The final item of business today is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-05533, in the name of Bob Doris, on Dr David Livingstone’s bicentenary. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises the achievements of the missionary and explorer, Dr David Livingstone, and the bicentenary of his birth; understands that the bicentenary celebrations at his birthplace of Blantyre will build on his legacy; notes that the Scottish Government has contributed £250,000 toward ensuring a sustainable legacy for the celebrations, particularly emphasising the creation of Livingstone exhibitions in Scotland and Malawi, preservation of a shared Malawi-Scottish heritage, development of skills that aid in that preservation and assistance to the Malawi Government to protect its own monuments, historic buildings and heritage; hopes that Livingstone’s legacy can be further strengthened through the funding of a David Livingstone Bicentenary Scholarship Programme, toward which the Scottish Government has already approved £100,000; understands that such a fund would assist academically gifted but underprivileged Malawians to continue to study topics relevant to the Government of Malawi’s growth and development strategy, and understands that Malawi has the lowest rate of university enrolment in the world and that the David Livingstone Bicentenary Scholarship Programme will be of immense help to Malawi and Scotland’s development and the long-term continuation of Livingstone’s legacy.
17:08
I am pleased to host this debate on the legacy of David Livingstone, who would have been 200 next Tuesday. This is fast becoming Malawi March in the Parliament, with the state visit by President Joyce Banda next week and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association reception the week after that. In addition, James Kelly, who is present this evening, will be having a debate on the theme later this month.
Other than the legacy of David Livingstone, the inspiration for having the debate was Councillor Bert Thomson, the councillor for Blantyre, who told me about his fondness for the connection that the area he represents has with David Livingstone, and about his experiences as a boy—which I am sure were not that long ago—in relation to the work carried out. Also, Jim Hume has a strong family connection with David Livingstone, and a number of members who are in the chamber have strong connections with Malawi and have done a lot of work on that. I pay tribute to them for that.
By way of introduction, I would like to reflect on Scotland’s special relationship with Malawi. That is the most enduring legacy of Dr Livingstone, who was undoubtedly one of the most renowned Scots of the 19th century and is surely Blantyre’s most famous son. Unlike his devout, Sunday school teaching father, Livingstone was convinced of the compatibility of religion and science and he hoped to use one to advance the other, although his emphasis was always more on exploration and humanitarian concerns than on straight missionary work.
It was those humanitarian concerns that led Kenneth Kaunda, the first President of Zambia, to describe Livingstone as Africa’s first freedom fighter. A staunch opponent of slavery, Livingstone strongly believed that promoting enterprise and commerce would help to bring social justice, self-government and light to what was unfortunately still described in Europe as the dark continent.
Dr Livingstone’s navigation of the Zambezi on one such expedition in the 1870s took him to what is now known as Malawi. The visit opened up the interior of the sub-Saharan region to European trade and watered the seeds that have flowered into the modern nation of Malawi. The trade settlement that Livingstone established has since grown into the country’s commercial capital, and his influence is made plain in the city’s name, Blantyre.
Although Malawi became independent in 1964, it has retained its close links with the United Kingdom and Scotland in particular. Those links were fostered by Jack McConnell when he was First Minister in what was the devolved Scottish Administration’s first high-profile international engagement, and I think that the move represented a coming of age for the Parliament and the then Executive. The co-operation agreement that was signed in 2005 by the Scottish and Malawian Administrations codifies the role of the Scottish Government in international development in Malawi in the areas of health, education, the economy and governance. Under the agreement, the Scottish Government ring fences a minimum of £3 million from its international development fund for projects in Malawi. However, I am delighted to say that since 2010 the average has been about £4.5 million per year.
The bicentenary offers a chance to build on that fantastic legacy. Throughout the year, a number of grass-roots and Scottish Government-supported activities are being held both here and in Africa to mark the anniversary. Perhaps most significantly, Zambia, which is arguably the country after Malawi that has been most influenced by Livingstone, will host the Livingstone 2013 festival, which will include an exchange programme with Scotland for medical students at Zambia’s Livingstone hospital. The programme will allow the countries to share expertise in what are, given Livingstone’s background, particularly appropriate fields.
