One of the guests at the Hotel Saphir

A slightly unusual event occurred today. Bernt woke me up. He always spend more hours asleep than I do, and thus he awakens later. But today he rose earlier and by that means he could wake me up. “In Congo, the most incredible happens” says the Congolese. That is correct.

At 9 a.m. we had a meeting with Annicet, José and Joseph as they ate their breakfast. I thought that we would take some decisions about work and responsibility, but that did not happen. They listened to my suggestions but wanted to think about it and get back, so we had to leave it at that. They went off to the Parliament and came back at two o’clock.

Meanwhile, we had an interesting meeting with José’s brother, Washington Ebina. He is in charge of the family aid work in Congo. It’s called the Ebina Foundation. In Brazzaville they have a tank car that supplies clean water to people. They make sure that sick people get medical care and in many other ways they help vulnerable people to a tolerable existence. Washington’s office is located in the hotel building and we visited him there. We also met his and José’s mother. If you are interested in their work, go online and search for Washinton Ebina. Furthermore, we went through computer programs with Myriam.

One day, José told me about his family. His grandfather was illiterate but had founded the family fortune. José’s father Charles had managed and augmented the wealth and now his five sons keep up the work. They are a wealthy and influential family in Congo. José did not choose to be a politician but the people wanted him to take office. Considering his background, José is a different politician. Annicet is a former pilot and aircraft technicians and as such he had an annual salary of € 48,000. As a MP, he has € 10, 000. Joseph lives in Dublin but was called home by the people. This trio are different politicians because they have received a big part of their training in Europe and they have seen a lot of the world. They have got many different impulses and impressions and they brought the best to Congo.

Soon after 2 a.m. the trio came back to accompany us to the ferry. There, we went into the VIP room and we took leave of each other, expressing the hope that we will be able to do something meaningful in the Republic of Congo together. Later on, they will come to Sweden to sign a contract with us. We have also been instructed to find machines to repair and maintain roads in Congo.

We went with the MPs’ ferry across the river. On the other side, we were met by Yapeco and Bienvienu. After 45 minutes’ seizure of our passports, we could continue to Nzu-Binati and repack our bags with packages and mail for Sweden and then we proceeded to the airport Ndjili. We said goodbye to our faithful and good friends Yapeco and Bienvienu, and then we checked in.

The time was 6 p.m. and we had plenty of time before take-off. A couple of helpful gentlemen showed up promptly and guided us into the airport. Our bags were searched. I had three securely packed injectors from our tractor in Nsanda. They had a slight smell of diesel and the officials forbid us to bring them onto the plane. They gave me the advice to pay them a bribe of $10. It was irritating but ok, and the injectors stayed with us. Next man asked for a $50 bribe for services that we could well do for ourselves. He got $40, stupid enough, and thus he was quite unhappy, but so was I. It is sad that this kind of nonsense is allowed to continue on a well known international airport and in a country that wants development and change into a better society. My hope is that someone with courage and power are reading this and makes the change start now.

The flight were supposed to have left at 10:15 p.m. but there was a hassle somewhere. Whatever it was, we never heard and we took off at 2 a.m. These lines are written on the plane. Right now we have one hour and 24 minutes until we land in Istanbul. The waiting time in Istanbul will be shorter this time due to the delay in Kinshasa. Every cloud has a silver lining.

A hotel guest on four legs

We had planned to visit Myriam’s church today, but we were unable to pursue our plans. This was the second Sunday in a row that we would have to miss Sunday worship. Last Sunday in Boko, the congregation were visiting a neighbouring village in the morning. Hence, no church. Today we had a press conference at 11 a.m. which partly coincided with Sunday worship in Myriam’s church.

The press conference took place at the newspaper La Semaine Africaine. First, we gathered in José’s office in the same building, then we went to an adjacent room for the conference. There were some 50 journalists and photographers who had received our press release. Annicet, José and Joseph gave speeches and answered several political questions from the journalists. Bernt and I told them about MSG using our Power Point. Luckily, our friends could answer many of the questions on our presentation. By now, they are well briefed and familiar with our approach.

