Early in the morning there was a power failure and the electricity stayed away for the rest of the day. I kept on writing on the computer as long as the battery lasted, and when there was nothing left I quit working. On a national day, you are supposed to be free and celebrate, but we hadn´t planned any time off, our agenda was quite full. It was probably for the best to relax a little, even though it´s hard to take it easy when there are urgent tasks at hand. We don´t take any meals here at the L’Odinae Guest House. It´s a good place for sleeping, but access to electricity and Internet could improve. Gösta is nice and lends me his mobile broadband. And he assists us with transportation as well.

Kinshasa is a big city with vast distances, lots of traffic jams and many critical moments. If you can drive in Kinshasa, you can drive in any city anywhere in the world, Gösta claims, and I believe him 100%. On the whole, it takes go-ahead spirit, proficiency and a generous helping of courage in order to use your car in this chaotic traffic. The police has a hard time trying to create a little order in the largest intersections. There are a few traffic lights but they don´t work, probably due to the many power failures. Many of the road-users apply the principle: ”Let´s give it a try!”. A steering wheel and an accelerator pedal are amazing in the way they change a person´s behaviour. On Sunday, Gösta Luboyi will go back to Haiti where he works for the UN.

We had breakfast at a true oasis, located right in the middle of Kinshasa. The place is called Centre des Handicapés Source de Vie and is a catholic establishment. Many of the employees have functional disorders in one way or another. After breakfast, we visited the Kinshasa and Bas-Kongo police commissioner, Colonel Celestin Bengama, who is also a good friend of Yapeco. He expressed his appreciation for our work and our visit. We thanked him for supplying a car and a driver when we arrived on Friday, and we gave him the New Testament in modern English and a pen. He said that he wishes to help us with transportation also in the future, and that he considered safe transports to be his contribution to our work. We fully understand that this is a valuable contact for us. Then we went to a machine store. Gösta was going to meet director of the church Edi Diafuanakana to discuss the issue of the generator in Luozi. The rest of the national day of Sweden went by without any more efforts on our part.

At 10 am, we came to the Nyambudis. The whole group of entrepreneurs were already there. Breakfast was ready and consisted of boiled eggs, oat meal porridge with jam and a mixture of milk powder and water, bread, tea and coffee. The requirements for a good start of the day were well met. When we´d had enough to eat, the spiritual nourishments followed. First, a song in several different languages and then Clement preached about the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda, see John 5:1-11. Using the biblical example as a metaphor for Congo, he talked about the inability of the Congolese people to make use of the opportunities available to them. The rich, industrialized world can be of assistance in the process when the Congolese find a way to prosperously manage their resources. This is a challenge for us, and an obligation. We need to give them tools that empower them to move away from poverty to a decent standard of living. We must end all foreign plundering of Congolese natural resources, and help the Congolese to transform their resources to welfare for their own people.

Then followed the entrepreneurial course. We talked about five steps of the course material: 1) the business idea, 2) the business and its surrounding community (customers, market and competitors) 3) how to be competitive (product and marketing), 4) financial planning (budget), 5) how to determine if the business idea is economically sound. The group is very dedicated; they make many good observations sometimes in French and sometimes in English. They really made an effort to express themselves in English. Julienne readily translated whenever there was confusion of languages. Earlier, we had decided that the course day would end at 3 pm, but nobody wanted to quit when the time was up. Anyhow, dinner was ready at 3, and we took a break to have meat, fish, rice and vegetables.

After dinner, Julienne described the thoughts that had appeared during the discussion she´d had with the participants yesterday, about how to structure the Nsanda project. Our idea was for the entrepreneurs to each have their own farming project, that is ten separate businesses with about 1 hectare of land each. But they prefer a solution with one single business, where they are equal partners. We came to the conclusion that this might be a good solution. The business will be called the Nsanda Group, and will have one lease instead of many. The landowners the Nyambudis will be leaseholders as well through partnership in the Nsanda Group. A partnership contract will be drawn up between the partners. Bernt and Yngve will also be partners. As far as possible, all rights and duties will be documented in the contract. By the looks of it, there will be 16 partners. Everyone will deposit $ 340. The deposit can be paid either in labour or in money.

