New entrepreneurs in Kimpese

The day started quietly without any disturbing elements created by a crazy rooster, outside the bedroom windows. Awakening could take place nice and orderly. Breakfast was served at 7.30 a.m., and was initiated with a proper grace. Then, we had our tasty porridge, today served with an omelet and tomatoes.

Bernt and Yapeco went to buy a tarpaulin for Christoffer’s dojo in Luozi. They paid 150 USD for one that was somewhat tarnished. Christoffer has asked for a tarpaulin of the size 10 x 10 meters, but the one he will get is 5 x 7 meters. I spent the morning preparing for the new course of entrepreneurs that will begin this afternoon at 3 o’clock.

Julienne and Ing-Marie went to buy fabrics for new clothes. Ing-Marie claimed that she didn´t have anything to wear. As far as I can judge, she has been respectably dressed every day we have been here in Congo. My conclusion is that she probably exaggerated the state of her wardrobe. The perception of what you have and don´t have is quite individual.

At 10.30 a.m. Julienne made us coffee, and then Yapeco and I went to Emy’s internetcafé to email some pictures to my son Aron i Moskva, who will publish them on the website. When I had managed to send pictures for one blog the power went out, but luckily it came back after half an hour. At the café, Emy has seven computers and when I was there, all computers were busy. When I am there, I use my own computer and his wireless Internet. Mabiala Mambueni Alphonsine is employed by Emy to take care of the café. She has a lot to do, for instance she does paperwork for clients, and print-outs.

We went back to Nganga and Thérèse for dinner at 1.30 p.m. We had vegetarian meatballs made of ground pumpkin seeds, rice, potatoes, vegetables and manioc. It was a tasty meal. Then we went back to Emy’s office and the schoolroom of 5 x 5 meters where we will have our course. Twelve entrepreneurs came today. Most of them are already running some kind of business. They work with such different things as farming, both crops and livestock, bakery, transports, grocery, clothes, Internet operator, Internet café, construction work and restaurant. Yapeco helped us with the refreshments, lemonade and biscuits. It was really nice to rinse the throat, because today was a very hot day, somewhere between 30 and 40 degrees C.

Afterwards Bengt, Bernt and I walked back home. The distance is 1,5 kilometers. It was interesting to see the ever present commerce along the streets. There are not that many actual shops around, thus these businesses under the open sky, the goods displayed on a simple table or directly on the ground. At best, there might be a parasol, a grass roof or a sheet of metal above the market stalls. The merchants are eager to sell but not pushy, and there doesn´t seem to be any lack of commodities.

Tonight, we had pancakes and jam for supper. Nganga joined us for the meal. He had spent the entire day at the building site of his hotel, which is almost ready. At the moment, they are working on the restaurant. Thérèse is also involved in the project. She will be in charge of the restaurant.

At the Kimpese Church

Today, we had Sibbarp’s porridge enhanced with oatmeal. Thus, the porridge breakfast regimen is restored. Early in the morning, Nganga and Yapeco had been out and moved their cars away from the courtyard. I soon understood why when I came outdoors. Every Sunday, there is a market on the street outside the house. And the market is quite extensive. The market stalls are close together, all along the 500 meter long street, and there is also a large square filled to the brim with everything you can imagine.

Today, we went to the second service in Kimpese Church, the service in Kikongo. It started at 10 a.m. The first service that starts at 8 a.m. and is conducted in French was just about to end when we got there. We could conclude that the majority of the participants had been young people. For the second service, the majority of the participants were older. It was a very lively service with much joy and enthusiasm, and nobody sat still on the bench.

The church was more than packed, there were about 300 churchgoers. Seven choirs sang, and the offertory was out of the ordinary. They raised funds for the chuch building itself, a project that has been going on for nine years, to the national CEC Church, to the sick, and to the work of the congregation. For the last offertory, the two sides of the congregation had one collection-basket each, and they competed against eachother on who filled the basket best. Among the funds raised were a hen and peanuts, and one woman gave a small handbag, probably the only thing she had brought. You come to think about the widow’s mite, worth so much more than the surplus given by the rich man. She gave everything while the wealthy only give what they can easily spare. The bag was auctioned off, but didn’t get any bids today. It will be saved for next week’s service. There are an abundance of roosters everywhere in Congo, and outside the church there was a church rooster crowing from time to time. I see it as a small proof that the church and the service is among the people and the everyday life of the village. Both people and animals get to make their voices heard.

