At 9 o´clock we began the workday by visiting Banque Internationale Pour L´Afrique au Congo (BIAC) in Matadi. We met with bank manager Mr Lazaré Kiwaka and his closest co-worker Mr Julien Makwala. We described our activities in Sweden and in Congo, and we had a number of questions and demands on the bank. Sums of money had been withdrawn from our account without a proper description of what they were used for. Mr Kiwaka promised us to look into this. Then they told us about the procedures for transferring money from Sweden to BIAC. We gave them a specification of how the statement of account should be done. They promised to follow the specification. Mr Kiwaka and Mr Makwala were very obliging, we mixed jokes and seriousness and the atmosphere was pleasant. They seemed to be willing to do anything to make us satisfied customers. Gunnel Jönsson interpreted our conversation, but they promised us English speaking bank staff for the future. From now on, we will have direct contact with BIAC in Matadi instead of going through a Swedish bank. Mr Kiwaka said: ”Our customer is our king” and ”I value friendship more than money.” We choose to believe him until he furnishes proof of anything else. The meeting ended with Mr Kiwaka inviting us for lunch on Friday. Exciting! We won´t miss out on that invitation. The language at the lunch will be English, but generally in Congo there is much work for English teachers. If you´d like to go to Congo – go there and teach English. Huge possibilities would open up.

After the bank meeting we picked up our wives and went on to Seke Lolo, a farm run by papa Tenda. He is an agronomist and does plant experiments at the farm. Today, the farm is strictly cultivating plants. Earlier there have been both cattle and pigs. He showed us the remains of the cattle plant, among other things a large basin where the cattle were bathed in order to get rid of vermin and a water tank for the pigs. Tenda wished to reintroduce pigs. Many students come to the farm to study agriculture. When we arrived, we were generously entertained to lunch. On the menu was coleslaw, very tasty fried manioc fries, meat, fish, spaghetti, peanuts and honey. To drink we had water or a special drink made of lemon and honey. The latter was appreciated by those who tried it. We were presented with two huge clusters of bananas that we put on the roof of the car. We also got honey and lemonade. Tenda and his co-workers showed us how to grind manioc. Then we went into a house with a cage, as large as a rabbit cage but strengthened. In this cage large rats, really large rats, lived. Tenda explained with a wide smile and tongue in cheek, that this was the origin of the meat we had at lunch. Of us white people, only Bernt and Jenny had tried the meat, and while eating they didn´t have a clue of what it was. They just chewed and thought it was…interesting. Jenny had had enough after a few bites, and she tried to make me finish the piece of meat because she didn´t want to offend the host, but I declined the delicacy. It was probably for the better. I took the risk of being impolite by not cleaning up my plate. Bernt and Jenny got a new taste experience.

Of the 50 kilometer distance to Seke Lolo, a third was mud- or graveled road. The bus raised a great deal of dust as we travelled on. Our vehicle, an old Mercedes, is quite shabby. On the way there, I sat in the back where a steam whistle of dust came into the bus from the back door. The side door had been sealed with a coat. We covered our mouths and noses with napkins to minimize the consumption of dust. I had the red soil of Congo just about everywhere, internally as well as externally. I looked like someone who had been outdoors during a heavy snowfall. Covered in red snowflakes instead of white, I looked like a tomato. I had to get undressed, shake off the dust, put the clothes back on and wash my face to make my companions recognize me again and be able to have lunch with decency and respectability maintained. But I wasn´t the only one who had been besieged by dust. We were all quite red by the time we got home. I took a more thorough shower than usual, but nevertheless; the towel was red after I´d used it. Sweat and the red soil of Congo could make up a fine red paint, no doubt. Maybe a product for future entrepreneurs.

