We had now reached the last day of our two week stay in the Congo. Some of us needed to supplement our funds with some more dollars. There was a RAWBANK a few hundred meters from the guest house. With a VISA card it was just as easy to withdraw money here as in Sweden. There was a security guard and an armed police man on duty at the door, so thieves and conmen didn’t have much of a chance. At 10 o’clock we had packed our bags into the bus and left to check in at Sabena’s office in Kinshasa.

Driving a vehicle in Kinshasa is not for the faint hearted. In some areas the traffic is extremely dense. As a passenger and observer I wonder if there are any traffic regulations. It’s all about pushing and forcing your way forward here, or you’ll never get anywhere. I’ve seen one traffic light and it was constantly on red. The respect for red lights is non-existent, or all the road users in Kinshasa are color blind. The fact that the traffic is heavy and that the cars drive far too close is evident on the cars. A lot of them are quite wrinkly and worse for wear. Our drivers drive exemplary though both rush hour traffic in Matadi and Kinshasa and out on the dirt roads where you have to zigzag between holes. Neither vehicles nor passengers have come to any harm. We visited the Culture Centre to buy some presents and souvenirs.

It was then time to check in. This is when I realized that I had forgotten to bring both tickets and passports. Everything was left in our hand luggage in Nzo Binati. This didn’t feel good for anyone and especially not for me. How can you forget the most important things? Sometimes everything that you need to remember disappears from your mind. The memory is good but sometimes too short. Could Matthieu and Gunnel fix this? They were concerned. We were almost an hour away from the guest house. To go back was out of the question. And it never rains but it pours… I had put a padlock on my suitcase and the key was left in my hand luggage. All the bags had to be opened for inspection. Matthieu and Gunnel negotiated and half an hour later the problem was solved. Wonderful for everyone and especially for me. For some strange reason my bag went through without the inspector wanting to open it. Is there a higher power looking over us who compensates for human shortcomings?

The next stop was the Protestant University. Ngwala Ray who is the finance manager received us. He gave us a brief introduction. The university is run by the protestant churches in the Congo. The state gives no subsidies. It was founded in 1959 and currently has 7.200 students. There are four faculties: medicine, theology, law and economy. The medical faculty is supported by the German state through the church. 85% of the budget comes from student fees and 15% from the churches. For medicine school tuition is $600-650/year and for the other faculties tuition is $470. ”We have a big monument here at the university that is donated by Sweden – our library”, continued Ngwala Ray. The Foreign Minister Anna Lind visited the university in 2003 and was supposed to have inaugurated the library a few weeks after she was murdered. The whole library is funded by Sida, the Swedish Missionary Church and the Baptist Church. We were then given a guided tour.

Next to the university is the 100 years church. A colossal church that can hold up to 10.000 visitors. The biggest church I have ever seen. The church belongs to all protestants in the Congo. Impressive and interesting.

And then it was time to go back to Nzo Binati for lunch. Lars-Ola thanked Gunnel and our drivers Dickens and Boudhha for their services and for putting up with us for two weeks. We emphasized our thank you with a gift for each of them. Bernt also tanked Matthieu and enforced our gratefulness by asking God to bless each of them. They will stay to continue working in the Congo. In the afternoon we checked and send e-mails.

At 4.30 we left Nzo Binati. The 30 km trip to the international airport Ndjili was estimated to take about two hours. Despite various traffic jams we got to the airport after just over an hour. We said good bye to our drivers, Gunnel, Matthieu and Jenny. Jenny flies to Johannesburg on Friday and will spend five days in South Africa before flying to Santiago. Saying good bye to one’s children is never easy. It’s a good thing that there is Skype and other technologies that makes it easier to stay in touch. The plane took off at 22.40 Congolese time, one hour after Swedish time. I’m sitting on the plane flying over the Sahara as I write these lines. When I look out I can see a full moon and a clear sky. I can see the lights from communities in Tunisia according to the air information. It’s almost 5.30 and we are scheduled to land in Brussels at 7.30. We travel non-stop from Kinshasa to Brussels.

At 5.30 in the afternoon one of the young men who look after us at the guest house came up to us. He showed us his machete and how he protects himself if he’s attacked. The guest house Nzo Binati belongs to the Congolese church CEC. It’s a quiet and pleasant place that is well protected with high walls and iron gates. Just now there was a power cut. We are quite used to them by now. The diesel generator is humming away in the garden and it provides some power. The power failures are a serial story.