Confession is part of the service as well as the creed, and there are songs before, between and after every item on the program. We were also an item on the program. Bernt, Julienne, Yapeco and I were introduced, and Bernt and I said a few words about MSG, translated by Julienne. The churchgoers especially appreciated the sound of the Swedish language, and there was laughter and cheers. They sent their regards to Sweden, both orally and visibly. A veritable forest of hands waved to the Swedish friends. Today, the service ended by 14 p.m.

Afterwards, Yapeco, Bernt and I went to Emy Miantezila’s office. We planned the work of the week with Emy. The educations of the entrepreneurs will take place in the afternoons, starting 15 p.m. All the participants have received our course material, and Emy seems to have prepared them well. We will use the place where Emy teaches street children for the course. When we were about to go home, a lovely rain started to fall.

At 15.30 p.m. we had returned to Nganga and Thérèse, and sunday dinner was served. Today we had chicken, rice manioc and vegetables. After dinner all of us had a proper siesta.

After the nap, Bengt helped Thérèse to arrest the rooster. I have written about him before and told you that he is very active during his night shift. Yesterday, I asked Nganga and Thérèse to restrain him for the benefit of our sleep. At 1 a.m., he woke up Thérèse who then remembered that she had forgot to put him away. Thus, he got to practice his activities one more night, disturbing some of us, but luckily not me. At last, he is incarcerated in solitary confinement and we will not be listening to his serenades tonight.

For supper we had te, coffe and bread with caviar and bananas.

Getting stuck in the middle of nowhere

At 7 a.m., I took my usual walk to the solar cell charger. It´s a modest but beneficent morning exercise for me. Then I did some paperwork before I refilled the power supply with breakfast. At 9 a.m. we had an appointment with the director of the Luozi province, Jean Germain Kapula Mukumbayi. Bernt, Yapeco, Lendo and I were the ones who went to visit him. We presented MSG and told him about our activities in Luozi. Then we presented the idea of pastor Josef Nsumbu in Borås, that Luozi, Kimpese and Matadi together would become twin towns to Borås, and that Borås could transfer knowledge about sustainable garbage handling to Congo. Namely, Borås has world-leading garbage handling processes at work, and even an university education dedicated to this area. For instance, Borås convert organic garbage to fuel for cars and busses and to fertilizers. Combustible waste becomes electric power. The director of the province expressed happiness over our visit and appreciation of our ideas. He promised to call his colleage in Kimpese and forewarn him of our thoughts. It was a nice and pleasant meeting.

At breakfast, Bertil Åhman had told us that we must wear a tie when we meet important people such as the director of the province. I hadn´t brougt any ties to Congo, but Bertil had one I could borrow, and we were freshened up and properly dressed when we went there. I am sure this effort contributed to the success of the meeting. The applied dress code put the icing on the cake. The director of the province told us that he would like to meet with us again, but he thought that we should have contacted him earlier. We apologized and explained that our local representative Julienne had moved away some time ago, but now, Lendo is about to assume the position as the local MSG representative in Luozi.

On the way to the meeting, we met a Swedish-speaking lady in her seventies, Jacqueline Luezi. She told us that she had grown up in the care of missionary Ester Abrahamsson from Lysekil. Her mother had died when she was a baby. Jacqueline had stayed with Ester until she was 15. We passed by a true entrepreneur whith a charger service. Outside his kiosk, there was a small Honda generator chugging on. And there were people standing in line to charge their mobile phones. Almost every Congolese has a mobile phone, and because there is no power routed in this town, there must be entrepreneurs to find solutions.

