left. Therese took care of the medicine which she will pass on to the nurse, Samuel, who will give the medicine to the patient.

The rest of the morning was devoted to desk work. I wrote minutes of yesterday’s meeting and made some supplements to the training material. In the afternoon, Emy Miantezila were supposed to come for a meeting, but he didn’t show up. We are hoping that he has time to spare for us tomorrow in the morning, before we travel to Matadi. I continued with desk work after dinner and managed to complete some necessary tasks. Sometimes it may be helpful that a meeting is cancelled, then we can take care of other tasks. This is a very good place to sit and work. We have only had two power outages and the nice thing about them was that they lasted only 10 minutes each. It is unusual that they are so short-lived.

For three days, google has regarded me as a hacker from Kinshasa. Google gmail has implemented new safety procedures that are not easy to get to grips with. I use gmail.com as outgoing server for my email. When google suspects that your account is hijacked they block the account. The problems have arisen because I subscribe to a Congolese mobile broadband provider registered in Kinshasa. The occurence of native Swedes in Congo Kinshasa, who subscribes to Congolese mobile broadband is clearly not possible, if one takes into account how google thinks. Constraints like this are only a proof of human inanity.

By now, I have understood that every time my computer tries to send e-mail using the Congolese mobile broadband, google send a code to my mobile phone. The code has to be entered into a form on a special website thereby certifing that it is Yngve Håkanson from Töve and not a hacker from Congo that is sending the e-mail. Every time I go online I get a new code to my mobile phone, and only the last one is accepted. It took me three days to figure this out, and the business with entering a code on the website didn’t work until I tried the third code. An additional problem was created by the fact that I didn’t have access to my mobile phone, it had stayed with Kerstin in Sweden, and she had gone away from home, to Dalsland. Let’s say I had some difficulties reaching her. The third and working code I received through my friend Timo in Hökerum who was logged on to Skype today. He managed to call Kerstin and get the freshest code. It’s Timo’s birthday today, and I certainly wish him a happy one. Congratulations from Congo!

After a proper porridge breakfast on Nzo Binati we had a meeting with the director of the CEC Mission Church, Edi Diafuanakana. We presented the material on entrepreneurship that Focus Business School, abbreviated FBS, has developed. We have felt that our material needed a supplement of business ethics. Simply put, it’s about how the entrepreneur deal with the world around them, and how to be a leader.

Åke Nordquist at FBS has contributed ideas and knowledge that we are putting into our material. FBS’s goal is to let all churches get the message about entrepreneurship and to get church leaders to act on that knowledge. The idea is that a few members of each congregation should become educators in entrepreneurship and pursue these issues. If you have internet access, please read about the project on the FBS website, www.fbsi.org.

Later in the day we had a meeting with one of our lamp sales persons. He sells in Kinshasa. We started with an inventory of his stock. A large amount of the stock is stored in various shops and department stores. We visited one of them, a very fine one called “Michael”. His reported sales had been $4,192 which he gave us in cash. Some lamps were missing from the warehouse. He will sort that out. But sales have been far too slow and we discussed actions to boost them. We set the goal that the entire stock should be sold by the end of the year. It is a goal that will require hard work.

After the meeting, we took a taxi the 200 kilometers to Kimpese. We arrived a quarter to nine at night. We are staying at the house of the Nganga and Therese. They are alert and friendly seniors who have always shown us great hospitality. They have a nice house with air conditioning. When our bags were inside, Therese suggested that we would gather in prayer and thank God that our trip went well. It is not difficult to accept such a proposal.

Road safety is not what it should be and speed is high on the roads. The taxi we got hold of had seen its best days, and the best before date was passed long ago. Just before we arrived, thje car was stalling and had to be pushed to start again. Helpfulness is abundant here. Some guys who lived in the street helped us to jump-start the car. God’s protection is a necessity, and it feels natural to thank for it. Therese led the blessing and then we had a tasty supper.