The David Livingstone bicentenary scholarship programme, which I mention in my motion, is a central part of that legacy. In my research for this debate, I was surprised to find that Malawi has the lowest rate of university enrolment in the world; only 51 in 100,000 Malawians are in higher education and most of them are in liberal arts courses. Although that is in many ways a positive sign and suggests an improvement in standards of living and the emergence of a middle class, Malawian universities need to produce graduates with the skills to contribute directly to the country’s economic and social development and this £100,000 programme, which is funded by the Scottish Government and managed by the Scotland Malawi Partnership, will help to support up to 50 gifted but underprivileged Malawians through a masters degree.
Although the scholarship is a one-off, it should, if done correctly, have benefits that endure long after the bicentenary year. To achieve that—and I understand that the partnership is still fleshing out the details of this—it has suggested that one of the criteria for the awarding of the grant be that applicants contribute via their studies to the wider community, perhaps by teaching in a school or working in the development sector. In that way, the investment will have a knock-on effect beyond the students who will benefit directly.
The National Trust for Scotland’s David Livingstone centre, which is based in Livingstone’s childhood home in Blantyre, is at the heart of the bicentenary celebrations, and I am pleased to welcome some of the centre’s staff to the chamber. This year, more than 80 years after its establishment, it has been awarded official museum accreditation, and I know that the centre hopes that another legacy of the bicentenary will be a major repair and refurbishment programme for its buildings.
Next week, on the bicentenary itself, children from local Blantyre primary schools will bury at the centre a time capsule containing a mixture of historic materials, some of which have been provided by a primary school in Malawi. Later that day, the centre will unveil one of Livingstone’s newly discovered diaries. I pay special tribute to the centre for this activity because I think that teaching children about and encouraging them to participate in Livingstone’s legacy is a wonderful way of ensuring that the special links between Scotland and Malawi remain strong into the next generation and—I hope—for centuries to come.
As a Glasgow MSP, I feel it a privilege that boundaries were changed to bring Blantyre into the Glasgow region. It enriches the geographical area that I represent in the same way that David Livingstone’s legacy enriches Scotland, Malawi and, indeed, the world. I am sure that when we celebrate David Livingstone’s 400th birthday in 200 years’ time, those bonds will be stronger than ever.
17:15
I welcome the opportunity to speak in this important debate, in which we are celebrating the life of David Livingstone, and congratulate Bob Doris on securing it. I am pleased to see Jim Hume in the chamber, as he is a direct descendant of David Livingstone. He looks as if he is set to contribute to the debate. I have no doubt that his contribution will give a particular insight and enrich the debate.
I want to concentrate on David Livingstone’s links with Blantyre, his legacy, and the relevance of his story to Blantyre now. If we look at Blantyre today and the school names there, we see that his memory is alive and well in that community. There is the David Livingstone Memorial primary school and the David Livingstone centre, which Bob Doris mentioned. There is no doubt that his memory is alive and well in Blantyre because of the remarkable story of his upbringing there, which is an inspiration. He worked in a mill from the age of 10. He started at 6 o’clock in the morning and worked until 8 at night—that is a 14-hour day. Such was his and his family’s drive that he would then spend two hours reading in very poorly lit accommodation to educate himself.
When David Livingstone secured a place at the University of Glasgow, he used to leave every Monday to go to it, walking the 8 miles from Blantyre. That shows the man’s drive and inspiration. His education at the University of Glasgow built the platform for the life that he was to go on to lead.
There were a number of important strands to Livingstone’s life. Obviously, he was an experienced explorer from three trips over a 30-year period, and he had a really strong Christian faith, which he looked to take to Africa. That faith is alive and well today in the Blantyre Livingstone Memorial parish church, which holds a memorial service every year, not just in this bicentenary year. Livingstone was also a strong anti-slavery campaigner. In his famous University of Glasgow address in 1858, he hit out at
“the horrid system of slavery”.
There are important lessons that Blantyre is taking forward now. There is a strong community in the area, which goes back to the time of the mills, where Livingstone’s family worked, and the mines. We should not forget that, around the time of Livingstone’s death, 207 people lost their lives in the Dixon’s pit mining disaster in Blantyre. That history still very much lives with people today.