The service started at 9 o´clock. We were a few minutes early. A many-headed men´s choir was singing, but the majority of the congregation hadn´t arrived yet. Only about 50 churchgoers had arrived, and they were all seated on the front pews. Obviously, the church is filled up from the front. A good idea to bring back to Sweden. We had received the order of the service a week earlier by email. It had 21 points, and filled a whole A4 sheet. We white people were seated on chairs at the very front of the church. Pastor Damas Mangikulua led the service and the church managing director (archbishop) Edi Diafuanakana preached the gospel. Three choirs sang, one men´s, one women´s and one youth choir. In the middle of the service, an upholstered armchair was placed on the platform in front. Who would be sitting there? It was for the vice governor of Bas-Kongo, Déo Nkusu and his wife, a handsome couple.

The theme of the service was to establish a friend relationship between the Covenant Churches of Blidsberg and Hökerum and the Baobab Church. The communal singing was led by a woman who, full of energy, walked and danced about the church. The youth choir sang the Swedish hymn ”Måne och sol” (”Moon and sun”) in different voices, and they sang it in Swedish. It sounded amazing! The Swedish delegation went upon the platform and we were introduced one by one. Gunnel had greetings from Bildsberg, and I had the same from Hökerum. When the introduction was done, we sang the Congolese hymn ”Se jag vill bära ditt budskap Herre” (I want to be your messenger, Lord) in Swedish. The Congolese knew the song by heart, and they joined in the song, on Kikongo though. When our choirmaster Bernt raised his hands, the congregation was quick to follow his example. Before us we saw an ocean of raised hands. Edi preached for 45 minutes, alternately in Kikongo and French and even a little bit in Swedish. His sermon was about building relationships, standing side by side, deepening and maintaining old contacts between our countries, and helping one another in both sorrow and joy. The collection was taken up at the front of the church, and everyone queued up, singing and dancing. They put their contribution in the basket of their church group. We white people had our own basket. There was not a dull moment. By the time of the collection the church was full, we were about 300-400 people. It had taken between one and two hours before the church got full.

At the end, the vice governor of Bas-Kongo spoke. He spoke in English to us, and he had many appreciative things to say about missionary work. ”I learnt English from an English missionary in the seventies in Sundi Lutete”, he told us. Then he asked his wife to join him on the platform, he talked about how much he appreciate her, and he encouraged every man in the church to take good care of their wives. He and his wife came and shook our hands and wished us the best of luck. I got the opportunity to give him the MSG business card. He would be a good contact for us. He and his wife left the church before everyone else, under the protocol. At 12.30 pm the service ended, but even though it had been long, it was never tedious. A bustling greeting broke out, and it was a very nice experience to say hello to all the friendly, spontaneous Congolese. It´s not every day they have ”knallar” from Sjuhäradsbygden (a part of the province of Västergötland) visiting.

Afterwards we were invited to have lunch with the Global Group of the Church.

At 4 pm we had a meeting with the Global Group and ten other members of the church. Unfortunately, our friends are a little too formal when it comes to meetings. But we hope to set that right as time goes. Some of the spontaneity of the church service ought to be possible to bring to meetings. We took turns in introducing our congregations and decided to share prayer requests with each other in the future. We will meet again on Friday.

We started the day by paying a visit to the Matadi mayor, Nsompa Bulezi. He told us he´s a Christian and belongs to the Congolese Kimbangist Church. He knows Olle Alkholm in Sweden and he expressed his gratitude for what Swedes have done and do for Congo. We got the opportunity to tell him about MSG; what we have done so far and what we want to do in the future. We emphasized our ideas about the importance of entrepreneurship. ”Agriculture and fishing are areas of great possibilities”, he said. We handed over our binder ”Start your own business – a first outline”. Lennart gave him a folding rule folded into two pentagons to symbolize the first two groups of future entrepreneurs in Matadi.