Sleep has been good in a temperate room and I am using the morning hours to write down this blog.

We started with breakfast at the nearby Nzo Binati. Michel arranged it all. To our delight, Church Director Edi Diafuanakana came to say hello when we were in the dining room. He had a meeting with his closest employees at Nzo Binati . We talked for a little while with him and we decided to have a proper meeting tomorrow. We would like to introduce some new ideas for the future and we feel that it is important that he is well informed.

We proceeded with going through the agricultural project Nsanda. Julienne gave a status report and we prepared for the meeting in the afternoon with an advisor to Agriculture Minister Emmanuel Libendele Lobuna.

The security at the government headquarters was extensive. We had to pass five control station, of which two had body scans. It took one hour to thoroughly verify that we absolutely do not pose a security risk for the country. At the end we received our passports, identity cards and mobile phones.

When you enter the government headquarters, the most conspicuous item is the mausoleum of the older Kabila. It is a magnificent monument in the center of the administrative center. In front of the mausoleum Kabila stands statue, holding up his finger to remind his countrymen to keep order in the nation.

We were well received by the Minister’s employee. With him, we went through our various projects and he got our information binder. Mainly, we raised the issue of family farms and ecological houses with solar and biogas plants. After the thorough review of these two projects, we asked for support from the government to the projects. We didn’t get any promises but we still felt that it was a good start with contacts at that level. Our agenda at this time is to build relationships that eventually may be able to produce results. We will provide him with more detailed calculations and we will keep him informed about our work.

The last day before a trip always tend to be a little stressful. Although I have been working on the preparations during a few months, of course it happened this time too. This time some pages went missing in the printing out of the flipcharts, 25 in number and entirely in French, a language I do not master. It took me a few hours to locate the missing pages and put the pages in the correct order again. I will put the  flipchart to the test in Kimpese. If the future entrepreneurs seem completely confused I might have to do some additional adjustments.

I wrote the material in English, and Myriam in Brazzaville translated it into French. The mess reduced my sleep last night a lot. At 03 a.m. I woke up in the middle of a dream about not getting to the airport on time. I packed the last few things, had oatmeal porridge with blackcurrant jam together with Kerstin, and then morning prayer. This is my favourite breakfast and I will miss this precious moment every day abroad.

At 4:30 a.m. we left Töve and about five o’clock, we picked up Bernt in Borås. Kerstin drove us to Landvetter. For the first time we used the check-in machine, which doesn’t issue tickets. Instead, when Bernt’s passport was entered into the machine, the system found our journey and checked us in. We had bought the journey online, and this time Air France proved to be cheapest and best. Round trip tickets cost us 5.446 : – per person. Finally, airfares to Congo have become sensible . We lifted at 08.07 a.m., half an hour late, due to air traffic controllers strike in Paris. And when we left Paris we were one hour late. A quarter to six in the afternoon we landed at N’djili. The trip went very well, except that I suffered from headache and other small ailments; the plane food does not agree with my stomach. But I was restored later in the evening.

Yapeco’s good friend, a police officer with special rights at the airport met us at the plate and he took us through this somewhat messy airport. We got a small problem – one of Bernt’s bags had been left in Paris. Yapeco called Air France and he was promised that it will arrive in a few days. Bernt missed his toothbrush and got a flash of genius to put the toothbrush in the hand luggage next time. It is a good idea. Next time it could be one of my bags that can not keep up with us. This is the first time we face this particular problem in the Congo.

Makedika, another friend of Yapeco’s took us to the motel Lulo. Makedika’s car seems to be proof of him being a careful driver in this very complicated traffic. There are no scratches or other damage on it. It is a miracle that people stay alive considering what goes on on the roads. The Congolese have an amazing ability to sort out difficult situations and are all masters of the survival arts.

At the motel we had a good night’s sleep in an air-conditioned room. This is the seventh time in the last three years that we visit Congo and we hope that our stay will be productive. We are grateful for all your thoughts and prayers.

