Yesterday evening, I went to bed before Bernt, for once. Half asleep I heard funny dragging noices outside my door. Today, I got an explanation. Bernt is a fixer and with his duct tape he mended the filling hose of the barrel in the bathroom. The increase in effectivity caused a decrease in filling time by 60%. When the repairing was done, Bernt had proceeded with some desk work, forgetting all about boosting the water collecting. By midnight, when he was about to go to bed, he became aware of his forgetfulness. The barrel was filled long ago and there was a flood in the bathroom, the corridor and the room of the sleeping CEC Church Superintendent Edi Diafuanakana. Bernt didn´t dare to knock on his door in respect for authority.
Bernt had an awfully tough job scraping the water into the bathroom, collect it and lift it to the floor drain in the shower tub. When he had finished the job and again was about to go to bed, he hears how the Superintendent wakes up and notices that his bed is surrounded by water. The Superintendent rushes up and starts scraping the water out in the corridor and onwards to the bathroom. In the morning, Bernt explained his good intentions to the superintendent and made a thousand apologies. Fortunately, the superintendent has a forgivning nature, and our good relation could soon be resurrected. Good intentions and deeds sometimes go to the blazes. But it is doubtful whether Bernt will get another entry permit to Congo, considering this incident.
After getting out of bed, I had my daily shower, a necessity in this hot climate. Today there was running water, a minor surprise. Then I made some preparations for today´s work, and then I breakfasted on missionary gruel, i.e. thin oatmeal porridge with sliced banana and powdered milk mixed with water.
On the agenda we had individual consultations starting 9.00 am. We managed to talk to all the ten entrepreneurs today, and by 6.30 pm the last one went home. Economic planning with budgets seem to be more difficult than we had expected, or maybe the tuition has had low quality. We are certainly not certificated teachers, but we have much experience. We will put in an extra class of economic planning on Monday morning, where we have an empty slot in our program.
At Ecobank's office, Matadi
In the afternoon we went to Ecobank, an African bank which operates in many African countries. The bank has recently opened a branch in Matadi. The managing director of the bank and his closest employee received us very well. We are not satisfied with the bank we use today, and a good bank contact is crucial to us. When our capital resources aren´t enough, we hope to have the cooperation of a good local bank. We believe that a good local bank can be a valuable asset to our enterprise.