We went back to the hotel for dinner and rest. We were welcomed by a four-legged hotel guest. It was completely tame and sauntered around among the other two-legged guests. I don’t know what this kind of cervid is called. At 5 p.m. we had a scheduled meeting with our friends to make ​​some decisions about division of tasks and responsibility. It is now 6.30 p.m. and so far no one has showed up. We have all had a tough week. Most likely, this is the reason to the absence.

At 6 p.m., José was on the TV news telling the viewers of MSG’s work in Kikongo and at 8 p.m. Annicet and Joseph were on TV, doing the same thing in French. Our work has received a lot of attention. We hope it will pave the way for collaborations with various institutions and policymakers in the Congolese society. Our work will only develop if we can acquire good partnerships with local institutions and especially local banks. On this trip we have been boosted by our political friends and during the half year to come we expect to see some results from this. “The wind of changes has begun to blow over Congo” the Congolese say themselves and we believe that they are right.

At 11 p.m., we saw and heard our friends on the TV again.

The TV team with one camera man missing

At 3 in the night, we woke up and were ready to go, but we didn’t get going until 4 a.m. After 10 km, one of the cars started to malfunction. It was the same car that had had an engine failure on Friday. It was deemed that it would not work all the way to Brazzaville. We turned back and left the car in Madingou. We got two more passengers in our car and were now eight people, it was a bit crowded but it worked. Three of the cars belongs to José and one is Joseph’s. The one that we left behind was José’s.

In the town of Lutete we made our first stop for breakfast. Joseph purchased baguettes, cheese and bananas and we had a quick breakfast in the car. Our friends the politicians were supposed to be in Brazzaville at 10 o’clock for a parliamentary vote. We didn’t manage to get to Brazzaville on time, but they went straight to Parliament anyway. Let’s hope Congolese time applied to the voting. Then they would be able to vote.

When we shortly before noon returned to the Saphir hotel we had covered about 1200 km since last Wednesday, and 1700 km if we take into account the entire week. Most part of the route have been spent on muddy gravel roads. By now, we have a pretty good idea of what it is like to travel by car in Congo during the rainy season. An invaluable equipment in a car is the AC. Without it, the heat becomes oppressive and the trip becomes an endurance test. But even with an AC, trips by car are not a great pleasure. It can be a shaking experience to travel in this way. We could have gone by airplane to Dolisie, but for various reasons we chose not to.

It was wonderful to get to the hotel with all the comfort that it offers. First, we called our wives via Skype, the first contact since last Wednesday. After a shower and a change of clean clothes, life was very comfortable. Then Bernt and I ordered and ate spaghetti and meat sauce. We were quite hungry, and the meal was welcome. Later in the evening the hotel staff came with a small basket of fruit and sweets, great service.

Unfortunately, we were unable to go through with the two days of entrepreneurial training with course participants from Osdo. We are very sorry that it didn’t happen. Myriam had prepared the thirty participants for our part. We will try to compensate them in some way. As well as possible, Myriam has tried to explain the situation to them. To stick to the planned course of action is not the strongest trait among our friends the Congolese. In addition, there is an abundance of contingencies and intricacies in the Congolese daily life. The Congolese look upon these incidents with great calm. There is always time and most things can be done later on. But we have a return ticket to Sweden that cannot be rescheduled. At 10.05 p.m. on Monday we are leaving from Ndjili, Kinshasa.

Rescue under way

During the morning session, I prepared our closing meeting. It will be on Sunday afternoon, possibly with continuation the next morning. The meeting will be about the registration of Congo Support Group (CSG), the taking of decisions and the division of responsibilities until October, when CSG is supposed to launch entrepreneurial training here in Congo-Brazzaville.

After breakfast we started the return trip to Brazzaville. Here, it is quite normal to have some problems associated with travel. Road conditions were not the best this day. In the morning it had started to rain following a bang of thunder. Outside of town, the muddy gravel roads were really slippery. A moderate amount of rain + a muddy road = extreme slipperiness. Our car went straight into the ditch. The rest of the crew pushed the car out of the ditch and we were on the road again. The next ditch we paid a visit to was situated outside Lutete. Here, the car just dropped the road, spun around and into the ditch. This time, the car managed to get up by itself thanks to the four-wheel drive. The next incident arrived when one of the cars died. The fuel supply had stopped to work. Half an hour and it was fixed.