Like other areas, Blantyre has faced difficult times in recent years, but there is a strong community there, and some of the principles that David Livingstone followed have been followed by people in the community. There is perseverance and respect for different parts of the community, and that is taken forward locally by St Blane’s primary school. It works with Nil by Mouth and has an important anti-sectarianism project, which it uses to reach out to all parts of the community. In all the community groups in Blantyre, there is a sense of improvement, which I think Livingstone would have approved of. He was all for people doing better and improving the quality of their lives.
Livingstone’s life is an inspiration, and we are proud to have the opportunity to look at that past. His legacy lives on, and the flame of his ideals burns brightly.
17:19
I, too, congratulate Bob Doris on securing this timely debate and look forward to a busy two weeks ahead as we celebrate the bicentenary of Livingstone’s birth. I wish Sarah Boyack and Alex Fergusson a safe and productive visit to Malawi next week as they take forward the work that we in this Parliament do through the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association to try to enrich and enhance the democratic capabilities of the members of the Malawi Parliament, and I hope that they will take our good wishes to them. I was privileged to visit Malawi for the same work in January 2011. I am now the convener of the cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament on Malawi, so I obviously keep a close eye on what is happening there.
David Livingstone was indeed a remarkable man, as James Kelly said, who worked as a child and into his early teens but continued to learn in order to better himself. He was deeply religious, too, but he was not the standard imperialist explorer. He worked to protect the interests of the tribes that he came across. Although he did evangelise as a missionary, he apparently did not manage to get that many conversions. He did not force his beliefs on those whom he came across and he was far more motivated by the prospect of exploration, scientific discovery and—most important—ending slavery.
David Livingstone believed that he needed to find an easy route into the centre of the continent in order to bring legitimate trade as an alternative to the slave trade. He campaigned tirelessly against slavery and worked to spread knowledge of its horrors back home in the UK. In particular, he reported on the Nyangwe massacre, when slave traders fired into a crowded market and 400 people were killed. It was British pressure that was in part due to Livingstone’s efforts that led the Sultan of Zanzibar to make the slave trade illegal on the east coast of Africa.
Unlike many other missionaries, Livingstone remained respected as a great humanitarian in the areas in which he travelled. As a doctor, he was able to provide medical aid to the people whom he met, which helped to win their trust. He was one of the first to administer quinine in doses that are now considered to be effective and he suggested early on that mosquitoes were associated with malaria. For those reasons, he is still deeply respected in Malawi and so well known that everyone you meet there can tell you something about him. I think that that is the basis for the deep relationship between our two countries. Through the CPG, we have learned so much about the projects that Scotland’s civil society undertakes in Malawi.
I point out, however, that behind every good man is a good woman. An often ignored element of Dr Livingstone’s story is his wife, Mary, who was often known by her maiden name of Moffat. She was born in Africa and her father was a missionary, too, who was famous for protecting the interests of natives. Moffat crossed the Kalahari—imagine this—while pregnant. She was, in fact, the first white woman to cross the Kalahari. She accompanied Livingstone on many of his other strenuous expeditions, often with her family in tow. She died from malaria after rejoining Livingstone in Africa following a period of living in Great Britain. We should recognise her sacrifices, too, which played a crucial role in enabling Livingstone to make his mark in history.
17:23
Like others, I congratulate Bob Doris on securing the debate. However, I apologise to him and other members because I have not signed his motion, which I did not realise until this afternoon. I thought that I had signed it, but I will put that right, albeit that it is a question of better late than never.
I am delighted to take part in the debate, a mere six days short of the 200th anniversary of the birth of surely one of the most remarkable men in Scotland’s history, which abounds with remarkable figures. As we have heard, David Livingstone was born in Blantyre into the most humble of surroundings and by the age of 10 was working up to 12 hours a day in the cotton mills, with school lessons to be attended in the evenings. It surely says everything about this extraordinary man that his thirst for knowledge overcame his physical fatigue to such an extent that he became a voracious reader at a young age. Despite his father’s strong belief that theology and science should not be mixed, he decided to study medicine and theology in Glasgow, and eventually decided to become a missionary doctor.