After breakfast we set off for the souvenir market in Kinshasa. Here, like in similar places, the will to sell was something quite extraordinary. Bernt bought three beautiful boxes and the deal was negotiated in traditional ‘knalle’ style. The salesman wanted to further reinforce the good relationship between two colleagues by giving the ‘knalle’ from Sjuhärad an extra bracelet. It’s not every day he does business with such a foreign ‘knalle’. Kerstin bought two necklaces with leopard teeth. There must have been some sort of signal between the stands because ever stand that Kerstin passed after that wanted to sell her more leopard teeth. Maybe they thought that Kerstin was a buyer who was there to purchase goods to export to Europe. After that we visited a very well-assorted textile shop that had African patterns in all possible variations.

When everyone had done enough shopping we continued to the offices of Diakonia (http://www.diakonia.se/about). Diakonia cooperates with four local organizations in Kinshasa, Eastern Congo, Bas-Congo and Katanga. Together with its partners they monitor foreign exploiters to make sure that they comply with human rights legislation. They also organize young farmers and monitor their rights, and they work with widows that end up in situations where they are without legal protection. Relief organizations from Belgium, Denmark and the Swedish missionary church also work in the same building. Maria Eriksson-Baaz uses Diakonia’s offices for her research on police violence in the Congolese community.

We are now starting to slow down our pace and I have taken it very easy today. I participated in neither shopping trips nor visits. We have gone through the entrepreneurs statements and we hope to get them translated during next week. There have been a lot of discussions tonight – about big and small meetings. Our group has got on very well together. Everyone has been prepared for it being difficult sometimes with hot and sweaty days. Gunnel Jönsson has worked hard on interpreting for us. Our two chauffeurs Dinckims and Bouddha have tried to make it as comfortable as possible for us with never ending energy. What’s been most memorable and what has touched us the most were all the personal meetings. Right now I have everyone around me and it’s a bit hard to concentrate. Bernt reminds us of the visit to the guard at the farm Seke Lolo, who lived in a house with big holes in the roof and no windows, only peek holes. They had only one bed and the family consisted of father, mother and three children. Hardly a dwelling for humans.

Rebecka has visited us twice today. She came to Sweden as a refugee but was deported. She gave Kerstin a few presents and said good bye. She also sent greetings to Sweden with Kerstin.

Alice also stopped by during the evening for a chat. She studied to be a nurse at IME but is now unemployed. She’s is looking for work high and low. Her husband was a soldier and was killed during the war in 2000. She has four children. She had to leave her oldest child with a relative when her husband died. She now lives with her other three children in a shed in a backyard. Gunnel met her when they were both working at IME. Gunnel, her sister and Kerstin pay the school fees for the three children.

Edi, the head of the missionary church in the Congo, came in to say hi. CEC are having a budget meeting in Kinshasa this week. As Nzo Binati is full of ’mondeles’ (white people) they have had to check in at a hotel next door.

The bags are just about packed. We take back less than 1/3 of the weight we brought to the Congo. Lennart has one present left – a folding rule. The recipients of the folding rules have all been given a piece of advice by Lennart:”It’s important to measure up.” The last folding rule goes to Matthieu tomorrow.

During breakfast Emy (the guy with the street kids) told us a story with a happy ending:”I met a guy the other day that I thought looked familiar. I walked up to him and started talking to him. It turned out that he was a former street child that I had worked with. When I first met him he was known for being rowdy, difficult and a skilled thief. Today he is an upstanding police man and he told me that thanks to the help we gave him he was shown a different path and learned what’s wrong and right. A nice result of Emy’s work.

After breakfast we walked a few hundred meters to the IME-hospital. The head of hospital Dr Thea Luzaisu received us and gave us a brief introduction. We handed over a donation from David Norén. It was a result of photos that he took in The Congo last year and had sold. The whole photo collection is on his website: http://davidnoren.se. We were guided around the hospital grounds by Emanuel Milango, one of the administrators. The hospital is owned and run by six churches. We met the pediatrician Mbala who is also responsible for the nurse education. They also have a program for nurses who want to specialize.

We saw the prosthesis workshop, a combined carpenter’s and mechanical workshop. We walked through the orthopedic clinic. It’s always full since the biggest road in the Congo, Kinshasa-Matadi, runs right outside the hospital. There are a lot of traffic accidents. Nobody who’s ever travelled on the Congolese roads wonder about the amount of accidents. There are many reasons. A lot of cars are in very bad shape. There is vehicle testing, but it’s not particularly thorough. People travel in and on cars as they find space. Today we saw cars driving along the road with people sitting on the bonnet or on top of a huge load with their legs dangling on the sides, or standing in open doors or on the back of vans. And they drive fast. When they drive it seems they have a watch but no time. You have to have car insurance by law but the insurance companies seldom compensate for personal injuries. The drivers have to pay it themselves. Everyone has to pay for the hospital stay.

Food and laundry for the patients are taken care of by their families. There is a kitchen where the families can cook. In total the hospital has 400 beds, but it’s never full. A lot of people can’t afford hospital care and hence a lot of people die from curable diseases. They simply don’t have money for health care. Another reason is that the government has separated the country into health care districts and built health care facilities in different places. The catchment area has therefore decreased in size and only the more complicated cases end up at IME. They also had an airplane earlier that took care of the longer transports.