We visited the burial ground for missionaries in Tundua, near by the Congo river. Samuel Nkailu accompanied us and led our devotions, talking about the sacrifices made by the missionaries when working in Congo. The burial ground is the final rest of American, British and Swedish missionaries. Wilhelmina Svensson from Tvärred is buried here. She was 29 years old when she died in 1890, and the cause of death was probably malaria. About 50 missionaries from the Swedish Mission Covenant Church died during the first decades of missionary work in Congo. Wilhelmina was the last one to die in a group of three nurses who had gone out in 1888.  She was on her way home when she died. We came to the burial ground at noon. It was very hot and the path there went up and down rocky hillsides, consequently we were streaming with sweat. In spite of the ordeal, we had no reason to complain considering the hardships of the early missionaries. Many of them had to give up their own lives when they were young. The Congolese who know the history thank God for them.

The inauguration of the Youth House was next.* The guests were supposed to arrive in order of precedence. The later you arrived, the higher your rank. We were going to come just before the mayor, who was the most distinguished. To our contentment, our rank was deemed high. In the end, we were summoned about an hour later than the stipulated time. The delay was due to extensive preparations at the Youth House. We are staying close to the Youth House, and we could walk the short distance to get information on when we were to appear. About 100 persons were gathered when we finally made our appearance. It was a pleasant surprise to see how nice the house looked. And the people were so beautiful, dressed in bright colors. Muditu was in charge of the inauguration ceremony, Samuel held a long speech, and two choirs sang. We were standing outside during the first part. Luckily, we got to stand in the shade. The heat was tangible and we were dripping with sweat, but the atmosphere was wonderful.

I had the honor of cutting the ribbon, a large wide blue ribbon. I started by saying ”Good afternoon, dear brothers and sisters” in Kikongo: ”Bakundi bami bazola, bampangi ye bibusi, mbote zeno”. The Congolese answered ”Mbote zeno” and cheered. I cut the ribbon, and declared the Youth House and the House of the Future in Ville Haute in Matadi duly inaugurated: ”Mu diadi tweti samuna mbiekolo a nzo a bantwenia ye nzo yawakuntuala ku Ville Haute, Matadi”. In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit: ”Mu nkumbu a Se, ye Mwana ye Mpeve Yanlongo.” After this, the cheering became deafening. Metaphorically speaking, it lifted me 2 meters off the ground. Thank you, Alice Sandblom and Josef Nsumbu for instructions in Kikongo.

Before anyone could enter the building, I was instructed to pour water on the ground in front of the entrance. When the people had been seated inside the Youth House, I held my inauguration speech, translated by sister Inga-Maj**. The choirs sang and dramatized biblical stories. Bernt presented the Youth House with an inauguration gift from Gudrun och Lasse Yngvesson. Hugo presented a little boy with ten footballs for the Youth House. Lars-Ola gave 75 gold, silver and bronze medals and Lennart gave GSCL a Swedish table flag, also meant for the Youth House. The night was concluded with a joint dinner consisting of meat, chicken, fried bananas and manioc, and lots of Fanta, Sprite and Coca Cola. There weren’t knives and forks enough for everyone and many of us ate with toothpicks or with our hands. The first thing we got to do before dinner was to wash our hands in soap and water. Three people were in charge of the washing. The spirit of community continued on into the compact darkness of the African night. This inauguration certainly gave us ”knallar” from the North deep impressions. What joy and spontaneity!

*The programme of the inauguration is published on our website.
**The speech is published on the website.

A barking dog woke me and Kerstin up. Another animal had growled at the dog, hence the barking. We went outside to listen to the morning sounds. We were met by an orcestra of animals and birds, and of all the sounds, only that of the dog was familiar to us. The chirping birds were wonderful. The morning is the time of the birds, in Congo as well as in Sweden. After a tasty breakfast we loaded the bus with our bags and suitcases. By now, our luggage had been reduced by about 40%. It was fortunate, because we needed the space for Yapeco, who had come to meet us.