Then we came to a difficult passage with large water-filled holes. A couple of Senegalese who had a normal passenger car were stuck. They were in Congo to buy goats. They had ten goats lying by the side of the road with their legs tied together. The goats had been unloaded to make the car lighter. It did not help, the car was quite stuck. We were able to drive around them to get past, and then one of our cars could pull the goat traders out of the hole. Joyously, they went on to the next obstacle. To use these muddy gravel roads after a rain is almost impossible unless you have four-wheel drive.

After 12 hours of driving, we arrived to the village Madingou, at 8:30 p.m. José was born and raised in this village. The people here were very disappointed when we didn’t stop and have a meeting here on the way down to Mossendjo. They had announced that if we do not stop on the return trip, they will close down the road. People are indeed talking in clear terms to their elected representatives in Congo. We simply had to stay and hold a meeting for the people of Madingou. When we arrived there were about 75 people waiting for us. Someone said there had been at least 400 earlier in the afternoon. But most had gone home because of our late arrival. The meeting was held in a room with dirt floors and tin roof. The venue was packed and there were a few short speeches by José, Joseph and Annicet. Bernt and I talked about MSG. José’s grandfather and grandmother were there; an old lovely couple. Then came the handover of gifts and they consisted of a goat, papaya, peanuts, manioc and bananas.

The meeting in Madingou was the seventh meeting we have had since last Sunday. As I have mentioned before, Annicet, Joseph and José have no party affiliation. There are thirteen MPs without party affiliation in the Parliament, and there are 139 MPs in total. We think that our friends differ from the average politician in Congo. They talk a lot about change, and that the Congolese have to start thinking differently. It’s not a question of “what Congo can do for you, but what you can do for Congo” to paraphrase a famous politician. A challenging work orientation and entrepreneurship are needed in order for a new Congo to emerge. José, Joseph and Annicet want change so much that they invest their own funds to create change. Our esteem of their work has increased during the week here. MSG has received a lot of attention, and we are entering a stage where our cooperation will be formalized by the distribution of tasks and responsibilities. It is only by working together we can reach real results. Together we can change the world.

After the meeting, we checked into a hostel in town. We had cooked fish and manioc for supper and then we went to bed.

The member of the Parliament José Cyr Ebina

The morning began with scoop shower. The scooping gave me a modern hairstyle. The hairstyle is called here and there, up and down. It is good in the sense that one does not need a comb. Our belongings didn’t arrive until 8 a.m. Then, they had passably repaired the damage that occurred during the boarding of the ferry last night. Today I took a lovely morning walk, actually the first one in Congo, an activity that Kerstin and I practice every day at home. Mossendjo is a quiet and pleasant place, it is more town than village. I met two bakers who were on their way to their customers. The bread, baguettes, had been piled on two wheelbarrows in a decorative way. And I met some talkative Congolese who were eager to say something more after the initial “bonjour”. Our mutual vocabulary was very limited, but I tried to stretch my arsenal of French and Kikongo.

The morning meeting was held at 11 a.m. in the mayor’s administration building. A very grand newly built establishment. There were 150 participants, consisting of leading figures, village managers and church leaders. This is Joseph’s constituency and the area is home to about 50,000 people. Joseph directed the meeting. We gave our usual Power Point presentation and our friends held engaging speeches on several occations. After the speeches, it was time for questions, criticism and requests. It was all very lively and straightforward. The issue of physicians was raised. There is no physician in the hospital. Joseph explained the efforts he had made, and they were extensive. When it comes to the hospital, he has among other things bought a generator for his own money for the building. The meeting was ended at two o’clock and then we had breakfast. The food lasted longer than the meeting.