At 6 pm, a first rough sketch of the budget was ready. To make the budget understandable, we had papered the walls with flipchart sized posters. To see all parts of the budget is necessary in order to understand how they are connected to each other. I will put the Nsanda Group budget on an Excel spreadsheet, and attach it to an email to the whole group of partners. All of them except one have access to computers with spreadsheet software. We had planned to end the day at 3 pm, but we didn’t manage to tear ourselves away until 7 pm. That´s committment! Gratifying!

When I opened my inbox this morning I’d received an e-mail from my dear wife. She congratulated me on our wedding day. Surefire, I remember that day like yesterday, but at this early hour in the morning the memory of it hadn’t surfaced before reading her e-mail. Great days are well stored though. It has been 42 years since we got married. Where have all the years gone? They seem to pass quicker and quicker the older you get. I sent her a reply, and on the skype chat later that evening we exchanged flower smileys. The electronic aids come in handy.

Today we visited Daniel and Annie Bimpe, who we had met earlier last autumn. We had asked him before leaving Sweden if we could come see him about starting a production of wood stoves. He´d promised to deliver a draft and an estimate of price per stove. If the price is right, we will proceed with production plans. If the Congolese could use wood stoves instead of cooking over open fire, there would be a tremendous saving of wood which in turn would benefit the environment. The implementation of wood stoves in Sweden revolutionized cooking, and it ought to do the same for Congo if it is possible to produce them to a reasonable price.

Daniel and Annie own a workshop and they have 30 employees. The workshop that we saw in the middle of its construction last autumn was now ready and in use. The production was in full swing. A diesel generator makes sure that all engines, an electric welding set and other electric tools can do their job. In Luozi, a city with a population of 15.000 citizens, public electricity has yet to make its entrance. We had been planning to raise the issue with the energy minister of Bas-Congo in Matadi, but he managed to stay away when we were there. Despite the lack of electricity, Daniel says Luozi has its advantages. There are good, trustworthy people to employ and the salaries are lower than in the bigger cities. Besides the workshop, Daniel has a lot going on. He cultivates soy beans and the old workshop has been remade into a chicken and poultry farm. The birds are soon moving in.

In the workshop, he makes engines for milling and refining soy beans, manioc, corn and other crops. Daniel and Annie held a lecture about the soy bean. They made clear to us what an efficient foodstuff it is for both people and animals. In the future, they are planning to produce mineral enriched soy fodder. The foundation for a fodder factory is already in place. We got to taste a powder that is an ingredient in soy milk. After the soy bean, they told us about the benefits of the cacao tree. Maybe we should plant cacao trees in Nsanga? Daniel is always on the go, and you have to be attentive to keep up with him. He speaks in English, which he learnt when he lived in Ghana and Cameroon for ten years during one of the Congolese wars. He is an innovator with many ideas and visions. Judging by his commitment and enthusiasm his primary outlook is ”what can I do for Congo?” and not the opposite. It had been an interesting visit, and we left the Bimpes with many thoughts.

After dinner we engaged in writing and signing contracts between entrepreneurs and lenders. All agreements are documented as far as possible. We also adjusted some of the leasing contracts.

At 8 in the morning we were supposed to go to the Nyambudi family for breakfast. Gösta was going to come and pick up Bernt, Yapeco and me, but we didn´t leave until after 9. The cause of the delay was a traffic accident; a bus had run over and killed a young boy. We rescheduled and decided to go to Nzo Binati first to see Edi Diafuanakana. His wanted to discuss the installation of a new generator in Luozi with Gösta. I gave him a few letters from Sweden and we exchanged some thoughts about the church truck, the Scania, which is now working. Bernt told him that we have collected enough money to buy a new engine. We also told him that we think it´s best that the church sells the truck to an entrepreneur.