I know that I said that the last blog would be my last from Congo but because of chanced planes I accompanied Yapeco to his office today too. Therefore this becomes my last blog. I´ve now finished my English course for Matadi Support Group and I had my last lesson yesterday evening. It has been great closures with my classes and I was actually moved from the speeches that I got from some of the students. If they´re telling the truth they are pretty satisfied with my work here as an englishteacher. But we all agree that two and a half month is way to little to learn a new language and now my students and me are hoping for a new teacher that can come and continue the work that I’ve started.

The day after tomorrow Yapeco and I are travelling to Kinshasa as I´ve mentioned before. On the evening we will visit his cousins wedding. On the Monday my flight lifts to Sweden. To sum up I can say that the positive side of this journey have been that I´ve seen and learned so incredibly much that I never would have done otherwise and also that the Congolese have been so kind and generous to me. My students have also been very positive, nice, motivated and really been showing that they want to learn English. On the negative side for my part is that I haven’t liked all the attention that being a moundele here means and the fact that you never are alone. I have also found it challenging for my patience with all the delays to the lessons and other occasions and to attend at long meetings in kikongo when I don´t understand a word. But on the big whole I´m very grateful for the opportunity to come here and it´s a journey that I really don´t regret that I made but now it feels pretty good to come home to friends and family in Sweden again. In the end I also have to give a lot of thanks to Yapeco and his family for that I got to stay with them and become a part of their family, without their hospitality this wouldn’t been possible. With that said I’m now finishing my blogwriting and I want to wish good luck to the continuing work for Matadi Support Group.

It´s insane that it´s only five days left for me in Congo and three in Matadi. The time have past quickly and now I´m in the state where I keep on thinking “this is the last time I….”. Yesterday I did my last lessons for class one and two. It felt strange to say goodbye and knowing that this was the last time we will se eachother. The last lesson consists of easy repetition and after that speeches, handing out diplomas and taking pictures. The diploma consists of the pupil´s name, participation and grade on their exam. It have been pretty tricky for me to grade them but now it´s done and in some cases I’ve probably been a little bit to kind and seen between my fingers but I rather give the benefit before the doubts.

Today I will have my last lesson for class three and four and then only two days remain in Matadi that will be spent by paying visits to friends and family of Yapeco´s family.

It might be that this is the last time I have access to internet and in that case I say goodbye from Congo for this time. The last and final blog from me will then be sent from Sweden. So long I say thank you for reading my blog and I hope it have been a good reading for you.

Today my last week in Matadi has started, well it´s actually less then that it´s only five days remaining. I´m now on my second last lesson. It´s pretty tuff and it´s a high tempo with lot of grammar such as verbs in imperfect and perfect, how to build questions in imperfect, present and future, comparing adjectives like old, older, oldest and demonstrative pronouns. It also consist of much repetition of all the words and phrases that I’ve been teaching under all these weeks so it may not be the most entertaining lesson that I have hold but definitely one of the most important ones. My walk to and from school are getting harder and harder to make. Not physically, no I´m getting used to walk up for the steep hills here but it´s all the attention that is starting to get to me. I can definitely conclude that I would never fit as a public person, not at all.

Because me and Yapeco are taking the bus to Kinshasa on Saturday, yesterday was my last Sunday in Matadi and therefore became the services in church my last too. I attended both the French- and the kikongoservice and I sang on both. On the first I performed “we shall overcome” and on the second “o store gud” in Swedish and also on Kikongo to the audience´s delight. They also thanked me off and I held a speech, on French. The first time I was taken by surprise and therefore I was trembling with the words but the second time I were prepared and it actually went pretty fine. When all was finished it was time for photographs and now I have a load of pictures of me and choirs, churchmembers and musicians. Thank god that Yapeco was there to organise it all, he is actually a Congolese that is really good at that and it therefore became grouppictures instead of photos with me and them one and one and it all went pretty quick.

Well well then, I have to say thanks for me for this time and go to school. But don´t you worry I will be in touch soon again.