I had borrowed Gunnel Jönsson´s mobile broadband. It was a little slow, but it worked. I called our daughter Hanna through Skype, and it worked just fine. Samuel Nzungo, nurse at the IME hospital, came to pick up the medical equipment Staffan and Kerstin Kvernes had sent along with us. Emy, who I wrote about yesterday, have many strings to his bow. Today, we visited his farming project which takes place on some land he leases, about 4-5 hectares. We met and talked to sex women who were preparing the fields for sowing soybeans. At the moment the soil was as dry as dust, but the rain period is coming soon and when it arrives they will sow. When the crops have been harvested and sold, 40% of the income goes to school fees for the children, 40% goes to living expenses of the families, 10% goes to the leasing and 10 % to seed for sowing.

We then visited his almost finished sports centre, which will open in November. It´s a magnificent establishment. 20-30 construction workers were busy at the site. Three large football grounds had been sowed with grass. Just now, they are brown and dry, but when the rain comes they will turn green. We visited Emy´s office and his Internet Café, which has with 10 computers. Emy was sorry that only one of them was in working order when we were there. If you read this, and own some good or new computers you could donate, you can make a difference here! Close to his office, there were classrooms for street children and children with special needs. It was wonderful to meet with Emy, it certainly raised our spirits and made us happy.

At the wall in Emy´s office and in the classrooms there were posters with the following text in Kikongo, French and in Swedish: ”Learn from yesterday. Dream about the future. But live today!” In Kikongo it reads: ”Ymdula ma zono. Sala lumbu kiaki. Banza ma mbazi!”, and in abbreviated form: YISABA. We continued towards Matadi, but made a stop in a village and visited a market where we bought bananas and some other fruits. Hugo found a bag of live locusts that he wanted to buy. His plan was to have them fried for supper when we got to Matadi. But since his wife Ritva was in charge of the money, he had to return the little creatures. Ritva didn´t favor locusts for supper, which caused us all to miss out on this delicacy.

The landscape is very hilly, with high hills and deep valleys. The land is covered with shrubs, you see a few palm trees and some small cultivated fields now and then. There ought to be a huge potential for growing more vegetables and setting up orchards. We saw quite a few wild mango-trees along the road, but the fruit wasn’t ripe. The closer we got to Matadi, the higher the hills became. They were almost like mountains, with the roads chiseled out of the hillsides like shelves. When we arrived in Matadi, we had a welcome reunion with Samuel Nkailu, who received us together with Muditu. Our group live in two houses, beautifully situated on the hillside above the Congo River. Where I’m sitting right now, I get a glimpse of the river and a part of the harbor. Matadi is the town of the hills. There are enormous differences in altitude. The Matadi citizens say: ”We go uphill and downhill, and the sweat is streaming.”

The first night in Congo I slept very well wearing nothing but underpants. The beds were veiled in mosquito nets which was a new experience. It was like having a canopy. We were staying at the Nzo Binati Guest House in Kinshasa. Hedvig and Anders Lundgren in Nitta had commissioned us to deliver $300 to Rebecka in Kinshasa. Kinshasa has a population of 10-15 millions, but we had a telephone number for Rebecka so we had hopes of finding her. We asked Mattheiu to call her and ask her to come and see us. At 8 o´clock she appeared and she was presented with the gift from Sweden. Rebecka has lived in Sweden for three years and speaks Swedish passably. She came to Sweden as a refugee, but was deported. What interesting people we get to meet through this trip.

The next meeting was at the Swedish Embassy. Even though they weren´t prepared for our visit at the Embassy, the ambassador Johan Borgström and his closest co-worker Andreas Magnusson gave us a warm welcome. We spent at least an hour with them. Andreas said that he had never received such a large group of Swedes before. Together with the group from Östergötland there were almost 20 of us. Such a concentration of white people is probably unusual in this city.

