Greenbank Parish Church & the Scottish Love in Action (SLA) Project

At the 'Off The Wall Café' in Edinburgh (September 2004), we were privileged to hear Gillie Davidson speak about the work of SLA and she has given us permission to include her talk - unfortunately without the marvellous and interesting slides, although other photographs can be seen at SLA.

"For many years I was leader of the youth group in Greenbank Parish Church. Each summer in the holidays we would offer to do voluntary work, alternative years in this country and abroad. In 1999, I, and my co-leader, Brian Barron, took 23 young folk from our Youth Group on an expedition to India to help build a school-cum-home for destitute children. We were very lucky to win the Young Explorers Approval and Momad Award for this, which gave us a quantity of medical equipment to take with us, which was invaluable during our adventure.

We had heard from a friend who worked for Christian Aid, that in Tuni, which is in East Godavai District of Andhre Pradesh, there were many Dalit, i.e. "Untouchable" orphans in desperate need of help, being homeless, starving and receiving no kind of assistance from the government. These children had all suffered tragic experiences in their young lives and were found in the rubbish dumps, begging in the railway stations, some even forced into child prostitution. As Dalits they are denied basic human rights and thus receive no education or health care.

We worked for two years prior to going, to raise £28,000 for building materials and each of us paid for our own travel. Once there we worked in chain-gangs with the Dalits on the buidling site; we worked with the children; went into the jungle villages and saw the environments from which many of our children had come. The whole experience was amazing and very humbling. It certainly made us question our own values and way of life.

Once we were back home some of us realised that we could not just walk away from this summer activity but needed to be committed to these children, supporting them by raising sufficient funds to cover the ongoing cost of their accommodation, food, clothing and education. Thus we formed a Registered Scottish Charity which was given the name "Scottish Love in Action" by our Indian friends. This now involves us raising at least £38,000 a year.

In 1950, written into the Indian constitution, it was stated that persecution of the "Untouchables" is illegal. Still to this day this is not upleld by the law. There are between 250 million and 300 million Dalits in India, the same as the whole of the population of USA. The oppression of Dalits is now called the second apartheid.

India has pockets of great wealth, has high technology and is the most vibrant, astounding amalgam of religions, tribes, cultures and yet there is also abject poverty for the vast majority. Education is paramount in helping the Dalit peoples realise their potential, know that they are entitled to basic human rights, and to escape the poverty trap. These people are so dignified despite their persecution.

It is now 4 years since the original expedition and we have been able each year, although with difficulty and much hard work, to raise the necessary finance.

Last November there were over 320 children in the home and another 50 receiving education. There are many others in great need and they keep coming to SLA. The Director of the school is an Indian Dalit. He is a Christian and the children are being brought up as Christians.

We are delighted with the progress of the work and are committed to continuing to work to support these children, however another important outcome of this adventure was the effect it had on the young people who participated. It gave them the opportunity to broaden their understanding of the needs of some of the underprivileged peoples of our world and to express their Christian commitment in action.

Go to SLA to learn more.

On-line shopping:

If you are doing any shopping on-line it is possible to help SLA. If you go to: shop, you will find links to major on-line retailers and a small percentage of any purchase you make will go to SLA, at no cost to yourself.