Before we left for Kimpese, we had a cup of coffee at Gunnel´s place. She wasn´t there herself, but her maid Pauline made us coffee. We said goodbye to Christoffer and Pauline, and borrowed Gunnel´s car, a Toyota Land Cruiser, and driver Galvano and his helper Nkondi Jean Pierrre. They would take us to Kimpese.

When we arrived att the ferry stop, the ferry had left the shore and were on it´s way to the other side. But it hadn´t got far, only about 400 meters, and Yapeco called the captain and persuaded him to turn around and pick us up. Therefore, we had a quick crossing anyway. It´s invaluable to have a person like Yapeco in the party. He arranges and manages so that everything works, and he knows a great deal of people, both people in power and ordinary people, he seems to have good relationships with all of them, and he communicates easily.

Somewhere more than half-way to Kimpese the car stopped and it was completely impossible to get it running. The starter motor didn´t do it´s job and the car engine refused to start. We let the car rest for a while. To be a car in Congo is not an easy task, you really have to show your worth. I´m sure it needed a little break. Meanwhile, we had something to drink and some biscuits. After a while, we decided that we were going to try to push it to get it running. Ahead, we first had 100 meters of uphill road, and we wondered if we would be able to muster the strength needed to get the car over the edge. We braced our feet against the ground and pushed with all our might. And we actually succeded in getting the car to the edge. On the other side there was a splendid downhill slope. The car picked up speed and the engine started. Wonderful!

The ride to Kimpese was considerably more pleasant than the one in the other direction. Galvano is an able driver, and he drove with discernment. We were not the least bit bruised. Safe and sound, we arrived to Kimpese at 3.30 p.m., where we have the privilege to stay with Nganga and Therese in their fine house with air conditioning. Therese served a delicious dinner an hour after our arrival. It is Saturday evening, and we reduce our activities and relax.

I haven´t been able to attach pictures to my blogs during the days in Luozi. Internet connectivity has been poor, I have even had to send the blogs by e-mail to Europe, from where they have been published on the site. I hope to be able to work properly with the website and the blog here in Kimpese. If you have a little patience, there will be pictures for all the blogs.

Looking at Daniel’s wood stove prototypes

Today, I started out with a little exercise on my own when I took a walk to Gunnel Jönsson’s solar cell charger to get my computer to work. I left it there to become fully charged. We had breakfast as usual at 7:30 a.m. with tea – coffee and a baguette. Today, all of us participated in Apg 29’s morning prayer. It began with a chorus in Swedish, “I come as I am, have nothing to hide,” then there was a short reflection by the leader from Congo, interpreted by Bertil Åhman and then a chorus in French. Then the young people stood up in two lines facing each other, they took each other’s hands and prayed for eachother. A good way to start the day.

After prayer, we got the opportunity to talk about the activities of MSG, how we started with Samuel in Matadi and the Youth House, how we educate entrepreneurs, 40 people have been trained, 30 on their way, five trainers in line to get their training, two from Brazzaville. Our three tools: Training, business loans and follow-ups. Our three principles: Openness, transparency and results. We have 30 paragraphs where we declare our ideas and experiences: There are no shortcuts to success, it’s just hard work that applies. It is only the Congolese who can lift themselves and their country. The missionaries along with the Congolese have organized education, health care and built up the church, for all this, material resources for maintenance and development is needed. We believe that entrepreneurs in Congo with their entrepreneurship and other abilities can create a solid sustainablility.

Christoffer, along with 50 children and youths have built a dojo which is a training area for judo, the size of 10×10 m. At the bottom of the dojo is a few cm of sawdust, then a rug of palm leaves and then 15 cm of chaff. Finally everything is covered with a cloth he bought from a local seamstress. They brought the sawdust and chaff to the dojo site on a large carriage pulled by hand about one kilometer one way. They had to make four rounds with the carriage before they had enough. Tomorrow at 4 p.m. the actual training will start.

At 10 a.m. we went to the workshop owner Daniel Bimpe and his wife Annie. She has taken our entrepreneur course and she gave us a report of their projects. They grow corn and manioc and want to develop it. They are also constructing a building for processing the crops. Daniel builds his machines himself, he is a talented innovator. We also talked wood stoves and he showed some prototypes that he has made.