We saw the dentist’s office with four treatment rooms which is a gift from the Swedish Missionary Church. We then walked through the physiotherapy section. The manager was partly educated in Sweden at Lundsbrunn and spoke some Swedish. The physiotherapist Eva Mårtensson has worked with rehabilitation here. She also worked as a pilot and a minister in the Congo.

In the laboratory they take pride in having the only blood bank in Bas-Congo. In the children’s ward Barbro handed out cuddly toys to a lot of children and left the remaining toys to the head nurse. There are five operating theatres and they perform six operations per day. Sida and the Swedish Missionary Church built and equipped a house for manufacturing of pharmaceuticals during the end of the 80s. The manufacturing had to be closed down due to lack of money during the war and the lootings during the 90s. They have plans to re start production shortly. It seems they should be able to outsource this business. I believe that the church needs entrepreneurs who complement the church’s activities. The church is not good at running all activites. A reflection after the guided tour at IME by one of the entrepreneurs, a ’knalle’ from Sjuhäradsbygden.

After coffee at the guesthouse we started our journey towards Kinshasa. We had 220 km ahead of us on a good road and we had decent temperatures today as well. We paid road fees at two toll stations. We were stopped by the police four times. At one place the police was reinforced by the military; young boys with automatic weapons. They wanted $30 to let us pass. Our drivers know how to handle these kinds of situations and they bargained the bribe down to $1.75. We ’knallar’ thought they struck a brilliant deal. They were rewarded with applause. We passed about 20-30 cars standing along the road. Reparations are carried out where the car breaks down. Wherever the cars stops the car is repaired. The reparations are usually tire changes, but they also repair engines, gear boxes, drive shafts and other vital parts. On a downhill slope a large truck had lost its trailer and it was blocking the entire road. We just about managed to pass. We were grateful that we weren’t there when it happened.

Further along the road a truck had landed upside down. The driver was taking a nap on top of the car (i.e. the bottom of the car). He obviously took the accident in stride and was patiently waiting for the tow truck to arrive. You also see a lot of dilapidated cars in the villages, often parked in the front yard. We asked a Congolese why they don’t get rid of the scrap metal. It turns out that people like to show that they or their parents or grandparents once owned a car. One more question answered. I am convinced that there is a considerable demand for car repair shops. The journeys would definitely be more pleasant without all these stops. The philosophy to drive for as long as the vehicle moves forward is not to be recommended. We see the proof of this on the Congolese roads. It’s better to service the car according as was intended by the manufacturer. I hope that the Congolese start thinking this way soon. As far as we were concerned we suffered flat tire number two during our journey. I’m sure there is room for many entrepreneurs in this field.

Another observation during the trip was a large herd of cattle. Hugo, who likes to joke, claimed that he counted all the legs, divided them by four and came to the conclusion that there were 200 animals. Hugo’s jokes are often spot on and I’m sure this one was too.

The night before, we had enjoyed our dinner by the light of a hurricane lamp, but for breakfast at 7 am it was broad daylight. In Luozi there is no electric power from the Inga falls. Lendo and a little old lady managed the household. I said ”Pauline?” to her, and she answered ”Oui” (fr. yes). This lady was the same Pauline that the Swedish missionary Alice Sandblom had written about in her diaries in the 80´s. Kerstin, Jenny and I had read as much of them as we had found time for. In the diaries, she tells of the Swedish Christmas celebration, of Robert butchering two cows (the same Robert that we visited the day before), of his wife Ruth taking care of the meat, of which they kept one part and sold the other.

Edi and Robert came to see us off. Robert was on his way to his farm fields in his sturdy jeep. Edi said a prayer for us, and we left Luozi. Our first goal was to catch the ferry at 8 am. On the way, a lunatic drove past us at such a speed that he barely touched the ground. He literally flew over all the holes in the road, which thanks to a blessed rain during the night before, were partially filled with water. It was a divine miracle that no one died due to this man’s reckless driving. God is the protector of fools and children; the lunatic got a spot on the ferry, we didn´t.

Waiting for the next departure, some of us sat down and rested and others took a stroll by the river. In Congo the time comes to you, it doesn´t fly from you. Celine, the wife of the vice-president of the Church, accompanied us in the bus. Another extra passenger failed to turn up. No cars or busses go empty, the full capacity of the engines are used plus another 50%. All vehicles carry a combination of goods, people and animals, certainly very environmentally friendly. In Sweden we are far behind in this matter. The other day, we passed a bus just like our own. On the roof a goat was tethered. The goat seemed to be feeling fine, maybe even enjoying the fresh breeze and the view. The inventiveness is limitless in this fascinating country.