Here, there are the many elderly people who knew the Bromans. There are childhood playmates to Finn such as Mourko Jean Jacques, Moulady Aline and Ndinga Rubin. Yvonne Mavidho worked at the Broman house, and the village chief Ngovbili Edwin knew the family very well. Among the oldest, the Swedes are well known, especially among the people from Madouma. In the afternoon session, I asked how many people had known the Bromans and about 50 persons raised their hands. Afterwards, about twenty came up to me and asked questions about them. While I have been writing this blog I have been interrupted several times by people who wants to talk about the Bromans. MP Joseph has told us about the level of activity (high) there was on the time of the missionaries. There were more churches, schools and better medical care. Joseph himself have been treated by Swedish missionaries. Unfortunately, the places around here have become depopulated. Joseph wants to turn this trend.

The afternoon meeting at 4.30 p.m. was probably the biggest gathering of our Brazzaville week. There were about 500 people and the meeting was located outdoors. The clouds made the temperature comfortable even for us mundele. The set-up was much the same as in the morning. Bernt and I presented MSG in a speech. Our friends stressed that the Congolese must change their way of thinking in order for development to be possible. There are no free lunches, you can’t sit and wait for something to happen. Everyone must take responsibility and work hard. These three MPs are skilled speakers, they are dedicated, they use humour and gravity in a wonderful mix which make their message come alive. The crowd responded with cheers and applauses. Our already high esteem for them has increased during the day. The MSG preaches the same thing they do: the diligent, laborious way. There has been two television crews filming all the time during the meetings. They are the Brazzaville national television channel, RTC and Lingala facile Direct TV, DTV from Kinshasa. They interviewed us today. In our work with MSG, we have formulated the meaning of development in the following manner:

Development is when people locally through work and sacrifice generates resources and build a sustainable society that can meet people’s different needs. Any kind of aid must aim at development.

The plan was to start the 550 km journey back to Brazzaville at 7.30 p.m., after dinner. But the broken car was not ready by then, and we stayed another night in Mossendjo.

The three members of the parliament José, Joseph and Annicet

At 5 a.m. Judicaël, our interpreter, came to tell us it was time to depart for Mossendjo. We were quickly ready to go. But the urgency was not acute, as it later turned out. Congolese time applied. Annicet, Joseph and Myriam had arrived to the hotel. We talked about some MSG issues and then all of us presented him- or herself a little more to the others. It is very important to get to know each other well. That makes the picture clearer and then you can both send and get the right signals, and understand the context as good as possible. Joseph’s uncle Pascal Lissouba was President of the Republic of Congo, during the years 92 to 97. Joseph came as a refugee to London and has lived many years in Dublin, where his family still lives. He was called by the people here to come back, he did that and got elected by the people of Mossendjo to a seat in the Parliament. He is eager to make a difference in Congo. All of our political friends invest their private resources to make a difference in Congo.

Eventually, the whole entourage was gathered: bodyguards armed with Kalashnikovs and pistols, secretaries and TV crew. We had breakfast and by the time we went off in three full cars, the clock had become 7 a.m. Later on we were accompanied by another car. Pretty soon, we hit the dirt road and it stayed with us except for a few pieces of concrete road. We would drive 550 kilometers before we got to Mossendjo. A bit west of Brazzaville in a village, we met two Chinese men who have been robbed the same morning. A woman in the village warned us very seriously, so that we would understand how dangerous it was. One of the bodyguards sat in the front seat of our car and he had prepared his firearms. When it comes to curb criminal activity, he will probably not hold back. Nothing happened, thankfully. We arrived at 2:15 at night in Mossendjo. By then we had made ​​numerous stops to pee, eat baguettes and replenish the water need. Where there is life, water will constantly flow in and out. We only had one puncture and it occurred at 12.30 a.m. Our second car related incident was when a footrest on our car, a Nissan jeep, had loosened at one end and had to be screwed off.

We made ​​a stop in a village where the Catholic Church has a headquarters. We met with former Archbishop Jean-Claude Makaya-Loemba. He offered us a snack and we talked. Jean-Claude is about to start a school in Point Noire and he wants to start an entrepreneurial program at the school. He would like us to take responsibility for this program. If he can find a teacher who is interested in the subject area, this teacher could get our teacher training course in entrepreneurship.