Of course, it was in that capacity that he found himself posted, in 1845, to the edge of the Kalahari desert in southern Africa. He soon became convinced that he had a mission to reach new peoples in the interior of the vast continent of Africa, to introduce them to Christianity and, as members said, to free them from slavery. His anti-slavery stance was notable in its robustness for the day.
It was that firm belief that inspired and encouraged him to undertake the explorations across Africa for which he rightly became famous. He discovered the Victoria falls in 1855, and in the following year he became the first European to cross the width of southern Africa. What I find remarkable is that, unlike other expeditions of the time, which almost always involved large numbers of soldiers and other armed personnel, for security reasons, Livingstone’s expeditions always consisted of a small number of people, who clearly constituted no threat to anyone. I cannot help but think that that is why he was usually greeted with enthusiasm and respect by local chiefs and tribes, whom he respected in turn—every bit as much as they did him.
Livingstone lectured on and extolled the virtues of Christianity, but, again unlike other explorers and missionaries of the time, he did not try to impose Christianity on people against their will if he met with resistance. There is no doubt that that explains the reverence with which he is remembered across Africa to this day, which Maureen Watt, in particular, mentioned.
When the Malawian high commissioner to the UK, His Excellency Mr Bernard Sande, visited the Scottish Parliament recently, Sarah Boyack and I had the great pleasure of meeting him. Ms Boyack and I will visit Malawi later this week and next week on behalf of the CPA Scotland branch; I thank Maureen Watt for her kind words and we will take the good wishes of the Parliament with us. His Excellency told us that he had visited the David Livingstone centre in Blantyre the day before, and that he had been virtually transfixed by his surroundings, to the extent that he could hardly bear to tear himself away. Indeed, I understand that he overstayed his scheduled visit by more than an hour. He was clearly deeply moved by the experience.
The deep feelings for David Livingstone that people across Africa still have are partly why I am so pleased to take part in this debate. Commemorations of this nature are not always about a part of our history that does us great justice—if we are being perfectly honest—but any commemoration of David Livingstone is a commemoration of everything that is best about Scotland’s pioneering past.
I particularly welcome the Scottish Government’s intention to fund a bicentenary scholarship programme. David Livingstone realised at an early age that education and knowledge produce the only real way to loosen the chains of poverty and slavery, so it is fitting that we should celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth by seeking to further that empowerment, even in a small way, through a scholarship programme. As it says in the motion, the programme will help
“the long-term continuation of Livingstone’s legacy”—
a legacy of which we can surely all be immensely proud.
17:28
I congratulate my friend and colleague Bob Doris on securing this timely and important debate in the year in which we celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Dr David Livingstone. Members will be aware that the subject is close to my heart. I think that David Livingstone gave much more to the world than he took out.
When I was a child growing up in the east end of Glasgow, I was treated to a school visit to the David Livingstone centre in Blantyre. The visit triggered a lifelong interest in the life and work of that remarkable man. The search for the source of the Nile fascinated me and led to dreams of sailing the Nile all the way to the pyramids. A few years ago I made that journey with my sons. We sailed from Luxor to Aswan and we visited the pyramids. The wee lassie fae Easterhouse realised her dream.
I have had the great pleasure of visiting Malawi, which is a fantastic and beautiful country. I wish Malawi’s people well with their celebrations, too. We had a great adventure, which I think that I will always remember.
When Dr Livingstone decided to travel to Africa, I wonder whether he thought about the dangers that the adventure would present, the plants and animals that he would see and the different people that he would meet. I wonder whether he thought that, 200 years later, we would revere him and celebrate his remarkable life and work.
One thing that I remember about Livingstone is the fact that he wrote about the horror of people trafficking and the slave trade in his many letters, diaries and journals, some of which I have had the great privilege of seeing at first hand at the visitor centre. I know from my involvement in the cross-party group on human trafficking that that is an issue that, sadly, we still face today.