Now it´s less then one week of teaching left here in Matadi. Next Saturday Yapeco and me take the bus to Kinshasa and on Monday afternoon departs my flight back to Sweden. My plan was to have lessons all the way to the Friday before I leave but the family thought that I should finish at the Monday so I could visit friends and family. The compromise became that I have my finallesson on Wednesday and have Thursday and Friday for visits.

Outside the school I´m now working with creating a certificate that I will give to each pupil on the last lesson. The diploma will include participation and a grade on their testresult. I find this incredible difficult because I don´t have any education at all in how I supposed to do and I don´t want to be mean or unfair to anyone. I´ve started to get to know some of the pupils also and that makes it even more complicated if they haven’t performed so well. I have to keep telling myself to be objective, all credits to all real teachers out there.

The other day Yapeco and me went to the market to meet a pupil that owns a clothingstore and he gave me a pair of shoes and a big beautiful fabric as a gift. Another day I got a pagne, the long skirt that the African ladies wear, from another student. The Congolese are definitely a generous people. Recently the clothes that I have been ordering from a tailor became finished and everyone becomes very happy to se me wear African clothes. But I think I´m even more delighted because I´m very satisfied over the result and think that the clothes are lovly and that they really lit up lwith all their colours ad patterns.

Today it´s only two weeks left of my adventure. And only four lessons for each class. The time have gone fast but now I’m looking forward to come home. All the attention that I as a moundele get here is something I’m not used to and not completely comfortable with and I long for to come home to the anonymity and freedom in Sweden.

After the test I have been teaching words and phrases that can be useful at the hotel and in social situation and also more adjectives and professions. For the classes with inly adult pupils that know some English already I have even given them an text in English that they should translate and answer some questions to. Now I have divided the pupils into new classes that the coming (as it hopefully will be) can use. Maybe they haven´t learned anything under my period as an Englishteacher, maybe I´ve made everything messy and done more wrong then right but at least I have started the project and hopefully laid a small ground to continue on in the future.

The remaining lessons I will teach words and phrases in help and need and the nature and after that it will be repetition and closure the last two lessons.

If I shall tell something else besides the teaching I were in the church six hours yesterday. The sure know how to drag out the time here. And I that think that an one-and-a-half-hour long service in Sweden is long! I had a little performance where I together with a couple of men sang a song in kikongo. Unfortunally the sound technic isn´t so good here so I could barely be heard because if the electric guitars but just my presence on stage is actually enough to make the community happy. And I ofcourse is more then thrilled every time I get an opportunity to sing so it wasn´t all pointless. Next Sunday will be my last here in Matadi and the church. I´m going to miss the fantastic choirs but the six-hours long services, no I think I will be able to live without them.

This Monday and Tuesday I were having the test for my student because I were in Luozi last week and this was there homework. The test consisted a frontpage and half a backpage of word that they have learnt from lesson one to lesson eight that they would translate from French to English. The other half of the backpage they were supposed to write numbers in English and then translate sentences. If they finished before the lessons end they got the assignment to write a letter to me about themselves. These letter were very touching for me to read, so many beautiful words and sentences to me, with many thank you´s and blessings to both me and my family.

Many pupils have performed very well. Two of them share the first place with the result 249.5 points of 256. I´m very proud of them and the other pupils that have done very good from their one level. But I have some pupils that obviously haven’t been practising and been having vacation when I´ve been away. Even though I´ve really been kind in my correction and tried to pass everyone there are a handful pupils together with the ones that where absent that will do the test again this Saturday. Maybe it´s necessary for me to be a little bit harsh for their one sake so that they really practise and learn the English language. But I´m most disappointed by class 4. Of 18 pupils only 3 where showing up to make the test. I hope many of them will show up on Saturday. Based on their results and their performance in the classroom the last couple of weeks I will then divide the pupils into new classes based on their knowledge. But these classes is for the next teacher that I hope will come because I have now only two weeks left to teach.