We had to take the ferry over the river Louesse. The moon was full and lit up the dark rainforest. Three teenagers managed the ferry. Normally the ferry doesn’t run when it’s dark, but our friends had called the ferry stop and the youngsters agreed to help us. They pulled the ferry over the river with winches. First round, three cars plus all the people got over. On the other side of the river, the young ferry drivers put a plank between the ferry and dry land for us to walk on. Everyone managed the balancing act. The ferry then returned for car No. 4. When it boarded the ferry, the steering was injured. It had to stay on the other side to be repaired. Some of the crew went back to stay and help. They reached the destination at 8 a.m. on Thursday. All our stuff was in that car, which meant we had no computer and no toiletries.

After 400 km in the car I, Bernt and Judicaël shared the same predicament. We all had quite sore behinds. We were travelling in a jeep with hard seats and the support mountings were out of work as far as we could understand. We expressed our concerns and were transferred to an almost new Nissan jeep, it was wonderful. Our slightly battered hindquarters were already rehabilitated when we arrived in Mossendjo. We passed by Kinkala and Kimbendi. In these places the Swedish missionaries started in 1909, our friends told us. Joseph talked about the Edvin Broman family of the village Madouma, and yesterday evening we saw the house the family lived in.

We have not had any internet since we left Brazzaville, hence the silence.

Morning coffee with Annicet, José and Joseph

During the morning session, I wrote down how we want to start up entrepreneurial training here. The activities must be directed by the Congolese themselves. We will provide support concerning the development of training materials and we will visit the Brazzaville branch of the business twice a year.

The last paragraph of my contract sketch reads: “Our approach which is “hand in hand and side by side” will be indicative to all activities. The three tools must be used in full: training, business loans and follow-ups. The principles transparency, control and results will be applied and shall permeate the business. Everyone will work according to these principles. ”

At 6:35 a.m. I emailed my document to Bertil Åhman, in order to get a translation to french. The translation came in return already by 9.06 a.m. Thank you Bertil for your promptness and for your good advice. Thanks to all of you who translate and help us in different ways. Thanks especially to you who join your hands and pray for us. José told me the other day that “we pray and believe in God, without Him we can do nothing”. I am convinced that faith is deeply rooted in the people here and is a certainty. Every gathering of the last couple of days have been started and ended with prayer. And we have not even been close to a church.

In the morning Annicet, José and Joseph came for a small meeting. We handed over the contract sketch. They read and pondered it. The first comment was that we should work together. A project can only be successful if everyone takes responsibility by developing a good working relationship and when everyone contributes according to their ability. On this, we could all agree. Our political friends don’t belong to a party. They have been running their own campaigns and are elected by the people in their respective constituencies.

We were supposed to have traveled to Mossendjo today. Mossendjo is Joseph’s constituency about 500 – 600 kilometers from Brazzaville. But when the cars refused to cooperate, no one was surprised. They live a hard life here. They were at a garage for repairs and were apparently not ready to go. Instead we got to stay at home today. Both the cars and the mundeles thus had a rest day. We’ll probably leave early tomorrow morning for Mossendjo and we will be away for two days.

When Annicet presents Bernt and me, he has on a few occasions called us “the Swedish Missionaries,” a title that we don’t deserve, but feel honored by. I believe that Annicet does this because he knows missionaries have high esteem among the people, and he wants us to get a head start when we meet new people. Swedish missionaries have done a lot of good, and now Bernt and I bask in the glory of them. The memory of the Swedish missionaries is retained by many Congolese. The positive attitude towards us is a great asset to our work.

Presentation of Matadi Support Group in Kitelé.

Bernt and I enjoyed a tasty hotel breakfast at eight o’clock. Our friends the politicians had told us that we would leave Brazzaville at 8:30 and we were ready for new experiences at that time, but when the clock neared noon, we still had not seen them. We assumed that yesterday had been tough enough even for them and that they needed to recuperate. We did not begrudge them to rest, and we did the same ourselves during these hours.