Livingstone had a great spirit, and it is that spirit—the spirit of equality, fairness and justice—that took him to Africa in 1840. In a letter to the editor of the New York Herald, he wrote:
“And if my disclosures regarding the terrible Ujijian slavery should lead to the suppression of the East Coast slave trade, I shall regard that as a greater matter by far than the discovery of all the Nile sources together.”
What a powerful reason for writing to newspapers and raising awareness of the inhumanity of the slave trade.
Livingstone is remembered extremely fondly in Malawi. I did not go anywhere where there were schoolchildren who did not know who he was or adults who could not talk about what he brought their country. He is remembered in Malawi not just for his many endeavours to end the trade in human beings, but as someone who brought education and medicine. Anyone from Scotland who visits a school in Malawi will find the education system very familiar.
I believe that the things that Livingstone fought for are worth fighting for, but things that are worth fighting for are never easy to attain. Livingstone said:
“If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.”
I think that women would have joined him.
Over the course of his first 12 years in Africa, he developed an anger about slavery and even refused to follow the same paths as the slave traders. He wrote:
“it is so undesirable to travel in a path once trodden by slave-traders that I preferred to find out another line of march.”
The David Livingstone Centre is a jewel in Lanarkshire’s crown. I am delighted to see that the local councillor, Bert Thomson, is in the gallery, and I am delighted that future generations of Scots and visitors from across the world will continue to be able to learn about and gain inspiration from Livingstone’s life and legacy at the centre, which I was treated to visiting as a child. For that reason, I put my heart and soul into securing the centre’s future when it was under threat a few years ago. We managed to do that through a lot of joint work and great work by the staff.
I am delighted that the centre has been given museum status. That has been a long time coming—it should have happened a long time ago—but we are very grateful that it has now happened. I am also delighted that the Scottish Government has committed to celebrating Livingstone’s 200th anniversary. We should not forget the roles that people played in forging Scotland’s place in the world. Today’s debate and the events of the rest of the month will be a very fitting legacy.
17:32
I, too, congratulate Bob Doris on securing the debate. I should note that James Kelly also lodged a motion on Dr Livingstone, which I supported before it was lodged.
Bob Doris and James Kelly have declared my interest for me. My granny was a very proud lady. One of her proudest facts was that her great-grandfather, which I think makes him my great-great-great-grandfather, was a cousin of David Livingstone. Therefore, although I am not quite a straight descendant of Dr Livingstone, I am descended from his grandfather, if I have my maths right.
My granny’s great-grandfather’s name was Alexander Livingstone. A contemporary of David’s, he, too, was from Blantyre and worked in the Blantyre mills, but as a weaver. Although members might think that David Livingstone’s life was cut short early because of foreign travels and his contracting malaria—he died at the age of 60—my ancestor, David’s cousin, died some time before he was 31. We do not know exactly when he died. His name appeared in the 1841 census but not in the 1851 census, so he might even have been as young as 22 when he died.
In those days, mills did not have the highest health and safety standards. It is interesting to think that although David took what appeared to be the more adventurous and dangerous route in life, he managed to live for twice as long as his cousin who stayed at home to continue the family weaving tradition. Members can draw from that what they like.
David Livingstone is rightly heralded as one of the greatest Scots who ever lived. It must surely be true to say that, despite being a man who is known for his various explorations, the greatest journey that he took in life was the one that took him from his tenement in Blantyre and the mills that all his family worked in to his interment in Westminster abbey alongside this island’s great and good.
His life is a true rags-to-riches tale and an inspiration not only to Scots but to people everywhere, including Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It takes a remarkable individual to slip free from the humble confines of early 19th century industrial Lanarkshire and achieve what he achieved.
In his honour, a mountain range in Canada has been adorned with his name, as has a city in Zambia, a town in Malawi, a college in the United States—the list goes on.
How did a man from such humble beginnings, who from the age of 10—as Alex Fergusson said—did 12-hour shifts as a piecer in a cotton mill go on to achieve the legacy that he did? One of his most memorable quotes perhaps gives us a measure of the man:
“I will go anywhere, provided it is forward”.
Forward he did go.
Livingstone may have been introduced to the African continent to spread the word of God, but he would eventually abandon his mission of faith and go forward on a mission of exploration. As a result, he created a legacy that has endured for two centuries. His expeditions were responsible for important geological discoveries, such as Victoria falls—I will not embarrass myself by trying to pronounce that waterfall’s indigenous name—and led to the mapping of previously uncharted areas of the continent.