At 1 pm Gunnel Jönsson invited us for dinner at her house. We had vegetarian meatballs, rice and manioc and bananas for dessert. We had a nice time with good fellowship and tasty food.

We had some individual consultations in the afternoon and during our meetings four young people from Apg 29 came by. They wanted to know more about MSG and one girl who has a financial education wanted to work for us in Kinshasa. It is great that young people are interested, and that they even have skills that we need in MSG.

Christoffer and the other judo practitioners preparing the dojo

Today I was awakened by a full concert of singing birds. Yapeco joined Christoffer and Bickbick on their morning jog in a blue tracksuit with a yellow belt. The yellow belt is significantly lower in hierarchy to the black belt of our judo expert.

The day was devoted to individual consultations with the entrepreneurs. The participants of this Luozi group have all started with various enterprises to a greater or lesser extent. The largest have had a turnover of over 100 000 USD. When we study their reports and listen to their stories, the picture of their activities becomes clearer. An odd conclusion we can make is that money in the form of loans is probably not the right path to development. Advice on how to develop a business and make it profitable is much more critical. If a company starts making a profit it will generate it´s own resources for development. To have and to use your own money for investments in your company is obviously the best solution. Unless your enterprise is sound and gives a profit, what difference could an investment with borrowed money make?

Bengt, Ing-Marie and Christoffer have participated every day in Apg 29’s morning prayers. They are impressed by the fellowship, joy, dedication and strong faith of the youth. Bernt, Yapeco and I have devoted ourselves to the entrepreneurs. The young people of Apg 29 also have an efficient and simple diet. For breakfast, tea or coffee and a baguette. For dinner today we got oatmeal porridge and a banana, but there was no milk for the porridge, so I used water instead. It was a new taste, but it went down easier with the help of water. The nice thing is that you feel good on simple diet.

In the afternoon we had a meeting with those who work with the plans of a fruit factory in Luozi. The committee working with the issue of electricity to Luozi announced that in two years there will be electric power in the city. Preparations are underway. The committee of raw materials has made an inventory of the Luozi region. The committee of funding had nothing concrete to share, but ideas for possible funding were discussed. A pilot study with layout and investment requirements have previously been made by Bernt and me.

At 6 pm Christoffer and Bickbick officially started the judo training. They were outdoors and about twenty children and as many spectators came. The interest was keen. It will be interesting to see if the participants stick to the training during these four weeks.

On my way home at 9 p.m. from Gunnel Jönsson, where I had charged my laptop, I was stopped at the gate of our house. The door was locked and a guard with a shotgun, maybe it was a muzzle loader, guarded the gate. When he saw that I was a mundele he didn´t shoot, instead he hurried to fetch the key and unlock the gate. I thanked him for his help and for solving the situation in the most peaceful and pleasant way, and that I got safe and sound through the gate. We now understand that we are quite safe here at night. We have a night watch who is armed with pretty heavy things.

Yapeco and Christoffer came home after me, having visited a relative. They climbed over the gate. Luckily the guard didn´t see them.

Going through the training material with Julienne and Yapeco

At 6 o’clock, two men dressed in white took off on their morning jog, Christoffer and Bickbick. The agreement reached yesterday was effected. They ran along the streets of Luozi and were hailed by many on their way. Christoffer concluded that it was the best jogging path he had ever ran. They had been announcing on the local radio that a Swedish judo trainer were coming to Luozi. An employee on the ferry was also told that he had a judo coach among the passengers. His two sons would attend judo practice, he said. Today, Christoffer had meetings with his judo friends Bickbick and James, of which the latter speaks English, and together they planned the four weeks of his stay. Tomorrow, they will set up the inauguration of the Luozi judo club.