At noon, our friends the politicians came to the hotel. We began by discussing the machinery needed to fix the roads we used on Sunday. Annicet’s goal is to procure machinery for road maintenance. A truly great need considering all the muddy roads. Better roads is also a prerequisite when it comes to entrepreneurial education in the villages we visited yesterday. On roads that exist today, it is impossible to transport the products of presumptive entrepreneurs from these villages.

At 1 p.m. we went to the village Kitelé, 50 kilometers from Brazzaville. We first visited the mayor. She was the first female mayor we have met in Congo. There was a proper welcoming with presentations, and then the ritual was repeated at the governor’s office, 500 m away from the mayor. He told us about his county and that there is fertile lands, suitable for agriculture and fruit. He concluded by saying that the biggest asset is peace. Only 22,000 live in his county.

At 3 p.m., there was a gathering in the community hall. Outside we were greeted with singing, dancing and drumming, an ancient tradition when there are visitors. The hall was packed and there were almost as much people by the window holes and outside, about 300 people in total. The fiery political speeches of the last meetings repeated. This was José Cyr Ebina’s constituency and he was the one who chaired the meeting. The meeting was opened with prayer by a woman and a man ended it with prayer, in between, there were many elements. I and Judicaël, my interpreter, talked about the work of MSG using a Power Point. Many in the audience asked questions both to the politicians and to us. There had come people from 13 villages, and there were as many uniformed heads of villages. One of them was a woman and therefore, she got special attention. A tv crew was also present.

When we were about to go home, it was Bernt’s and my turn to receive gifts. We were offered four live chickens, peanuts, pineapple, sweet potatoes, manioc, foufou and bananas.

After this, we visited an agricultural cooperative, where forty families lived and worked. They have a poultry farm, a fish farm and they produce crops, they have a private school and a doctor of their own. It is a project that has been running for one and a half years. The state has been responsible for the facility but the cooperative is purchased by the cooperative little by little. We had a gathering at their school and we shared and exchanged information. We got gifts here too, 200 eggs and five heads of cabbage.

Our way back to Boko, about 100 km on mud road.

We came to Boko at eight o’clock on Saturday evening, after driving 150 kilometers from Brazzaville. We went in three jeeps and all three had the signs of an official delegation. Each MP has two secretaries and two armed bodyguards including one driver. We were quite a few people who, when we got to Boko, checked in at a hostel in town. The hostel is owned by Annicet and Boko is a base in his constituency, which consists of about 25 villages. After dinner we discussed the arrangements of our visit in Boko, and then it was bedtime.

The morning program included a shower with a bucket and breakfast. Then we went to the church here in Boko, but the congregation hade gone to a neighboring village yesterday and had not come back yet. The service was therefore canceled. At 11 a.m. there would be another meeting here in Boko, at the people’s houses.

We were greeted by singing, dancing and drumming. Some of the younger participants were wearing masks. We sat down together with Annicet, José and Joseph on the podium. The hall was packed and there were people looking in through the windows and doors, I guess there were about 200 people. As we are in Annicet’s constituency it is he who has the initiative and who sets the tone. He, José and Joseph all hold fiery speeches with much applause and dialogue with the spectators. A local female party colleague gave the welcome speech and another woman prayed for us. Public prayer in Congo is never brief, but always extensive. The closing prayer was performed by a man.

Using our interpreter, Judicaël, I presented a Power Point after some technical hassle which included have to change the projector. After the presentation, we answered any questions. It has been very interesting to see how politicians face their constituents. Then, there were also questions to our friends, the politicians. They had to answer some tough questions about what the do and do not do.