It would be wrong to paint his life as a fairytale, though. He would later come to regret not spending more time with his children, his expeditions were not always fully successful and his wife, Mary Moffat, passed away with malaria on one such expedition.
It is right and proper that we commemorate his life on the eve of the bicentenary of his birth. That the President of Malawi is making a state visit to this Parliament next week is a wonderful honour and testament to the contribution that David Livingstone made to 19th century Europe’s understanding of central Africa—and the impact that he had on not only my granny and family, but all the countries that he visited.
17:36
I, too, thank Bob Doris for securing the debate.
That we are debating the bicentenary of the birth of Dr David Livingstone is a mark of the man’s significance and of the endurance of his legacy here in the United Kingdom and in Africa. Our partnership with Malawi is a result of his relationship with that country. Although many other former colonies and protectorates have turned their backs on their colonial heritage, Malawi is still proud of its links to Livingstone and, through him, to Blantyre and Scotland.
The strength of that relationship was brought home to me in 2006 when I had the privilege of visiting the David Livingstone centre in Blantyre—the Scottish Blantyre—with two visiting Malawian Government ministers. I was genuinely taken aback by how honoured they felt to visit the home of the legendary figure. Alex Fergusson described a similar experience. It was extremely moving to see how moved they were to see for themselves the humble origins of one who is so important to the history of their nation and whom they regard as a very great man indeed.
One of those Malawian ministers will return to Blantyre on Sunday, as part of the celebrations of the bicentenary of Livingstone’s birth, but this time she will visit as the President of Malawi. I look forward to hearing President Banda’s address to Parliament next week and to welcoming her back to Scotland.
That Livingstone found himself in Africa at all was a historical accident. He had wanted to be a missionary in China, but the opium wars put paid to that. A geographical accident brought him to Malawi as he led an expedition to open up the Zambezi River. In fact, he spent very little time in Malawi, but he inspired many European missionaries to follow in his wake.
Many of those missionaries were ill-equipped for what they would encounter and many died not long after arriving, often of malaria and other tropical diseases. Often, whole families were wiped out, and the devastation that was wreaked can be seen to this day in the missionary graveyards.
Livingstone was a determined man; he was described on one occasion by his friend and companion, John Kirk, as being possibly mad. His reputation suffered ups and downs even during his lifetime—but then again, most great men find that their reputations wane and wax from day to day. However, his stand against slavery must surely commend him to us. He described slavery as the
“open sore of the world”
and he used his travels and fame as a platform from which he could declare his opposition to it.
Livingstone carried on his work when pain and disease would have dictated to a less dedicated or determined man that he should stop. He finally died, probably from the effects of a cocktail of tropical diseases, in 1873.
We rightly celebrate and praise Livingstone for his achievements and his legacy, but let us not—as Maureen Watt said—forget his wife, Mary. Mary was the daughter of Robert Moffat, who was a highly regarded missionary. She was born in Africa and met Livingstone when he returned to her father’s home at Kuruman, which is in modern-day South Africa. Livingstone had been attacked by a lion, and Mary nursed him as he recovered from major injuries to his arm. They married a year later and set up home together.
Following the death of their baby daughter, Mary returned to the UK to bring up their family. The Livingstones were married for 18 years, but they spent half that time apart. Mary died at the age of 41, only three months after returning to Africa to be with Livingstone. She was buried in Mozambique. It is ironic that although Livingstone pioneered the use of quinine—as we have heard—as a remedy against malaria, Mary was too sick to benefit from It.
Livingstone was a missionary, an explorer, a cartographer and a doctor. He worked hard to understand the diseases that he encountered in Africa. Sadly, some of those diseases, such as malaria, are still all too common. The diseases that killed Livingstone, his wife Mary, and many of the missionaries whom he inspired kill thousands of people in Africa to this day.