”If Congo doesn’t make you feel confused you haven´t understood anything about the country”, said the ambassador. He told us about the lack of order and of rebels who destroy the ordinary lives of people. Authorities that are supposed to protect the citizens sometimes do the contrary; sometimes the police do the same evil deeds as the rebels. According to the ambassador, this is due to civil servants not getting paid. Everyone has to fend for oneself. It is a privatized society in the worst sense of the word; if you´ve got a Kalashnikov and a helmet it is easy to get whatever you need. In 2009, Congo budgeted $100 million to medical service, but only $6 million reached the hospitals. You could say that the church sometimes take on the responsibility of the state in the sense that it protects the citizens, the ambassador continued. The local sister church of the Mission Covenant Church and the Pentecost Church make great contributions to society. At the Swedish Embassy, we benefit from the good reputation of Swedish churches in Congo. UN Peacekeeping Operations, where Swedish forces have participated, have also created a lot of goodwill, he concludes.

The afternoon was spent in the bus, travelling to Kimpese. We checked in at the IME Hospital Guest House. Emy Meantezila, among others, welcomed us. This Emy is a man of great ability in many areas. He was involved in the new translation of the Bible, which was finished in 2004. Now, he´s working with street children and children with special needs. He takes care of 500 children at the moment. He also runs a football school for 185 children between 8 and 15 years old. He says that football is an amazing instrument for getting children to work together and solve conflicts. He has a vocational school for young people where they learn a trade and how to start their own businesses. We presented Emy with our course material ”Start your own business”, and we gave him almost all the football equipment we had brought to Congo. From David, the pastor in Hökerum, Emy and the IME Hospital got a hefty sum of money; the profit of sold photographs from David´s trip to Congo last year. We put aside a few balls and medals for inauguration gifts to the Youth House. There´s a crying need for many Emys in Congo, and all over the world. They would make the world a different place. Today´s three meetings have made lasting impressions that will enrich our lives.

We got up at 2.00 am. The night´s sleep had been short and of poor quality. An hour later, Kerstin and I were on our way to Lars-Ola. His wife Lena drove us to Borås, where the others were waiting for us outside the Immanuel Church. Daniel and Sara, Hugo and Ritva´s son and daughter, took us to Landvetter Airport in two cars with one trailer in tow. The trailer was loaded with 21 suitcases weighing 396 kg. To that, we had hand luggage that we had forgot to weigh. Without knowing, we had three suitcases too much, but we totalled 18 kg less than the allowed weight.

Before checking-in, Bernt managed to transform one of the suitcases to hand luggage. It was the suitcase Elisabeth Nsumbu had brought on Monday afternoon, when everything already was packed. Now, we had only two suitcases too much, but totalled 27 kg less than the allowed weight. During check-in Hugo was stopped as he was responsible for the two extra suitcases. The women at the check-in counter told him that we had to pay 1 500 SEK a case. The news was tough to handle. The suitcases contained footballs to Emy´s boys and girls in Kimpese, and we were going to give some of the footballs to the children in Matadi at the inauguration of the Youth House. Hugo and Ritva went to strengthen themselves with some coffee. When Air Brussels opened at 5.30, Hugo, Bernt and Lennart went up to the staff and told them about the amazing football project in Kimpese. The responsible were so taken by the story that Hugo and his assistants could go back to the check-in counter and get the exact total weight of our luggage. As I said, our luggage weighed 27 kg less than allowed. And the two suitcases with 40 new and 20 slightly used footballs weighed 25 kg. From the check-in counter, they got a written confirmation that we didn´t have any overload. On the contrary, we had an ”underload” of 27 kg.

