Good afternoon. Our first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev James Boag, the minister of Broom parish Church of Scotland, Newton Mearns.
Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you for this opportunity to address you this afternoon.
It is quite common nowadays when driving into a town to notice that it has been twinned with another town or city in another country. I have often wondered how that has come about. What do the towns have in common? Are they similar in size, population or whatever?
In the church, some of our congregations are twinned with others overseas. It is not that the congregations are necessarily similar in any way, but they are perhaps twinned more by way of sharing experiences or assistance—it may be financial, material or in personnel. It is a two-way exchange, as each can share what the other has.
My own congregation has recently become involved not in twinning with another town or congregation but in twinning toilets. When it was suggested that we might consider that, it was done so rather hesitantly. We wondered how it would be viewed. Would it be taken seriously, or was it a ridiculous idea? It has been and it is not and I am very pleased to say that the idea has been embraced and supported heartily by our congregation and indeed others. It is very humbling to be made aware of the dreadful insanitary conditions that some people have to use—or, more accurately, have to endure.
Each week we are asked to “spend a penny”—in other words, to drop our small change into a modified toilet bowl. Every £60 or £240 raised will provide one single toilet unit or a complete toilet block for a school or community, maybe in Chad, India, Pakistan or Uganda. We are all aware that poor sanitation leads to disease and death so, in this toilet twinning project, we are helping, with our small change, vulnerable people at the most basic level.
I can still remember very well indeed the outside toilet that we shared with the entire close where I lived as a boy in Port Glasgow, and that was over 50 years ago. What we had then was far, far better than some people have today.
In the cut and thrust of politics, industry and commerce, it is easy to forget or perhaps overlook the most basic of human needs. May I humbly suggest that the next time you notice a town twinned with another, you pause and think of something much more basic and note that even our small change can make a big change.
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Business Motion