After a while, the ferry had returned to our side of the approximately 2 km wide Congo River, and it was our turn to get on board. Some of us waded, but most of us got on the bus. Our capable chauffeur took a run with the bus, but unfortunately we got stuck hanging over the edge of the ferry after an impressive crashing sound. The only thing to do was to back up the bus and take another run at it. This time we managed to get on board. But unfortunately we also had a much noisier bus. It roared like a Hercules plane with four engines. We went as far as the village Kimbemba, where we stopped on a school yard. Both the chauffeurs got under the bus to fix the exhaust system. Hugo took out his tool box and his duct tape and assisted them. Hugo and his tool box have been priceless on this trip. He is the only one of us that has been to Congo before.

While the bus was being repaired the rest of us got to know the school children of Kimbemba. First came a class of about 40 five-year-olds. In the lack of proper classrooms, they had their first lesson in the school yard. Their teacher had been practicing his profession for 58 years, he told Gunnel. Bernt taught and conducted singing with the group of children, which was appreciated by everyone involved. We visited the older children in their classrooms. At the back, the children had desks, but the rest of them had only a board to sit on and nothing to put their books on. We were greeted with loud cheers and I think we caused a lot of disturbance for the teachers, but they didn´t turn us out. All the children wore white shirts and blouses, and navy blue trousers or skirts. They looked healthy and we were touched by the happiness they radiated. During lunch break they gathered around us, a hundred of them. Some of them carried their school books in plastic bags. Bernt conducted singing once again, and there was much laughter and cheering. Suddenly, the children ran away and we saw them line up outside the classrooms. The headmaster talked to them and they walked into the school in procession.

Some of us ‘talked’ to the older children in secondary school. They told us that primary and secondary school each consist of six forms, and that they were in the 4th form. One of them read to us from his English exercise book. They didn´t have any textbooks, only exercise books, and what they read they had written themselves. They asked us if we could give them proper English textbooks and had we been in the vicinity of a bookshop we would have done so right away. I gave them my last business card and explained how to reach me on the web if they got to an Internet café. Every person has an enormous potential under the right conditions. To acquire knowledge and good values opens up immense possibilities. What fine boys! Maybe one of them was a future president?

After an hour and a half, our journey continued with a fixed exhaust system. A Congolese driver must have a very versatile set of skills. The dust wasn´t as trying since the rain had tied much of it down, but all of us were kind of reddish anyway. The temperature was as agreeable as could be, about 25 degrees Celsius. We ended up in the ditch at one point, but our clever chauffeur managed to juggle us onto the road again in a masterly way. Nobody had to get out of the bus. We arrived at Kimpese at 3.30 pm.

Luozi is beautifully located by the Congo River. It’s really nice and quiet, lovely nature. The buildings were built by a Portuguese business man and were later bought by the CEC in the 1960’s. This is the administrative centre of the CEC. After breakfast we took the bus to church and got there at 10 o’clock. It is built in the same style as the Baobab Church with a pointed saddle roof. Just like in Matadi it took about 2 hours before everyone had arrived. The evangelist Kineka led the service. He was also the choir leader. Drums and other rhythmic instruments accompanied the singing. There is nothing wrong with being enthusiastic, people sang with their whole body plus played the instruments that many people brought. It was hard to sing in Kikongo and difficult to follow the lyrics in the hymn book.  We, the mondeles, spared our throats and just enjoying the beautiful singing instead. We were introduced to the members of the church by getting up in front of everyone. There was enthusiastic cheering and lots of waving. Several choirs sang and they got up one after the other.  It was beautiful to see the colorful Congolese and the singing was a real treat.

From the outside the sound experience was reinforced by an energetic rooster. He let himself be heard during almost the entire service. At 11.35 Bernt got up to preach with the help of the interpreter pastor Julienne Kukangisa. She studied in Sweden for 4 years. Bernt preached about how people and society can change. Choosing to say yes to Jesus can lead to big changes.  It involves taking responsibility for each other. Julienne interpreted with her entire body and the congregation followed every word.  The collection was lead by the church host. He made sure there was a steady stream moving past the collection boxes. Someone donated a bag of beans that which was auctioned off straight after the collection.

