I learned how to play backgammon (or ‘tavli’ in Greek, or ‘taouli’ in Arabic) two years ago with a Kurdish-Iranian friend in Athens. I usually lost, but at least he had the patience to teach me how to play. It’s a great game, probably 80% luck and 20% skill, and is supposedly the oldest recorded board game in history.

The main reason I enjoy backgammon is not really for the game itself; rather, it’s the conversation that the game spurs. Many men find it difficult to talk about what’s going on in their lives, or certain events might be too traumatic to talk about directly. So the backgammon game becomes an allegory for life, allowing one to speak about weighty issues with a sense of detachment.

I should probably explain. The other day, I brought my backgammon board to the St. Rollox drop-n centre. I started playing a game with an Iraqi man, ‘Y’, who has been coming to the drop-in for a number of years. Initially, he started talking about general observations about life through backgammon, “you don’t know what numbers the dice will give you in the future: you can get good or bad rolls, it’s something you can’t control. But you’re responsible the moves you make with the numbers you get. It is better to play a smart move with a bad roll than to play stupid with a good roll!” He also talked about the necessity to take calculated risks, and that if you refuse to take any risk, then you will inevitably lose the game.

But the topics soon became weightier. When one of my pieces was captured, Y proceeded to tell me a story about being captured. He then launched into a harrowing story about his thirteen year imprisonment in Iraq, simply on the basis of his religion and ethnicity. Y seems to be a misunderstood character, many people not fully ‘getting’ his over-the-top and sarcastic sense of humour. Judging by what he has been through, this is probably just a way of dealing with the difficulty of his situation and loneliness.

I probably would’ve learned this eventually, but somehow backgammon becomes a catalyst for sharing and conversation. I lost the game 5 – 1, but that didn’t really matter.

- Paul

...that is, God gives to us according to our needs (taken from Haud Yer Wheesht! – a book of a Scottish granny’s sayings)


The other day, I came across a couple of gems that I’m looking over to aid my cultural and linguistic adaptation to Glasgow. My current favourite is The Glasgow Gospel by Jamie Stuart. The book is a collection of gospel stories written in Glaswegian dialect. It’s quite amusing and is helping me get to terms with a number of colloquialisms.

“The Guid Samaritan” is particularly enjoyable:

Wan day an expert layer tried tae trick Jesus. He said tae him, ‘Maister, ah’m keen tae hiv this everlasting life that God has promised. How dae ah get it?’
Jesus said, ‘Ye hiv the answer right there in yer law-book, ma freen—whit dis it say?’
An the lawyer replied, ‘Ye’ve got tae love the Lorg God wi yer hale hert, soul, mind an strength; an ye’ve got tae love yer neighbour as weel as ye love yersel.’
‘No bad,’ said Jesus. ‘Jist act like that an ye’ll please God.’
But the laywer wisny contented wi than an asked again, ‘Aye—but jist exactly who is my neighbour?’
Jesus decided tae illustrate his meanin wi a wee story....

The author has put a reading up on YouTube, which you might enjoy:

It’s a local delicacy: a polystyrene box filled to the brim with chips, fried rice, onions, and sticky sweet and sour sauce, all for £1.50. Quick, satisfying, and cheap. And definitely not the healthiest option available. Once in a while, I’m sure the ‘lunch specials’ from our local carry-outs would do no harm, but they often seem like the norm rather than the exception around here. Unfortunately, the combination of poor diet, smoking, and alcohol abuse are but some of the factors contributing to shocking health statics in Glasgow. A recent report from the WHO showed that there is huge discrepancy in life expectancy of over twenty years exists between deprived inner-city neighbourhoods and the suburbs. Particularly disturbing is that the current life expectancy in the Gaza strip is greater than that of the Carlton, a neighbourhood just east of us.

So good food, and more generally, physical health, is a serious issue. Looking at the many dietary laws in the Old Testament, the debates about clean and unclean foods in the early church, and Jesus’ fondness for the imagery of the feast in his teaching, it seems that God is not ambivalent about food. Moreover, it’s God’s desire that the whole of life is transformed (e.g. John 10:10), and physical health is undoubtedly part of that.

Refugees who are dispersed to Glasgow are usually housed in these deprived areas. The current support they receive is approximately £42 per week; that’s only £6 for each day. When you consider the cost of transport (£2 for a return journey to the city centre) and other necessities, that doesn’t leave much excess for healthy food. It’s especially difficult for those whose staples from their home countries are much less affordable here (the British isles are unique in having the potato as a primary staple). The easy option of a cheap carry-out soon becomes very attractive. Emma and I realise the cost involved in trying to eat healthy... even if you cut out carry-outs, processed foods in the supermarket are generally cheaper than the fresh options.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. I’ve become very impressed with the work of a local charity – the North Glasgow Community Food Initiative. They run a food co-op where fresh fruit and veg is sold at very low prices in a variety of local venues each week (some of their produce is even grown locally in allotments – another perk for the environmentally conscious) and educate the community in gardening, cooking, and healthy living. I’ve started to shop at the food co-op myself. It’s a wonderful resource; I was able to buy a punnet of strawberries, blueberries, garlic, courgettes, spring onions, bananas, and aubergine for less than £2!

Aside from the obvious advantage of making healthy food more affordable to the community, it has become a cross-community meeting place. Both refugees and indigenous Glaswegians take advantage of the service on offer – so they help serve the community, while building community. There’s much more awareness currently about purchasing local produce, organically grown items and eating according to the seasons but the prices in the supermarkets can make this a luxury available only to those with plenty of disposable income. The food co-op makes it available to all and it also gives people the opportunity to volunteer and contribute to the project, something particularly valuable to asylum seekers who are not allowed to work. It has become a life-line for one refugee, a farmer before he had to flee his home. He now helps with selling and growing food for the co-op, giving a sense of empowerment and the satisfaction that comes after a day’s labour.

