One impressive aspect of the evening was how well everybody mixed. There were Scots, Azeris, Turks, Eritreans, Ethiopians, Arabs, even a Colombian, all enjoying the atmosphere. It ran totally contrary the tabloid headlines about civil unrest and so ‘culture clash’. As the minister of the church commented after watching a young African boy dance his heart out to Scottish ceilidgh music, “right now, he doesn’t notice that people in the room are African, Asian, or White, just that there is a group of people dancing and enjoying themselves.”

Another important aspect of the night was that we finally got to meet the families of the children who attend the after school club (held at the church on Wednesday). It was an ideal time to make contact and forge new relationships.

- Paul

"What then is wrong with simple response to need as a motive for ministry? Nothing except that people are not always in need, and at all times resist definition of themselves solely in terms of need. They are people created for relationships with other people, and only the offer of such relationship can begin to acknowledge the fullness of their humanity...relationship must be between equals who work towards complete openness with one another. It follows that there can be no determination at the outset to speak of everything except our faith, no will to exclude the possibility that the person of another faith might accept the Christian faith because of us, and no pretence of indifference as to whether that might happen or not. We all have to run the risk of being changed."

We knew it anyway, but if confirmation were needed, I today talked with an Iraqi lady who has many family members in Athens. She knew all about the never-ending cycle of red card renewals for asylum seekers there and had even tried to make it to Greece from Turkey on a number of occasions before finally opting for the more expensive route to the UK. She and her husband have been in Scotland for a couple of years now, and like many other Iraqi Christians, she has family members all over the world; Greece, Italy, Canada, America, Sweden.... Iraqi Christians make up a disproportionate number of the increasing Iraqi diaspora and there has been evidence that those remaining in the country are being increasingly singled out for attack by "insurgents".
She spoke to me of life in Baghdad before they fled, and how it remains for the few members of her large extended family who are still there; she told me of armed and masked men breaking into the house in the middle of the night, putting guns to their heads and demanding money and gold. "You are Christians, you must have family in America, give us dollars".
We hope to make a visit to the home of this couple later in the week. Her husband is house-bound at the moment following some surgery and hopefully the novelty of an almost-Arabic speaking Irish will cheer him up a little.

Two weeks ago I found myself at the prize-giving ceremony at a local Catholic school. I was there to accompany one of our new African friends, whose daughter was receiving a prize for Mathematics. This lady does not yet speak a huge amount of English and she had asked for someone to accompany her just to help her confidence. I was delighted to see several of the refugee children receiving prizes for various subjects, and also somewhat amused to see one of the Muslim children from another family singing a Christian song in the Catholic school choir whilst her mother took a quick check on the progress of the sunset before allowing herself to break the fast with a tinfoil wrapped picnic that she produced from her handbag.

- Emma

Some of the local tower blocks are being demolished while the housing authority explores new options for accommodating those on support. This concerns many Glaswegians as well as refugees, who are housed in these flats. Below are a couple pictures I took of one the recently demolished buildings:

Most people I’ve talked to are in favour of the demolition – that is, if a better alternative is on offer. By all accounts, the tower blocks are not the nicest place to live. One refugee mother told us about trying to keep her children away from the used needles that are left in the corridor by drug addicts. Anti-social behaviour, racist abuse, and badly maintained facilities are the norm.

Yet a lot of confusion exists about the future of the tower blocks. Some are clearly being vacated and readied for demolition, while adjacent flats are still receiving new arrivals. Rumours spread about how a particular block is going to be demolished, but then some residents receive an allowance to re-decorate their individual apartment.

So this creates a culture of uncertainty and dislocation. A glimmer of hope exists that there could be an opportunity to move to something better, but people don’t know what awaits them or when that will be. Thus, many adopt a “better the devil you know” mentality toward the future. This means that invitation to community (ideally found in the local church), trustworthiness, and consistency become important factors in the shape of our ministry.

Ramadan has just ended... which means I’ll probably begin my Arabic classes soon (my potential teacher, who was fasting during the day, thought that trying to teach a beginner like me might be a bit difficult on an empty stomach -- a good decision I think). It also means that we’ll start visiting more families in their homes. In Athens, many of our Muslim friends were very keen to invite us over to break the fast at sundown, but they knew us quite well. We’re not really at that stage here yet. This is probably due to the racist abuse that many refugees have experienced; as a result they are quite discreet about their practice of fasting and feasting during Ramadan. It’s a shame that there isn’t more openness, but we’re aware that we are dealing with a greater culture of distrust than what we initially experience in Athens.

Our schedule is also starting to fill up with learning opportunities. In the following weeks, we are going to the Scottish Churches and Contemporary Migration Conference, which will hopefully give us more detailed information about contemporary immigration and asylum issues in Scotland. We’re also looking forward to networking opportunities.

Though we are busy helping out at two drop-in centres and building relationships with refugees, at this early stage in ministry, we are trying to figure out what needs are not currently being met. For the men I’ve encountered, many have trouble finding work once they have made the transition from being an asylum seeker to having refugee status. For the women, Emma has encountered women who are looking for assistance with childcare, help with tests (e.g. the “Life in the UK” residency exam and the drivers’ theory test), and having the opportunity to chat with somebody about their problems. So we’re looking into a few things: starting a small business where refugees can get job training in a Scottish context?; setting up an advice centre specifically tailored to the needs of refugees and asylum seekers but open to the whole community?
Just vague ideas at this stage, but the opportunities excite us. Still, this means getting to terms with a lot of legalities and red tape. I appreciate It’s there for a reason, but sometimes I wish for the more laissez faire approach of the Greek system (could there be a middle ground?). Luckily, there are a lot of local organisations that are set up to help us get to terms with this.

With this in mind, I’m going to meet with the North Glasgow Regeneration Agency to talk through some potential ideas and see what availability there is for funding, necessary licences, etc. We are also going to meet with a centre in the south of the city called The Well (they’re a great group of people, we actually met with them when we first came to Glasgow to assess the opportunities here). It’s an advice centre set up by the Church of Scotland for the South Asian community. Though they work with a different clientele, we feel that much of what they do would be pertinent for the communities here in the north.

So it’s an exciting time and we have lots of ideas flying around our heads. Hopefully as we go to some of these meetings, we can assess what’s practical and appropriate for our area, and making steps toward a more specific plan. So keep us in your prayers, especially that we’ll be attentive to how God wants to lead us in this formative process.

- Paul