Outside the church Daniel came up to say hi.  He wanted to show us his company. We followed him there in our car. He has a mechanical workshop with 25 employees. He started on a small scale. He produces machines for grinding and processing crops, corn, manioc and other products for people and animals. He was in the process of building a new workshop. He showed us a hatcher and he’s planning on starting chicken breeding and a chicken farm.  We understood that this was a guy with visions; he had a lot of activities on the go and a will to change. At 15.00 we got to the office of CEC and listened to the vice chairman of the church, Lévy Matondo Balungisi. He greeted us as official guests of the church and told us about the church, happiness and sadness, successes and difficulties. “The church has 75 000 members, 90 congregations and 122 employees. It is constantly growing.  We lack pastors and evangelists.  A lot of people want to train to be pastors, but the church can’t afford it. The education is 3-5 years and costs $8000/year. 15 new evangelists have just started their training in Luozi.  Gunnel and I are in charge of this training”, Lévy told us. “Within the church we also stimulate entrepreneurship. There is a savings association, and you become a member by lending it $35.  There are 200 members and it’s possible to borrow up to $500. It’s paid back in 3 months and you also pay a small interest. INADES is the name of the organization that carries out the project for the church.”

After supper the five of us visited Robert Diyabanza in his home. It was a happy surprise to see such a beautiful villa in such attractive surroundings.   He gets all his power from solar cells. He had both drawn and built the house. It took 4 years. He worked in the church for 12 years as a car mechanic, but got tired of the control from the top. He felt he didn’t get the chance to develop his ideas within the church.  He wanted to build a mechanical workshop in Boma where there is high demand for such services and according to him it could have been good business for the church. He didn’t get the chance to develop this idea so he resigned from the church and started his own business – apparently he’s a successful entrepreneur. He both leases and has bought his own land. He owns land together with his extended family in Luozi, but he can’t use it because of traditional Congolese ideas of ownership and rights.  Everything that is grown on this land belongs to the family and anyone in the family can harvest the fruit and vegetables without having invested in or worked on the fields. Other old traditions and customs are for example that if a man dies, the oldest brother of the wife has to take care of the children, and if anyone has any money it has to be shared with the whole family.   Robert realizes what a hindrance these ideas are for a sound development and has disassociated himself from them.  Robert has fruit plantations where he grows oranges, mangos, bananas and mandarins. Robert has 7 employees and the monthly salary is between $50-100. He also employs temporary workers. It feels good to get to know the Congolese soul by talking to Robert. We have also told him about our project. We asked him if we are going to succeed. You’ll succeed if the will is there.  After an interesting evening at Robert’s place we walked home in the warm and pitch dark evening. We had given away all our torches (which seemed rather stupid this evening), but we started hearing thunder and soon lightening gave us some guidance. Just as we got inside the rain started pouring down. We kept hearing the thunder for about an hour.

In the morning, I corrected some of the blogs I had published yesterday, and the Hökerum website also got a few updates. I could do this thanks to Gunnel’s mobile internet connection which worked surprisingly well. We had breakfast at 6.30 am, and then we put our bags in the bus. Samuel Nkailu and wife presented us with a big cluster of bananas, which we enjoyed during the trip. The reverends Damas Mangikulua and Axel Biongo were there together with Mudito to say goodbye to us. Axel held a speech to us and gave us two gifts, one for the youngest and one for the oldest in our group. The gift was a beautiful little work of art with a memorable text on it. Jenny and Kerstin were the lucky recipients. After all photos had been taken, and Damas had prayed for us we set off for Luozi.

The first part of the road was paved, but when we had 90 kilometers left, the route turned into a muddy dirt road. This distance took 4 hours. It had been raining a little during the last day and night, but the red dust of the African red soil made itself felt. There were thick layers of dust everywhere, and we were almost as red as tomatoes when we arrived at our destination at 4.30 pm. At the ferry berth we had to wait for about an hour. Bernt spent the time having Sunday school with the children who were around; he sang with them and took pictures. When the Sunday school class was over, Bernt was drenched with sweat. But down by the river, Lars-Ola heard a little girl singing the songs Bernt had taught – they were catchy. We boarded the ferry by foot, sandals off, wading through the water. It was pleasant and extraordinary to dip our feet in the Congo River.

Lendo received us with open arms and dinner on the table, a wonderful reception after a day on the road, covered in sweat and dust as we were. Kerstin, Jenny and I stay in one of the apartments in the semidetached house where Gunnel occupies the other part. We live like royalties. The electricity comes from above, from solar cells. These lines are written by the light of a solar cell lamp. Outside, it is pitch-dark, and I can hear a low rushing sound from what I think is the rain. Tomorrow, in the daylight I will know if it has been raining. The running water was fixed just before we arrived. But the shower is still a 150 l water barrel, and you work it by scooping up the water with a ladle. Most of the dust gave in to this treatment.

At night we were invited to Gunnel together with Robert Diabanza. It was very interesting for us happy novices to speak to a Swedish-speaking Congolese, with one foot in Congo and the other in Sweden. Robert is born in Luozi and knows everything about local customs, traditions and ways of thinking. He is married to Ruth from Närke and they have three children, all of them living in Sweden at the moment.