In an excellent article, Michael Barrett, a professor of biochemical parasitology at the University of Glasgow, suggests that it would be a fitting tribute to David Livingstone if, in 2013, we finally saw the tide turning against tropical disease. That would be the most fitting tribute that we could give in this bicentenary year and would be something of which I think Livingstone would approve.
I call Dave Thompson. There are four minutes left for his speech.
17:41
I, too, congratulate Bob Doris on securing this debate on the bicentenary of the birth of Dr David Livingstone, which is on 19 March 1813. The list of David Livingstone’s exploits and accomplishments is long. He travelled the Nile and explored the Zambezi and he was the first European to lay eyes on Victoria falls.
Throughout David Livingstone’s journeys, there was one defining feature of his life that stood out from the rest—his Christian faith. The young David Livingstone grew up in a household in which he was surrounded by Christian values. His father was a door-to-door salesman who gave out Christian tracts while doing his job, and was also a Sunday school teacher at church.
Mr Thompson, we cannot hear you very well. Will you ensure that your microphone is directed towards you?
Is that better?
Yes.
I am sorry about that.
The young David Livingstone grew up in a household in which he was surrounded by Christian values—I will say it again so that people get it this time. [Laughter.] His father was a door-to-door salesman who gave out Christian tracts while doing his job, and was also a Sunday school teacher at church. David emulated his father’s love of theology and his father’s faith in Christ, but he mixed it with a distinct passion for the sciences, which led him to study medicine and to being ordained as a missionary.
David Livingstone’s father feared that reading science books would undermine David’s Christianity. David’s deep interest in nature led him to investigate the relationship between religion and science. However, after reading the book “The Philosophy of a Future State” by Thomas Dick, the young David reconciled his two loves of faith and science. He believed that the two are not at odds with each other but are both essential to a fulfilled life.
David Livingstone went on to establish Christian missions in central Africa and to become one of the most famous missionaries in history. His motto, which is inscribed on the base of the statue to him at Victoria falls, was “Christianity, Commerce and Civilisation”. He saw his mission as opening a path for commerce and Christianity. It is important to note that his championing of commerce was not colonialist; it was more to do with providing an alternative economy to the slave trade.
David Livingstone encouraged small groups of Presbyterian men, and eventually their families, to form communities in Africa that would bring their skills and pass those on to local people. He saw that not as a means of European settlement but as a transfer of skills and techniques and a way of Christian living.
During his travels, David Livingstone preached a Christian message, but he never forced it on unwilling ears. He listened to the African chiefs with respect and courtesy; he treated them as equals, which was in stark contrast to the treatment of the African people by many other Europeans.
In taking that attitude, David Livingstone was acting just as he had learned in his readings of the Bible. As 1 Peter 3:8 says:
“Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.”
The First Minister recently said that David Livingstone’s values are the values of Scotland. I agree. Of course, those values were Christian values and we should not forget that.
At a time when it is unfashionable to admit that Scotland was once known as the land of the book, we could do worse than look back at the life of David Livingstone—a man whose values of humanity did not stem from humanism, but from a deep faith in Jesus Christ, a factor that was also instrumental in shaping who we were, and are, as the Scottish nation.
17:45
I am grateful for the opportunity to make some closing remarks. I thank Bob Doris—it is to his credit that he has brought this important debate to the chamber.
Members have made some fantastic contributions, which I will touch on. I was delighted to hear about Jim Hume’s great-great-great grandfather’s relation to the great man himself, David Livingstone. When I first found that out a couple of weeks ago, I said to Jim Hume that I was not surprised but delighted to hear that he was cut from such noble cloth. He reminded me quite correctly, as did James Kelly, that David Livingstone was the most humble of humble men, which makes his achievements all the more remarkable.
As we have been made aware through the various speeches, David Livingstone was one of our greatest explorers. As Alex Fergusson mentioned, he embodied a thirst for education, but he also embodied enterprise and a capacity for endurance. Almost every member referred to the fact that he was in Africa as a humanitarian. Alex Fergusson made the point well that he spoke against slavery at a time when it was not fashionable to do so. It is easier for me and other members across the chamber to stand up and speak against slavery but, in those days, doing so was not at all popular. In fact, David Livingstone spoke up decades before Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation, so he was a trailblazer of his time.