We continued to the Nyambudis, a drive of about an hour. After a heartfelt reception, we had a somewhat delayed breakfast. Ten prospective entrepreneurs and farmers sat waiting for us. They had probably been waiting for a couple of hours, but it didn´t seem to be a problem for them. There is plenty of time in Kongo. The whole Nyambudi family; dad Jean Clement, mom Julienne, daughters Nina, Zola, Emma and son Tutondele were gathered. The house has a very spartan appearance. The walls are made of grey, unplastered cement bricks, the roof of corrugated iron with no ceiling. There is running water, a toilet and electricity indoors, but the meals are cooked outside over an open fire. They have a bucket shower and sleep on mattresses on the floor under mosquito nets. The furniture consists of a sofa and armchairs, a TV, a few plastic tables and chairs for everyone. But the house is filled with so much human warmth, and is situated in such a beautiful, green and quiet neighborhood, surrounded by farmlands not far from the Congo river. On the other side of the river, you can see Brazzaville.

We started the entrepreneurial course in the living room. First, Clement spoke a few, very appreciative words in both Swedish and French. He said that the entrepreneurial course is a new form of missions. To hear this from a former director of the church was very gratifying for us. Julienne took over and said a long prayer for the project. Then, Bernt and I started talking about entrepreneurship. Suddenly we heard a violent explosion. And we kept hearing new explosions a few times during the day. The origin of the noise was the blasting of rocks and stones not far away from the house. At 2 pm we had dinner consisting of chicken, rice (potatoes for us white people), manioc and boiled manioc leafs. For desert, which was served exclusively for Bernt and me, we had coffee and muffins. After dinner, everybody got to tell a little about themselves. It seems to be a first-rate group, almost all of them have university studies on their CV’s and most of them speak English. The average age of the group members is 35. All of them are employed, but they want to invest their time and energy in something new. We believe that the group members have ambitions and a desire to change their situation. We course continued until 5 pm. Then, Julianne gathered the entrepreneurs in a discussion about the lease, and the conditions we had suggested.

By 6 o´clock we headed for the hotel, but we had a somewhat laborious journey back. On two occasions we had to make a detour, and the distance of 30 kilometers between the Nyambudis and the hotel took us almost three hours. There was chaos on the roads virtually everywhere. With a temperature of 25-30ºC and the exhaust fumes from all the crowding cars, Bernt and I got nauseous and our eyes hurt. Luckily we survived and Yapeco got us some buns, cheese and water back at the hotel. After the light meal, we went straight to bed and fell asleep at once.

At 7.15 pm local time, we landed at N´djili International Airport in Kinshasa. The trip had gone according to plan. Even the airport seemed to be more orderly than last time. The only mistake was mine: I had put an incorrect time of arrival in our itinerary. And we forgot our filled-in declarations on the plane. Bernt realized this when we stood in line for passport examination. We explained our dilemma to the official who was in charge of the queue. He directed us to an office where we could fill in new declarations with the support of friendly Congolese airport staff. With our declarations we queued up for passport examination again, and we had no problems to get through. Then a guy called out ”Bernt”. He had our names on a piece of paper. He couldn´t pronounce Yngve – it´s difficult for anyone who doesn´t speak a Nordic language – and that´s why he just called out ”Bernt – Bernt – Bernt”. Two guys who we didn´t know, helped us find the way to the baggage claim.

This time there were luggage carts instead of pushy baggage carriers, like last time. The two men gave us one cart each and we began waiting for the baggage to appear. While we were waiting, one of the men called Yapeco, who was waiting outside, on the phone. He wanted to talk to me on the phone, and then he wanted us to come outside and greet him and Gösta the Congolese way: with a handshake and three kisses on the cheeks. After that, we went inside through the police checkpoint, and got our baggage. If you have the right connections you can walk through water and fire. Yapeco is the mastermind. We had brought as much baggage as we possibly could, and it was somewhat overweight. When checking in, Bernt told the airport staff that we were going to compensate by far for the extra kilos on our way home. Then, we will only be carrying what we´ve got on. And we might even be a few kilos lighter ourselves. With a five dollar ”service fee”, all of our belongings passed through the baggage examination without complaints.