Some thoughts from the road: Everywhere we go there are enormous areas of wasteland, soil that produces nothing more than a little fire wood for cooking. Often we see women with loads of sticks on their heads, or in a basket on the back. I saw a woman the other day, who was a true champion in regards to what she was carrying. Her basket was heavily loaded with thick sticks, and the distance from the ground to the top of her load was twice the height of the woman. A question arises – where are the men? There are only a few of them around. This must be a system error!

Robert tells us that the large areas of wasteland have been forested. Belgian forest companies have pillaged the woods, and left the areas barren. Large amounts of high-grade wood went to buildings and furniture in Europe. This is a scandal! The international court in Haag should impose upon the pillagers to plant new woods. There might be a chance though that the court is challengeable. Other measures are needed to put things in order. The UN might be a solution. On the whole, all ravaging of natural resources during and after the period of colonialism should be compensated.

On the way to Luozi we passed a village where one of the forest companies had established a sawmill. Most of the houses were built in wood. But when the forest around the village had been harvested, the sawmill closed down. Left in the village are ramshackle houses, not suitable for human beings to live in, a result of ruthless exploitation. If the forests had been managed in a responsible way, this village would still have a sawmill. And this would have provided work and income and another standard of living for the villagers.

Who owns the land? The family is the land, which means that there is no personal responsibility and the ownership is collective. As a result nobody cares about the land. System error! Most development in this world comes from personal initiative and personal responsibility. A reflection: Peasant proprietors could be a key to a better future. Robert is an entrepreneur himself. He has a 20-year-lease of 125 ha two hours from Luozi. He has planted oil palms and acacias, and he has both a plant nursery and a hydroelectric power station of his own. We are going to meet Robert again; I will tell you more about him tomorrow. Now the gnats are attacking and it’s time to head to bed. The computer screen has become a recreation area for these little creatures. Back to the safe world under the mosquito net.

Breakfast was served as usual at 7.30. At 9 o’clock we had a meeting with the Global Group in the Baobab church. Gunnel interpreted and represented Blidsberg. Kerstin and I represented Hökerum. Blidsberg and Hökerum are small churches in comparison to Baobab. This church has 1.400 members and 720 children in their Sunday school. They have 10 choirs: for children, youth, women and men.  They run hospitals and primary and secondary school.

The pastor of the congregation, Damas Mangikulua, had put together a proposition for an agreement between our three congregations. We’ll bring home the agreement for signatures. We presented a proposition for the end of the year of common causes to pray for. I suggested that we develop ‘face to face’ that was recently launched in Hökerum to also include exchanges between teenagers in Matadi and Hökerum/Blidsberg. We also need to work towards having a common language. Kerstin and I promised to study French and GG in Baobab is studying English. We’ll check in on each other from time to time to see how far we have got. We gave the Baobab church a Swedish flag. As a gift from Baobab we received two wooden Congolese figurines. Very beautiful.

At 12.30 Mr Kiwaka met us at the guest house and we followed him to his house in our bus. His house is well protected by high walls and iron gates. We were invited into a large room with air conditioning and two turned on TVs. A long table had been set. I had jokingly said at our first meeting that we were going to speak English today. He had taken me seriously and had hired an English speaking interpreter. Gunnel got to take the afternoon off except for a prayer by Bernt before we left.  Mr Kiwaka welcomed us and said a prayer for us and our meal.  We were treated to an impressive lunch.  Meat in different forms, fish, shellfish, potato, manioc, fried bananas and vegetables. Drinks were alcohol free wine, Fanta and Coke. Dessert was banana papaya and pineapple.

Kiwaka told us that his wife Silvia had planned the dinner.  She came in and said hi but didn’t sit down. ”I’m a Christian, I have Jesus as my role model, my parents were lay workers in a church in Kinshasa”, continued Kiwaka, “and I really appreciate that you want to come to my home.” The children also came in to say hi. The smallest one was a very pretty girl called Victoria with lots of braids and curls, a real charmer who walked around the table and greeted us with a big smile.

We handed over our training folder and welcomed him as a member of the Matadi Support Group. He accepted the membership immediately. Lennart gave him a folding rule. Bernt came up with four pens. Kiwaka wanted his wife to have one too. Before we said good bye he said I could call him any time.  We got all his phone numbers, both to him and to his wife.

We hope that this contact will be useful for our work here in Matadi.
During the afternoon Lennart and Lars-Ola held separate meetings with the entrepreneurs.   Bernt and Hugo listened and gave advice. This kind of training was new to the entrepreneurs, but they were all positive.  Eight out of ten had understood the content well and presented the four parts from business idea to budget – both for investment and operations. However, they wanted to borrow considerably more money than we had expected. We’ll take their presentations home and make an evaluation.

For supper Hugo had got the ingredients for mikatti (Congolse ‘donuts’) and the kitchen had made them for us.  What a delicious surprise! There were some mikattis left over for the trip to Luozi the next day.