When the lady at Air Brussels office took into account this document and Hugos description of the football project, she yielded and gave us permission to bring the suitcases without charge. From a long distance, we could see the result of Hugo´s negotiations. Tomorrow, the boys and girls in Kimpese will receive 50 balls. Wonderful! By the way, the joint packing of our suitcases had been an miraculous event too. Nobody believed that we would be able to stow everything into the suitcases, but we made it much to our great surprise. Each and every little thing got fitted in. Our luggage contains: medical equipment, football clothes for two full teams, football shoes, 69 new t-shirts from SVIF´s (local football club) 70th anniversary, gold, silver and bronze medals for future winners, a set of cutlery for a large party, books for a library in Luozi, almanacks and educational material for a Sunday school in Sundi Lutete, large amounts of dollars destined to various recipients, and of course our personal belongings such as toothbrushes etc.

Soon, we are going to land in Douala in Camerun. We are flying with an Airbus 330, with room for 300 passengers, but there are only about 200 people on the plane. The distance from Brussels to Douala is 5 240 kilometers. And from Douala, there is another 1 130 kilometers to Kinshasa.

The third miracle of the beginnings of this journey is Jenny´s passport. We had to apply for her visa in Sweden, and it was sent to Chile on September 13th. Last Thursday, the National Post Agency in Sweden told us that it had disappeared without a trace somewhere between Sweden and Chile despite us having sent it by registered post. ”There are many places in between the two countries; we take no responsibility after it leaves Sweden. But you can send in a request for a search and we’ll get back to you within 30 days.” I spent half of the day Thursday trying to work out alternative solutions in cooperation with the Embassies. But none of my brilliant ideas was accepted. The Post Agencies in Sweden and in Chile blamed each other. You should probably not commission these operators to this kind of tasks. The only real help we got from the Swedish Post was some good advice. ”Tell Jenny to go to her local post office in Santiago.” So she went there and stated the specifications of the parcel to see if there was anything at all that they could do. The parcel had miraculously turned up in their system 5 minutes earlier:”Your parcel has finally arrived in Chile. We can’t let you go and get it at the airport, but don’t worry – it’ll be in your mailbox tomorrow.” No parcel arrived the next day (Saturday) either.

Now there was no time to lose. It was only one workday left until the plane left on Tuesday morning. Jenny went to the post office again on Monday morning. She was directed to the dispatch office and an incredible 15 hours before the departure to Johannesburg, she had the passport in her hand. I see this as a combination of prayers and human efforts, a combination that delivers results.

These are some thoughts on the flight between Brussels and Kinshasa. This very moment, we are passing the equator and the night has fallen in Africa. This is the day when all of us, except Hugo, will walk the earth of Congo for the first time.

…says a ”Smålänning”, and a ”Västgöte” says ”Does it cost anything?” These expressions reflect the thrift, or perhaps stinginess of people from Småland and Västergötland, two Swedish provinces. The purpose of it is to pay as little as possible, or preferably nothing at all, for goods and services. When it concerns the Congolese, does their situation concern us? Do we have any obligations towards them? Could it be that we owe them something?

From the start of the Matadi Support Group (MSG) in 2007, I have been studying the history of Congo. At the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese came to Congo. They travelled up the Congo river into the country and began buying and/or kidnapping people to sell as slaves. The slaves were freighted to Brazil, Middle and North America. The slave trade continued for four centuries, until the end of the 19th century. Entire areas in Congo were emptied of people. Millions of Africans were taken to the other side of the globe and forced into slavery.

In the 1880´s Congo Kinshasa became a Belgian colony and the private property of king Leopold II. Ivory was one of the commodities that were carried to Europe. An obligation to deliver ivory was imposed on the African villages. Various inventions and the industrialization of Europe caused a demand of rubber, and rubber trees grew in Congo. The African villages had to deliver rubber too. The Belgians and other Europeans, including Swedish mercenaries treated the Congolese atrociously. If the villages refused to deliver their share of ivory and rubber, the Europeans cut of the Congoleses´ hands, took women and children as hostages, or just shot them to show who was in command of their life and death.