David Livingstone made a significant contribution to our understanding of the world. His legacy continues to this day with the strong relationship that we have spoken about between the people of Scotland and Malawi. In fact, the first debate that I had the honour of leading on in the chamber in my role as Minister for External Affairs and International Development, was on Malawi. Nearly every single speech touched on David Livingstone. Christina McKelvie’s speech today reminded me of her passionate speech in that debate. That passion was a result of her one visit to the David Livingstone centre. It is incredible to think of all the children who have passed through the centre. I hope that they will keep hold of that passion throughout their lives as the member has done.
On Sunday, we will be welcoming a delegation from the Republic of Malawi to Scotland to celebrate with us the birth of David Livingstone. The bicentenary celebrations are an opportunity to celebrate the many achievements of that great man that members have mentioned.
The Scottish Government is contributing almost £450,000 towards ensuring a sustainable legacy from the celebrations. We are contributing £150,000 to the National Trust for Scotland to support the David Livingstone centre in co-ordinating the Livingstone celebrations. In doing so, we are refocusing the nation’s attention on that important centre in Blantyre, which is not only David Livingstone’s birthplace but a focal point for understanding his legacy at home and abroad.
As an aside, Patricia Ferguson mentioned the story of David Livingstone being bitten on the arm by a lion. That is how he met Mary Moffat, the woman who nursed him and whom he would later marry. There is a statue of the lion attacking him at the centre. When I was looking at that statue, I remember thinking that there are definitely easier ways to get a woman’s attention. Nonetheless, endurance is important.
I recently announced an additional £50,000 to the National Trust for Scotland to develop Livingstone 200 events in the course of 2013. The funding is opening up the bicentenary celebrations to more people, community groups and grass-roots organisations. I hope that it will introduce Dr Livingstone to new audiences and increase awareness of volunteering opportunities. I urge every member to pass on information about that fund to local groups in their constituencies. They can get that information by looking at the davidlivingstone200.org website.
We have also provided other pockets of money, including more than £140,000 for National Museums Scotland to work with National Museums Malawi to provide content for the “Dr Livingstone, I presume?” exhibition, which I have had the pleasure of seeing. The funding will also assist in raising the profile and professional quality of museums services in Malawi by developing and implementing targeted skills development. That is important, because we want to try not just to help Malawi through our international development fund and through traditional aid but to increase tourism and increase the skills and knowledge sectors of Malawi.
In addition to those projects, the Scottish Government has provided £100,000 towards a David Livingstone bicentenary scholarship. As Alex Fergusson quite rightly mentioned, David Livingstone was an educated man who understood that education was a route out of poverty. I am delighted that this scholarship programme will give young, gifted, underprivileged Malawian students—women in particular—the opportunity to study at a Malawian further or higher education institution in a range of subjects. It will be a life-changing opportunity for young people in Malawi, where educational attainment is among the lowest in the developing world.
Everybody has talked about David Livingstone’s legacy and it is important to continue that legacy. Patricia Ferguson made that point very well and very poignantly with regard to the diseases that affected David Livingstone and, unfortunately, also killed Mary Moffat. Those diseases are unfortunately still very much alive and prevalent today and, as Patricia Ferguson said, the best legacy is to try to eradicate them. That is absolutely right and that is a challenge that all of us need to face up to.
It is great to see that, 200 years on from the birth of this fantastic Scot, his legacy is being continued by none other than a young girl—I believe that she is 10 years old now—Martha Payne, who is using modern-day technology to capture the imagination of people and continue that legacy for the people of Malawi.
The Government looks forward to the programme of events during the visit of the Malawian delegation to celebrate the bicentenary of Dr David Livingstone’s birth, which has been put together by representatives of Scottish civic society. I thank them all for their efforts.
It is a testament to David Livingstone that his legacy retains such a power to motivate. I look forward to the celebrations ahead, as I think many of us do, and I wish those who are visiting Malawi on behalf of this Parliament every success. I hope that they take the best wishes of the Government with them as well as the best wishes of the Scottish Parliament. I thank Bob Doris for securing the debate and I wish the celebrations every success.
Meeting closed at 17:53.Previous
Decision Time