We had breakfast at 7:30 with Apg 29 and at 9 a.m. we were going to meet with the entrepreneurs. Congo time was applied in part, which meant that we were on track half an hour after schedule already. Julienne and Yapeco went through the training material. We repeated what we went through in February adding some complementary information. For example, we try to get the groups to use a very simple and effective accounting method. I told the participants the stories of a few successful entrepreneurs and how a laborious and purposeful entrepreneur can reach success. We will also have individual consultations with each of them. During the afternoon we had two consultations, and we will continue with the rest tomorrow.

We had dinner at 1 p.m. and supper around half past six, also this time with Apg 29. After supper, I went to Gunnel Jönsson to charge my laptop. She has solar energy equipment that can give you 220V. Luozi is a little complicated in terms of electricity supply, because there is no power routed. Here, diesel generators or solar cells apply. The church’s generator has been broken for a while but luckily, it got fixed the last couple of days. It delivers power in the morning between 9 and 11 to the Church Administration Building. One must therefore take the opportunity to make all print-outs there, at that time of the day. These lines are written in the light of a solar cell lamp. We use the samples we brought from Sweden.

This afternoon was Bengt helped Julienne to fix the the lawnmower she got from Sweden this spring, a Husqvarna. Christoffer needed a haircut and found a professional in this field to help him out.

Tonight Bertil Åhman came to visit us togehter with two car repairmen and Lendo. They helped us sort out the question who will install the new engine of the church’s truck. On the initiative of Bernt, 25 congregations in western Sweden has collected money for the purchase and shipping of the engine to Congo. It is clear now that the installation will be performed by technicians at site. The engine has been bad for over a year and has been kept running on artificial respiration. Last week, the truck stopped definitely and is now standing by the road to Kingoyi, 70 km from here.

Christoffer with the kids on the ferry ramp

Last night Bengt was awakened at 1:15 by Ngangas rooster. Apparently his shift started at one a.m. He then continued to crow from time to time all through the night. At 2:30 a.m. he succeded to wake me up. His crowing sounded like an alarm clock reinforced with a percussion section. Every full and half hour and several times in between, he sounded all over Kimpese. Next week we will be back in Kimpese again and we certainly hope that the rooster owner puts an end to this behaviour. He did the last time we stayed with him.

Ngangas wife Theresa knows that entrepreneurs need porridge in the morning and this need she satisfied well. After breakfast, the driver who would take us to Kimbemba came. Yapeco had managed to borrow a Toyota Landcruiser with driver from the IME hospital. Luckily, Dr. Philipp is away in Kinshasa this week and the car he use in service was available. We packed it well with all the luggage and six passengers.

Before we left, I had a meeting with Emy Miantezila. He received our training material and the mission to prepare the group we will work with in Kimpese next week.

We thanked him and said goodbye to our hosts, Nganga and Therese. but before we got into the car, Emy gathered us for a prayer and asked for God’s blessing, protection, and guidance.

The driver’s name was Makieje and he didn´t hold his fire. He was used to drive this road and he conducted the vehicle safely. But it went a little fast. Even Yapeco thought he could slow down a bit. Those of us who sat on the side benches in the back of the car were almost as much above the bench as on it. It was a bumpy ride and we were pretty bruised when we arrived in Kimbemba at the Congo river. We unloaded all our belongings, far too much of a burden to carry. We sat down on the ferry ramp and waited for the ferry, a catamaran. Now, the new ferry was running again. Last time we crossed the river the new one was broken and the old one, a rudimentary version, was serving in its place.

Christoffer quickly became popular with the kids and they were very fascinated by his tattoos, they stroked, squeezed and pinched his decorated arm. There was no limit to their curiosity about this fine young man and his carved work of art.

Two of our old friends in Kimbemba also came to visit us on the shore. We don’t understand how they always know when we are att the ferry stop. It is the young people we became acquainted with in October 2010, when we stopped at a school playground in the village to repair the car.

On the other side of the river, Gunnel Jönsson and a driver met and welcomed us and took us to Luozi. Here, we were welcomed by Bertil Åhman. We checked in at Ruth and Robert Diyabanza’s house, where we had dinner in the dining room together with “Apg 29”, a Bible course group of 40 participants from both Congo and Sweden. After that we planned the week, had supper, and then there was some more planning, Julienne phoned one of the entrepreneurs and instructed him to gather his group for a meeting on Wednesday, and I wrote for the blog.