The pillaging of Congo smashed the structure of society into pieces. The villages, communities and kingdoms no longer functioned like before. In the 20th century, the Westen World and Asia had discovered the abundance of minerals and metals in Congo. One of the largest copper deposits in the world and one of the few deposits of coltan in the world are located in Congo. Coltan is a mineral which is used to make mobile phones. Parts of your mobile phone and computer probably originate from Congo.

Congo is rich in natural resources, but the people are poor. Why don´t the Congolese get a part of the fortunes of their country? Surely, the poverty has many causes, but I would like to point out one. The foreign exploiters have abused their superior lead, and secured the rights to extract the resources without paying a fair price to the Congolese. No doubt, the exploitation of Congo continues. That´s why you and I have a responsibility to fight the poverty of the Congolese. We must ask ourselves: Is our wealth based on the poverty of others?

The countdown is approaching – we have only 18 days to departure, on October 6th. This Tuesday, we met at Hugo and Ritva´s in Tosseryd. The main part of the evening was spent discussing how to organize the work with the entrepreneurs in Matadi. This is our plan: the group of ten will be divided into two groups of 4-6 persons. The smaller group will be given a name, and it will make up the unit that will guarantee the debts of the other´s. The thought is that they will be responsible for each other economically, make sure that everyone in the group repays their loans, and help each other in making the businesses work. The group will meet once a month to follow-up their businesses, once they have got started. (See specifications in the course material, ”Business Plan”, forms 6A and B.) Everyone is responsible for their own business, but they will also be doing a joint balancing before the 10th of each month.

Gunnel Jönsson travelled to Congo Kinshasa two weeks ago and is staying in Luozi. We will meet up with her in Congo. Yapeco is right now picking out suitable candidates for the entrepreneur course, and he will prepare them by giving them the course material, ALMI´s ”Business Plan – a first outline”. It´s important that they have read the material and understood it´s contents, at least in part, when we get there. The translation to French was completed this week, and sent to Congo by email this Thursday. We have made posters of most of the pages in the course material. We need to be able to put them on the wall next to each other, especially those pages that need to be filled in with numbers. To understand the method, you must see the connection between the different parts.

We hope to get one or more business examples from the entrepreneurs themselves, that we can use as demonstrative examples during the course. It would be beneficial if there was someone in the group with business experiences. The more we can allude to their own experiences, the better. We will of course try to make it as realistic as possible. We also hope that the participants will bring concrete ideas of present or future businesses. Our expectations on ourselves are to be able to go through these ideas and express them in numbers. This is the point of the course material – the transformation of ideas and visions into concrete numbers. We will assume responsibility for a couple of entrepreneurs each.

We believe it necessary that the group is familiar with the business ideas of the others. By going over them together, with numbers and all, we can make that possible. The question ”Is the business idea economically sound?” must be answered convincingly.  We will ask Gunnel and Yapeco to obtain suitable binders for the course material. The pages 8 through 21 in the Business Plan are exercises where the entrepreneurs will describe their ideas, to hand in to us for assessment. They will keep a copy of the exercises for future follow-up.

Many of the applicants want to sell phone cards. We don´t believe in that business. We would like to prioritize production and selling of food, clothes and other basic necessities. Workmen are another interesting group: carpenters, masons, plumbers, electricians, tailors, seamstresses, shoe-makers, car mechanics and blacksmiths. In principle, we want to prioritize production and processing. We are interested in finding someone who would like to start a machine-rental agency with a tractor and agricultural implements. We are certain that a business must be privately owned. We must be able to demand individual responsibility from the entrepreneurs. Our values are: Openness – Transparency – Results. This concluded the discussions at Hugo and Ritva´s home about entrepreneurs in Congo between us five ”knallar” from ”Knallebygden”. Will we be able to succeed? Could five ”knallar” make a difference in Congo?

Bernt and Renée had made copies of a few songs that we practiced. We are going to sing at two different church services. It´ll be hard to match the singing abilities of the Congolese, but we will give it a try. On one hand, Bernt and Renée might have to recruit local talents, but on the other hand we don´t need to be the best. We wouldn´t stand a chance if it was a competition.