Yapeco had found a large, blue and white Jeep with a driver for us. Soon, we realized that the car had police emblems on the sides, and that the driver Pierre was a police officer. We left the airport with silent sirens and blue lights off. Gösta explained to me that you must have highly placed connections to get a transport such as this. Yapeco wanted us to have a safe trip, and we got it. This is the first time I have gone anywhere in a police car.

Our first stop was at Gösta´s house, where we met his wife Clary, their children Gösta and Gunnel and some other relatives. We had a nice chat, and were served tangerines, Fanta and biscuits. Then we went to the hotel, where our rooms were equipped with air-conditioning and had a wonderfully pleasant temperature. At our disposal, we had a bedroom with a double bed, and a comfortable TV room. We went to bed and fell asleep at once. At 4 am we were awakened by partying in a neighboring house. Then, there was a power failure and the air-conditioning died down. In other words, it was time for me to get up and write these lines, accompanied by an amazingly practical LED hurricane lantern. The partying quieted down by 5 am. Then, the church bells started ringing. Right now at 5.40 am, the hotel diesel generator is being started, dawn is breaking and some birds, which are sitting in a tree just outside my window, are performing their morning concert.

Tuesday night Bernt calls me on the phone to let me know there’s a problem: our visas are still at the Congolese Embassy in Stockholm, and the Embassy are going to send them by surface mail on Wednesday, which means they will not arrive until Friday. And our flight leaves at 06.55 am on Friday. Excess baggage can be negotiable, but to start off without a visa is not a good idea. To engage a courier to bring us our visas would cost SEK 2300:-. It was out of the question. Suddenly I came to think of cousin David who works and lives in Stockholm, but grew up outside Gothenburg. Sure enough, on Thursday he was planning to go to a town nearby to fetch his motorcycle. He promised to pick up our passports at the Congolese Embassy on Wednesday around 7 pm. And we agreed to meet up with him on Thursday afternoon.

Wednesday night we changed the location of the delivery of  the passports to fit the route of Curt and Gunnel Olofsson from Jönköping who were coming to Töve on Sunday afternoon. They were going to bring Gunnels French translations as well as calenders, greetings and money that we will deliver to various recipients in Congo when we get there. Curt promised to pick up the passports on the way, and I was so glad that it worked out without any extra excursions on my part as my hands were pretty full anyway. At 5.30 pm on Thursday Curt and Gunnel met our courier and the passports and visas got one wee bit closer to the Congo travellers.

With ten hours to spare before our departure to Landvetter Airport, Curt handed over the passports to me. After all, we´d had enough time, and no one had made any uncalled-for trips. When I told David that I had the passports in my hand, we were both pleased about this courier comission being both environmental friendly and smooth. We hadn´t had any unplanned turnouts or additional costs, and the Congolese Embassy had even gained a small profit from the prepaid postage we had already sent them. This small contribution might help with their budget. They have been evicted from the Embassy premises for neglect of payment of the rent.  Our visa mishap involved many elements and turns – all of them are not included above – but they all fell into place in a marvellous way. I think I can see a higher manager in this; the manager with the bigger picture. To trust in such a manager removes many worries.

Bernt and I are now flying somewhere over the Sahara desert and there will be a stopover in Kamerun at the Yaounde Nsimalen International Airport in about an hour. Then, the plane will continue to Kinshasa, where we will land at 7.20 pm. Judging from the e-mails we have received, there will be several friends and co-workers meeting us at the N´djili Airport. The plane is an Airbus with nearly 300 travellers. About half of us are white, the other half is black. The service on the plane is good, first we had refreshments and then dinner and coffee. We intend to stay for three weeks in Congo this time. Our itinerary, including the various planned activities, is published on the website under ”About us”.

Julienne Kukangisa Nyambudi is coming to Sweden on Saturday on April 2. In the Church calendar, the topic of the first Sunday of her stay, April 3, is ”the Bread of Life”. And this will be the main thread throughout her journey in Sweden. The goal of her trip is to raise SEK 75 000 in gifts and/or loans to the Nsanda farming project.