Every Tuesday, the NGCFI opens in the St. Rollox Church of Scotland. This is the same time when the refugee drop-in centre is open... it’s been quite exciting to work alongside them and we’re looking forward to building relationships with them, as they are but one of the exciting things happening in our area.

I spent some of this morning researching some of the issues surrounding housing law in Scotland. Don’t panic; we have not run into problems with our landlord or trashed our apartment. We’re rapidly learning that housing is one of the biggest issues facing some of the refugees that we are coming into contact with. This is especially so for those who have been granted leave to remain in the UK and are now part of the same systems as UK citizens. They may be asked to leave the accommodation provided when they were still “asylum seekers” or they may have very good reasons for wanting to move from it. For example, one North African family, with two young daughters, are currently the only people living in a deserted tower block which is scheduled for demolition. It’s a pretty rough estate anyway, with drug and alcohol problems and racist abuse common place, but to be the only remaining occupants especially as the days are getting shorter would be grim.

Another lady, whose husband is stuck in Iraq, has spoken of the racist abuse that she suffers every time she leaves the building, simply because she is easily identifiable as a Muslim because of her headscarf. If her teenage daughters are just a few minutes late, she is terrified for their safety. It sounds as though she can never really feel at peace in her current accommodation and feels particularly vulnerable because her husband is not around. This has been her only experience of Scotland. She would like to be rehoused but she doubts whether anywhere else that is affordable would be any better and it’s up to her to go and register at the housing associations and be put on waiting list. Her eyes welled up last week talking about it.

Although we have moved quite a lot over the last few years, I do take it for granted that I have somewhere that is my own space where I feel safe, relaxed and comfortable. Although our new flat here is in a pretty lively area, I never have to think twice about going out to the shop or walking to the train or bus. The strain on those without that blessing is enormous, especially where there are children involved.

Hoperfully we can become familiar with the service providers and the system so that we can be of real help. We would also hope that our home will become a place where some of our friends can feel at peace, even if just for a short time over coffee or a meal.

We've been here for a couple of weeks and feel we are settling in ok. One thing that feels strange to us is that so far, compared to Athens, we are not that busy. We knew this would be the case and that it would take a little while to build up significant relationships, but it is hard to avoid the feeling that we should be doing more. However, we want to make the right decisions and focus on building the right foundations at this stage. The temptation is just to find things to do without real consideration of whether they are the right things.

A few observations about the area we are living in:

• Monday morning is the time to meet people down in our local shopping centre in Springburn. This is an area of high unemployment amongst the indigenous population, add the refugee population and the fact that Monday is the day when people can pick up their benefit money, and you have a very popular Post Office. I went down on Monday just to post a couple of things and saw quite a few Afghan guys, as well as an Iraqi family that I had met the week before at one of the churches.
• Everyone here is our "pal". That seems to be the favourite way of referring to people in Glasgow, equivalent to "love" in Belfast, "mate" in Australia, or "duck" in parts of the North of England.
• We successfully negotiated the first big local football derby of the season without too much trouble (Rangers beat Celtic). We even got to enjoy some celebratory singing outside the house at about 2am on Monday morning.
• If you're standing in a queue, you'll be called forward by "who's first?", rather than "next".

Paul is in possession of a book of Scottish jokes and Scottish Grandma's sayings, so he should have some more cultural insights for you soon.

Last Wednesday afternoon was our first encounter with the drop-in at the Red Road church. This was a lively, noisy and thoroughly enjoyable time. Many of the refugee kids that live in the nearby tower blocks come to run around, play table-tennis and pool, do some art and craft and eat white bread and chocolate spread sandwiches (no one tell Jamie Oliver please!). It feels like the kids just know that this is a place where they can really enjoy themselves and benefit from having some adults to spend time with them. I spent most of my time last week being dragged around (literally) by M, from Eritrea, and H from Turkey. I had never met these kids before but as soon as they laid eyes on me I was given a huge hug and told "come with us!". It speaks volumes of the work that has been going on through this church that the kids feel so at home in it that they just know they will find a friend in anyone who is working there. Incidentally, I think I picked up a few clues that at least one of these families had come through Greece, unless it's just a coincidence that the child was referring to everything with the suffix "-mou" (my).

A few tentative invitations to homes have been made, but we usually like to wait to be asked at least twice before we can be sure that they are not just asking us out of politeness. Please pray that we will have wisdom to know which invitations to accept and to discern what the needs of these families are and how we can represent Jesus to them.

We are both currently pursuing a couple of other opportunities to get more involved and as we get to know some of the refugees attending the church, we would hope to develop some discipling-type relationships and also some social outlets for the refugees there.

It is Ramadan right now, and many of the Muslims that we have met are fasting. It's a time of increased religious fervour, and there is no doubt that many of them do sincerely seek God during this time. For others it is more about reinforcing their cultural identity, especially in a culture where they are in a minority and displaced from their families. The feelings of separation are particularly acute during Ramadan and the festival which follows it. Please pray for them over the next month especially. http://www.30-days.net/ has some great resources if anyone wants to know more.

Thanks for stopping by the blog, and for all your messages of support and encouragement.

- Emma

Hello and welcome!

I finally got around to setting up this blog... a site titled “Paul and Emma in Athens” didn’t make much sense now that we’re in Scotland. Now that we have a reliable internet connection, I can put a few more bells and whistles on the blog (see the left and right columns). So, what do you think of the new layout?

On this page you’ll find news, thoughts, and pictures about our new ministry with refugees in north Glasgow. So watch this space, we’ll be updating it regularly.

- Paul