We decided to give an inauguration gift to the Youth House of $2 000. I went to the bank on Thursday to transfer the money to Banque Internationale de l’Afrique Centrale (BIAC). Through our organization Groupe de Soutien aux Entrepreneurs de Matadi (GSM) we have an account in BIAC. When I came to the bank, I got the answer that they had stopped transactions of money to Congo as money disappear on the way. Instead, I was referred to Western Union, who charge 5.5% for transactions to Congo. I will check with another bank, before I consult Western Union. Kerstin and I took our first cholera and diarrhea medicine this Friday. We had no side effects.

A year ago, we started planning the trip to Matadi. At the same time, the congregation in Mukimbungu started to make plans for the inauguration of their new church. They decided it would take place the first Sunday of October 2010. A group from Rimforsa Mission Covenant Church was going to attend the event. When we heard about this, our first thought was to join them. We wrote to GCSL and asked if the building of the Youth House might be completed by the second Sunday of October. Almost immediately, they answered that the building should be finished by October 9th and that we were welcome to the inauguration.

Later, it turned out to be better if our two groups travelled separately. The MSG travellers are: Lennart and Barbro Fridén, Bernt and Renée Sköld, Hugo and Ritva Rikkinen, Lars-Ola Rydberg, Yngve and Kerstin Håkanson. Jenny Håkanson, who is travelling from Chile will join us in Kinshasa. There are ten of us all in all.

Happily, we have seen that the Youth House building construction has stuck to the timetable. In our photo album on the website you can see that the house is nearly finished. At the moment they are painting the house.

On May 2nd we met Edi Diafuanakana, the head of CEC, which is the sister church of the Swedish Mission Covenant Church. We informed him of our trip. Edi has been to Sweden on several occasions, and he speaks Swedish. He sent us the invitation to Congo, and officially, we will be the guests of CEC. To be invited is one condition to get a visa to Congo. Furthermore, you need to have a guarantee from your hosts that they will take care of you, should anything unexpected happen. We have been vaccinated against yellow fever, hepatitis A and tetanus. And we will have to take malaria-, cholera- and diarrhea medicine before, during and after the trip. Lennart and Barbro are going to Stockholm on September 8th. They will bring our visa applications and leave them at the Congolese Embassy on the 9th in the morning. They have been promised to get the visas on September 10th. It is a relief not to have to send our passports and visa applications by mail.

Bernt, Renée, Kerstin and I were in Karlskoga on May 12th at a Congo seminar. The topic was friend relations between Swedish and Congolese churches. Many lecturers talked of an enriching interchange both ways. Small scale projects and direct contact creates commitment.

On June 14th, Bernt and I met Matthieu to give him the details of our trip. Matthieu will meet us at N´djili, the Kinshasa airport, and be our guide in Kinshasa. On June 21st, the entire Congo group had a meeting. Among other things, we decided to learn about 50 common expressions in French. We went through visa applications and itinerary, and scheduled five more meetings before September 14th. At our meetings we have studied French with a girl from Rwanda, Générose, who has been tutoring us. We also use a French course on CD with a textbook.

We have decided to buy a Swedish and a Congolese flag, and a flag with the GSCL symbol on it, and bring them to the inauguration. We have also decided on an inauguration gift: a contribution to the procurement of furniture to the Youth House.

We have gone through the course material for entrepreneurs. We have the permission to use ALMI´s educational binder ”Business plan – a first outline”. Gunnel Olofson in Jönköping has translated the first part and Dia Nsumbu in Gothenburg is translating the rest to French. I will collect the material this week and send it to Yapeco. He is putting together two groups of entrepreneurs with five people in each. The 10 future entrepreneurs will receive the basics on how to start your own business. We will also introduce our business loan offer to them. This is a challenge. We´ll see if we´ll succeed.