The Nsanda village is located about 20 kilometers from Matadi, on the other side of the Congo River. Nearby the village, the Nyambudi family owns 315 hectares of arable land. The soil is very fertile. You can grow peanuts, corn, soy beans, manioc, vegetables and many other utility plants. The fields have not been tilled since 2003, when the last harvest was gathered. That year, the Nyambudis visited Sweden during three months. They had hired a man to take care of the fields and the crop. He reaped the crop, sold it and embezzled the money. He even sold several farming tools and kept that money too. When the Nyambudis came back to Congo, the former employee was reported to the police and he was sentenced to two months in prison, and to pay back what he had stolen. He served the time, but the money was never returned.

Since this setback, the Nyambunis have let the land lie fallow. The capital needed to continue farming was gone. Squatters, total strangers to the Nyambudis, have moved into their house in the village. In front of the house, their Toyota jeep and a BM Volvo tractor are parked under a tarpaulin. The Nyambudis live in Luozi, about 150 kilometers from Nsanda, and the distance makes it difficult for them to manage the property.

A new beginning
The current plan of the Nyambudis is to set up leases with the eight people mentioned below who will become their tenant farmers. To begin with, each of the tenants will lease between 2 and 5 hectares. All of them are going to take our entrepreneurial course”Business plan – a first outline”. And all of them will produce a profit, which will make their business able to grow. In the long run, they will lease the entire acreage, all 315 hectares. By then, the project will support up to fifty families.
Tutondele Nyambudi, Luyobisa Jacksson, Mauris Ekaba, Mukiese Mwimba, Mavakala Steeve, Nsakanda Catharine, Mabufa Richard, Mangitukulu Nyambudi

The plan will be put into action as soon as we have raised enough money. The soil will have to be prepared for the sowing, which will take place in October in connection to the beginning of the rain period. We are going to explore the possibility of having volunteers prepare the fields.

The Church calendar topic ”Bread of Life” stands for the faith, hope and love of God and humanity that Jesus Christ gives to everybody. But to be able to receive this gift, our material needs must be met. This task has been assigned to us. You and I have the possibility to provide a material foundation for our fellow men and women. We are about to embark on the Nsanda farming project and initiate the production of Bread of Life in Congo. Your contribution will make a difference.

Luozi is a town situated on the northern shore of the Congo River, but it belongs to Kongo Kinshasa. If you want to go to any place within the country from Luozi, you have to take the ferry across the Congo River. Because of its location, Luozi has become a neglected area. At least from the perspective of the citizens of Luozi. The photo depicts the Luozi group led by the coordinator Ngoma Nsuni, head of the church Edi Diafuanakana, Elie Mbumina from the US, Josef Nsumbu, Borås and MSG representatives Bernt Sköld and Yngve Håkanson.

The surroundings of Luozi are very suitable for fruit-growing, and earlier there have been large fruit farms. Pineapple can be harvested three times a year, mango twice a year, lemons and avocado all through the year as well as oranges, tangerines, passion fruit and papaya. But the farms have shrunk due to the difficulties to transport the fruits to the cities. Too much have gotten spoiled on the way.

A delegation of eight Congolese, seven from Luozi and Kinshasa and one from the US visited Borås last week. It was Josef Nsumbu, also Congolese and pastor of the Immanuel Church in Borås who had gathered the group. The intention of the visit was to prepare for the building and opening of a juice factory in Luozi. With a juice factory, the fruit could be taken care of and people could get employment, in other words, something could be done both about poverty and the development of the area. One of the participants expressed this in his own, concrete way: ”If we have a factory, maybe we will afford soap and matches”. Monday, we made a visit to a juice factory in Borås, Brämhults Juice. Thursday there was a meeting in Töve, at Kerstin and Yngve Håkanson´s home.