The rest of the evening we spent packing and getting ready for the next part of the trip.  Since there is no electricity in Luozi I might not be able to send the blogs. We’ll try with the help of solar panels and battery.

Today, we made an excursion. At 9.00 am we set off for the Inga falls. Before getting up into the buss, we prayed for the day and for the trip. To the Congolese, prayer comes naturally. When you embark on new adventures, small or big, you pray for guidance and protection from God. Doing this infuses confidence, and work as a reminder of God´s keeping watch over us. Living standards in Sweden and Congo are obviously not comparable. In Congo, you are thrown upon your own resources to survive. Could this be the cause of the omnipresent prayer? It´s most definitely one element of it – when you can´t trust anything else you can always put your trust in God. But it´s not the entire truth. Even in Sweden, with all our welfare and social safety nets there are problems that cannot be abolished. From time to time, we experience littleness and helplessness too. Then, a close relationship with God and a prayer practice would give us quality of life.

Our expedition consisted of us Swedes, the pastors Damas Mangikulua, Axel Biongo and Paul Tekasala together with Samuel Nkailu and Muditu. We had to use an extra car in order to fit everybody in. The educational visit started with a lecture by the managing director of the Ingas, in a building with air conditioning and a stunning view of the falls. The power plant divides into two parts, Inga 1 and Inga 2. They were built in 1972 and 1982 respectively. In total, they can produce 1 775 MW. The Congo River is the second largest river in the world; 42 000 m³ flow by every second. Canadians have investigated the possibilities to make use of more of this tremendous natural force. Fully enlarged, the Ingas could produce 44 000 MW and supply power to vast parts of the African continent, maybe even export power to Europe. It struck me that Inga is a metaphor of Congo. Only a tiny part of all its human and natural resources are in use. The world must shoulder it´s responsibility and give the Congolses the tools they need to develop their country. In MSG we are trying to support entrepreneurial spirit. Our work is completely transparent, and every step is reported on the website. Our small activities are nothing but a drop in the ocean, but the ocean is evidently made up of drops. The ravages in Congo by the surrounding world have to be stopped.

On the way back, the police stopped us, which isn´t unusual. Almost every time we go for a drive we are stopped by the police. This time, our chauffeur probably was a little too cocky when the police asked to see his driving license, and the policeman got furious. Yapeco tried to bring him to reason, but he failed. Then, all the pastors came to the rescue and finally, the police let us go. We suspect that the police had hoped to extort some money from us white people, but this time it didn´t work. Another time we were stopped by the police, I shook hands with the policeman and said ‘Bonjour monsieur’. I guess he appreciated that, because he let go of us. ‘Bonjour Monsieur/Madame’, ‘Merci beaucoup’ and ‘Ça va?’ are presumably the most important phrases we learnt before coming here. They have bestowed much goodwill on us. It is important to learn the codes of the environment: ‘Mbote zeno’, ‘How do you do’ in kikongo, is another useful phrase.

Also, on the way back, the extra car got a flat tire. As the spare tire was flat too, we had to abandon the car and press everybody into the bus. There´s always room for a friend.

Today we started the training at 8.30 am. As is common in the Congo it took a while before everyone had arrived. In the Congo you have time, and in Sweden you have clocks. Marie apologized for her late arrival, as did Peter. He had a valid excuse however; the work with the family business had to be prioritized, which is completely understandable. Peter used to be a math teacher at the Baobab church’s Secondary School. His monthly salary was $40. The state pays the teachers’ salaries. He wasn’t able to support his family with four children on that income, and he quit his job and started a family business. He now sells flour and beer. The whole family seems to be involved in the company.  Peter is also part of the Global Group in the Baobab church.

Muditu was troubled when he arrived.  He had been working on his homework until 3 am.
The task was to describe part 1 to 3 in the folder with your own words. As far as we’ve understood they like the training material, but it’s new to them and not that easy to grasp. It’s the ambition that counts.  Muditi got praise. High ambitions are good qualifications for becoming an entrepreneur.

Lars-Ola and Lennart are explaining how to prepare a budget for the company. They have explained how to work with budgets and how to follow up and keep it under control. Ideas must be transformed to numbers. We spent a whole day going through the conditions concerning business loans. I think we lowered their spirits somewhat when the participants realized what the conditions for the loans look like. The security of the loans is based on the idea that five entrepreneurs take responsibility for each other by guaranteeing each other’s repayments. Each one in the group has his/her own company, but they all take a communal responsibility for the repayment of the loans. On Friday we are going to have separate discussions with each one of them. We will also hand out an evaluation form where they can tell us how they have experienced the training.