The person responsible for judo and karate in Luozi, Bickbick, came and welcomed Christoffer. It seems that they got along well. On Wednesday morning, they will go running together. The day was over, and it was time for bed the first day in Luozi.

The children at Bandalungwa and Christoffer

Today, we had a peaceful breakfast at seven before we went to the Bandalugwa Church. We participated in the first service, beginning at eight and conducted in French. The leader of the service was a good friend of Yapeco; Jean-Rémy Makwala, a lawyer, and the sermon was held by Maurice Mazanza. There were not that many participants in the service at this early hour, and the service didn´t last for more than two hours.

The next service started at 10 a.m. As appropriate, there were presentations and greetings followed by applauses and lively gestures. Today, the technician had trimmed the sound system to the extent that no one could escape hearing every little thing. You could be led to think that the technician believed his god to be old and hearing impaired. This service ought to have been heard far and wide, considering all the open doors and windows of the church. But there were many posivite elements as well; the liveliness of the churchgoers is a wonderful part of the service. It really makes the service come alive. Afterwards, we greeted most of the congregation in hand and took photographs of the children. Christoffer especially was popular with the children. Then we went to Nzo Binati and had church coffee.

The rest of the crew did some sightseeing in town while I stayed at the guest house and made a few updates to our website and some other paperwork. At 3 p.m. Makwala brougt me dinner, prepared by his wife. Today there was grilled fish, rice, manioc, sakasaka and beans, a satisfying and tasty meal.

The afternoon was spent napping and doing other quiet activities, such as reading and discussing how to make the best use of our weeks in Congo. A church nearby was more active than usual, and was heard all over the neighbourhood. They had probably also invested in a powerful audio amplifier, you could hear the words of the singing. By 4 p.m. the sound stopped after having been going on since 11 a.m. Possibly, they had been celebrating something.

Negotiations about solar cells

Between two and three a.m., I was awakened by a noise. It was Bernt who was making the noise and it seemed like he was cleaning the room. Because of my drowsy state, I asked him somewhat annoyed what on earth he thought he was doing. He explained to me that there was a flood, and that the water came gushing into our bedroom. Right under my bed, the gushing had been particularly intense and a small lake had formed, which Bernt now tried to eliminate with a scoop and a bucket. Someone, with the best of intentions had probably meant to fill the water barrel in the bathroom. At the time of the good deed there hadn´t been any pressure in the water pipe, and the secret benefactor had left the tap open in anticipation of better times. When there finally was some pressure in the water pipe again, everyone was asleep. Too much or too little will spoil everyting.

After breakfast – eggs, bread and tea – by nine o´clock, Tutondele arrived. We had a meeting all morning here at Nzo Binati. We discussed how to implement the import of solar cell lamps. We – MSG, Yapeco and Tutondele – decided to start a business which will deal exclusively with imports. Yapeco and Tutondele will take care of the distribution to consumers, each independently. We agreed on important issues such as organization, budgets, securities and stock. Our plan is to place the first order in the beginning of November.

In the afternoon, we had a meeting with one of the first entrepreneurs. Repayments have not worked as intended, and we offered both carrot and stick. In all, we had a constructive talk about possible solutions to the problems of this entrepreneur. The repayment plan was extended in time and we presented a new agreement to sign.

When darkness had fallen, we took a walk around the block. We took out money with the VISA card at the adjacent RAW Bank to complete a money transfer from Sweden to a recipient in Congo. It is nice to be able to use the VISA card, instead of walking around with money in the wallet all the time.

Tonight I have used my own mobile broadband for the first time. Tutondele bought it for me – a month of internet including a modem for 40 USD. The speed seems to be fine. Airtel is the telephone operator, and according to Tuto it will also work in the other places we will visit during this stay.

For supper we had tea and bread with fruit. There was papaya, water melon and bananas, and the meal was rounded off with beigners – a deep-fried bun that is quite delicious. When I write these lines I am accompanied by talkative mundele around the table.