Matadi Support Group has been asked to help the Luozi group with the juice factory project. The building site in Luozi has been bought, and building material – bricks – is being produced. The delegation has worked out a plan and a program for the factory. It is now being translated to English. Our contribution to the project will be to consult people in the juice business, project the factory building and find suitable machines. Also, MSG has taken on the task of finding financiers in Sweden and in the US.

When Kerstin and I took our daily morning walk today, the full moon beamed from a starlit sky. It was windless and -10ºC – a beautiful morning! The rest of the morning ritual consists of rye porridge with black currant jam, morning prayer and reading of the smaller local newspaper Ulricehamns Tidning and the larger local newpaper Borås Tidning. Almost every morning at our house, Övregården in Töve, proceeds this way. Only the weather changes. I think we need both steady and varying elements in our lives.

At last, the first entrepreneurs in Congo have received their loans. Our man Yapeco has managed the payments. Together, they have received $27,350. The payments were delayed by one month exactly due to the non-functioning Congolese banking system. The money was sent last Friday as an ordinary bank transaction, in Euros exchanged to US dollars. This Wednesday, they landed in our bank account in Banque Internationale Pour l´Afrique au Congo in Matadi (BIAC). For our entrepreneurs, it was a much anticipated day.

Now there will be a moment of truth for our first borrowers. Will they live up to the statements they´ve written down in the course material and in the contracts: to do their investments according to their investment specification, and to sell according to their sales budget and then not burden the business with more costs than the budget permits them to? Month by month, this will be followed up and accounted for on the website. The accountancy will be open for all MSG sponsors to see. The first account will concern the investments.

New challenges lie ahead of us: ten new entrepreneurs stand in line, and there is an agricultural project of 315 hectares fertile soil and a hotel building construction in Matadi to mention some of them. What if we could give some Congolese the opportunity to go from poverty to prosperity and what if they someday could exclaim: What a day!!

In 1954 Alice Sandblom, who has worked in Kongo for 17 years, was given the word ”mvibudulu” from the pastor of the Kiamvu Church. Now, she wants to pass it on to me. I will take it to heart and try to learn its true meaning, and I know that if I want to feel happy I have to carry it with me at all times. I want to be willing to learn. To practice and learn new things all the time makes life more exciting.

We have been forced to block the traveller´s check of 175 000 SEK that we brought to Congo on our last trip. We didn´t get any response from the BIAC bank in Matadi where we had left it. Yapeco went there several times to withdraw money for the entrepreneur loans, but he received the same answer every time: the money could not be withdrawn because the Matadi office has not received a confirmation from the head office in Kinshasa. Mr Kiwaka had promised us to cash the check, but his promise wasn´t worth anything. In agreement with Yapeco, we decided to block the check and transfer the money through Western Union, that we had used successfully on January 4th. That transaction took only four days.

When you block a check, it takes time before the money is available on your bank account again. Swedbank in Stockholm informed us that we will have to wait for one and a half week, before all parties concerned have been notified. As soon as we get our money back, we will go through with the transaction. Now we know that a normal bank transaction will work. We plan to pay out the loans in week 7.

On February 4th, it was Samuel Nkailu´s 75th birthday. When I called to congratulate him, he was busy translating our course material for entrepreneurs. He translates from French to Monokutuba. The Monokutuba language is a mixture of French, Kikongo and Lingala accordning to Samuel, and it is spoken in Matadi with surroundings. It makes me happy to hear that they appreciate our material and want to make it comprehendible to a larger group of people in Congo. Imagine entrepreneurship as a popular movement in Congo, what progress that would bring to the country.

The size of our entrepreneur project depends on our sponsors. They and you determine the dimensions. The other day, I heard on the news about the Swedish billions hidden away in Suisse banks to evade Swedish tax authorities. As far as I remember it amounted to thousands of billions. Now, the banks have to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding this money. Imagine the miracles one billion could bring about in Congo. But there are many brimful bank accounts in Swedish banks as well. Many Swedes don´t have a chance to make use of their money, apart from the sense of security it gives. Most of the money is passed on to the next generation. What if we could put some of these enormous resources to use, what an impetus that would give to Congolese enterprises. They would certainly get the help to start they need.