Yapeco showed us his ongoing hotel construction. He has invested $24.000 so far. He now needs $12.500 to be able to continue with the next stage. The place is beautiful with a view over the Congo River. The ground floor is 375m2. It’s a promising and large project. A project for the future that can turn out really well.  He has asked MSG if we can help with the financing of the project. We pass on the request to our readers. A good investment project. Yapeco was recently robbed by one of his own employees, who took off to Angola with over $20.000. A considerable setback, but Yapeco keeps working. He’s a guy with visions.

I’m on my way to Yapeco’s internet café now to do my internet work. He has an internet speed of 100 Mbit. At home I have 8 Mbit.  He has seven computers and there are always people in line to use the internet. He has air conditioning, so it’s pleasant to work here. Today I sent notes for three days to our web sites: http://matadi.hakanson.se and http://hokerum.missionskyrkan.se . I also made updates on the web. Unfortunately I didn’t get to finish the updates and send my blogs to BT as there was a power cut. It got pitch dark. I was using my laptop which runs on battery, but it didn’t help. There was no connection. Yapeco has a diesel generator that he turns on when there is a power cut, but unfortunately it didn’t start. It’s probably quite tiresome to connect it and as they were about to close anyway then closed a little earlier and went home for the day. Opening hours are 08.00-20.00.

The bank director Mr Kiwaka called and wanted to make sure that all the Swedes were coming along on Friday. He also asked what kind of food we like. Exciting! We ’knallar’ finished the day with a meeting on the veranda. Lars-Ola had been thinking about what questions we should ask the participants on Friday when we have the separate discussions.

At 10 o’clock we went ahead with ”Start your own business – a first outline”. Yapeco had picked out 10 participants. They had received the course material two weeks earlier. Some of them already run a business, and others are about to start a business. Several of them have more than one job, which is a common way to make ends meet in Congo. The group consists of two women and eight men, and four of the participants are pastors – one of them is the district director of the church in Matadi. The managing director of the church, Edi Diafuanakana, was present in the beginning to back us up. He had received our course material earlier this week. In accordance with good manners, we started with a presentation. Each of us five ‘knallar’ talked about our own companies and a few of the experiences we have had over the years. We emphasized that we are eager to share our experiences with them. After a two-hour class, we took a coffee break. Then we split the group into two. Inga-Maj and Gunnel were our translators. The smaller groups made it easier to get the message through and to stay alert in the 30ºC temperature. The course material is divided into five parts, and we managed to cover three of them today: ‘business concept’, ‘exploring the surrounding world of the business’ (business intelligence) and ‘how to make your business competitive’. At the end, the entrepreneurs started on their individual exercises which, among other things, are to describe of their business from these three perspectives.

Samuel Nkailu took care of the ladies. They went to the market to make for some shopping. Samuel guided them to various fabric shops, and got a lot of praise for his knowledge of textiles. There is a huge selection of beautiful, brightly colored fabrics. When Kerstin and Jenny were outside to take pictures of a poster (of a Congolese boy bound for the Nobel prize in 2050), and then went on to photograph the surroundings, they were stopped by two policemen. There is a general ban on taking photographs outdoors in Congo. With composure, Jenny referred to the Matadi Mayor and told them he had sanctioned our photographing. When Jenny invited them to the Guest House to see the permit, the policeman backed down. This was a little bold of Jenny. Actually, we had just gotten an oral permission before witnesses.

In the afternoon, the whole group was invited to Augustine and Yapeco. This was our first visit to a Congolese home. On several occasions along the way we doubted the ability of the bus to really get us up all the steep hills to our hosts. But it worked, and at the top the view of the mountains and the beautiful Congo River was enchanting. Augustine and Yapeco live in a very nice and large house behind solid walls. Yapeco’s brother is a building contractor, and he built the house in the nineties as a display object. Outside the walls, there are ordinary houses and many children gathered around us when we got out of the bus. Bernt conducted them in singing and dancing. We were guided through the house, and through Augustine’s poultry farm behind the house. When Augustine started her business, not even Yapeco believed in her concept. Now, she sells eggs to many restaurants and private persons. Her poultry farm produces 120 000 eggs a year. She wants to expand the business and sell chickens as well.

We were served Swedish pastries. Last year when Augustine visited Sweden, Gunnel Jönsson taught her to make cinnamon buns and ”Silvia cake”. To go back to the Guest House was much easier than the opposite. And the one-way roads of Matadi gave us a straighter way home.

After supper, we prepared the classes for tomorrow. Next part is ‘budget’, and Lars-Ola and Lennart who are the treasurers of the trip, are also the teachers of budgets. Bernt, Hugo and I lent them our advice. We needed an illustrative example. We decided on a budget of an expanded poultry farm. 240 000 eggs a year is the planned outcome of the expanded poultry farm. ‘As long as the budget isn’t a chicken run!’ Bernt joked. At a quarter to eleven the example budget was done. Foreign assignments demand a lot of overtime. We’ll see what Augustine says about it tomorrow.