The next meeting was in Mbandza Kaka. To get there we had to go thirty kilometers on dirt roads which mostly consisted of deep holes and ditches, some filled with water. We had four strong jeeps but our jeep got stuck anyhow. The employees of the politicians threw off their shoes, rolled up their pants and helped push the car in the mud. Everyone wanted to do his bit. We did our by getting out of the car. With the towing of another car and the pushing of the many men the car finally could roll again. Our second unintended stop was on a steep slope. There had been a light rain and wet mud and cars do not go well together. Everyone had to leave the cars, the cars had to accelerate before the hill and try to keep the speed up to the crest. After several attempts on the behalf of each car everyone was up the hill. We boarded the cars and set off again. The last involuntary stop came when it was already pitch dark. A front wheel of one of the cars got locked. It took a stiff one hour to repair. The thunder lit up the sky, but it didn’t start to rain. While waiting we had great conversations with our friends. There is much to be said about roads and transports in Congo, but this will do for now. We were back in Boko at 10 p.m., literally pretty shaken by the 100 kilometers dirt road trip.

At 3 p.m. we were in Mbandza Kaka and about 2-300 had come to the meeting. As in Boko, we were welcomed with song and dance. The meeting was outdoors in the shade of large mango trees. The format was the same here as in Boko. Five villages had gathered and their uniformed head of the village was there. The village council sat on a special bench and there was a secretary who wrote the protocol. A tv crew followed the whole meeting. Bernt, Judicaël and I talked about MSG. In the morning we had seen a feature from this Saturday’s filming. When we were back in Boko at night, the same feature was running. The program was aired in the replay. At the meeting in Mbandza Kaka, there were several villagers who spoke. As many women as men spoke what was on their mind. Equality and democracy are under way. The village chief told us that the school was built by Swedish missionaries in 1959. The name of the person who had been in charge was Marianne.

The last and largest meeting was in Mfouta. There were 400 people gathered. Also this meeting was held outdoors. It started at 5.30 p.m. and lasted until 7 p.m. and the same program as in the other two villages was used. There were a lot of singing also included in the meeting. Meetings in Congo are certainly alive. In Mfouta, Annicet received gifts. He got two live roosters and a sack of foufou, i.e. processed cassava. We had the roosters in our car on the trip back to Brazzaville.

At 2 o’clock at night we were back in Brazzaville. We have had a long day with many good meetings and experiences.

Meeting with the Brazzaville parliamentarians Annicet Gomas, José Cyr Ebina and Joseph Tsalabiendze.

We took an early breakfast at Nzu Binati, ended with prayer for those we leave behind in Kinshasa and for our trip to Brazzaville. Right after, we went to the ferry stop to go across the river and to the neighbouring country. But it was easier said than done to get out of this country. Yapeco managed the situation well. He took our passports and had to visit ten offices and get eight signatures before we were allowed to depart. Certainly there is a well-developed and lavish bureaucracy. The whole procedure took two and a half hours. Bernt and I managed to take a little nap. Makedika Bienvenue who drove us to the ferry stop have a Toyota Rav4 with air conditioning and we had a comfortable temperature for sleeping.

Our ferry tickets had been paid in advance by our hosts in Brazzaville. Furthermore, we were escorted by a colonel. As soon as we got on the ferry, a smaller boat with only 20 passengers, it was full throttle ahead. The captain used his 100 horsepower Yamaha engine to the full. Everyone had to put on a life jacket, and the entire trip took 10 minutes.

On the Brazzaville shore there was a ruckus and they really surprised us with they way they welcomed us, an almost regal reception. There were three MPs to greet us, a television crew and a number of journalists. Myriam Mbama was also there and as far as we understand, she will be with us the whole time in Brazaville. A big black Jeep took us to the hotel, a hotel of a standard that we have never been near at our previous visits to Congo. One of our principles is not to pay any more than necessary to sleep and eat. But here we were staying at the expense of our hosts, and I don’t mind the extra amenities. There is a swimming pool in the courtyard and it is used thoroughly.

At the hotel there was another tv crew and more journalists and I told them a little about MSG and that our visit to Brazzaville is due to a visit from Brazzaville to Sweden last fall. Then we had a meeting with the MPs by the pool. MP Annicet Goma outlined the program of the week to come. Together with the two other MPs, Cyr Ebina and Joseph Tsalabiendze, he was careful to emphasize that they assured to protect our safety.

We will travel to Boko at 5 p.m. and I will post this blog before we leave. I don’t know if we will have internet access there. Tomorrow night, we will be back in Brazzaville.