The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-10661, in the name of James Dornan, on celebrating Glasgow the Caring City. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. I would be grateful if the members who wish to speak in the debate would press their request-to-speak buttons now. I would also be grateful if the guests in the gallery who are leaving could do so quietly, as the Parliament is still in session.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament celebrates the 15th birthday of Glasgow the Caring City in 2014; notes that Glasgow the Caring City is a Scottish charity based in Cathcart that supports children in crisis at home and overseas; notes that the charity achieves this aim by supporting a range of health, education and security programmes worldwide, from what it considers its successful Give a Kid a Goal campaign for children across Glasgow to helping to fund the Himbaza School in Burundi’s capital city, Bujumbura; notes the work that it has done in organising the Celebration City Festival for the Commonwealth Games; considers its contribution over the last 15 years to children worldwide and closer to home to be invaluable; thanks the charity for the work that it does, and wishes it every success as it moves forward with its plans for future development.
12:33
This debate is on a subject that is very important to me. I could speak on it for half an hour, but members will be delighted to learn that I will not do so and that I will try to stick to my seven minutes.
I welcome to the chamber the Rev Neil Galbraith, founder of Glasgow the Caring City. Many members will know him. He has been tireless in his work both in the city of Glasgow and further afield. He is the minister of Cathcart old parish church; he is a police chaplain; and he also works with veterans, particularly in his coming home project, which he runs from his church. The project, which was discussed with the minister, Keith Brown, before it began, is for veterans who find it difficult to reintegrate into society. It gives them somewhere to go and meet their peers, and it is becoming a place where they can move on, get jobs and move back into society. It is invaluable; in fact, I was speaking to a couple of people involved in it the other day.
For many, however, the Rev Neil Galbraith will be known as the founder of Glasgow the Caring City, the charity that I am delighted the Parliament is recognising today. It was founded in May 1999 as Glasgow’s very own aid agency. It was originally set up to help those who had been made homeless by the wars that were raging across the Balkans, and its aim was to help as many as possible of the thousands of asylum seekers and refugees who were arriving in Glasgow at that time. At its core, the charity’s central aim is to provide care, help and love to the most fragile and destitute children at home and abroad. It has worked tirelessly towards that aim for the past 15 years.
Glasgow the Caring City works with a number of projects around the world to provide help and support, locally and internationally. It also provides emergency relief where it can.
The charity’s first theme is education, which is a key part of its development strategy. As the late, great Nelson Mandela said,
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
The Caring City has taken that mantra to heart.
At home, the organisation has worked on its give a kid a goal project for the past couple of years. That started as a way to encourage primary 6 and 7 pupils to think in a different way about the issues that are closest to them and has grown into a much bigger project. It gets kids involved in their communities: they can organise or take part in a community event, take part in a youth organisation, find out a wee bit more about people’s history or get involved in a local campaign. It helps to foster links between children worldwide: children can, for example, support the work of an international charity, gather resources that are to be sent or take the time to learn about what life is like for children in different parts of the world.
The Caring City is clear that it wants to work towards its projects becoming self-sufficient. It provides help and expertise on education as the initial set-up, but the endgame is to empower communities around the world to decide what is best for their school or college. It has been fantastic to see the charity’s vision in action when I have visited the many projects that it has been involved in. I have been fortunate to travel abroad to see some of the great work that it has done in Uganda and South Sudan, which I will talk about in a moment.
The charity does a lot of work on disaster relief in relation to its key themes. In education, that means assisting and rebuilding schools that have been destroyed by natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes. That was clear from its support for the people of Cité Soleil in Haiti, helping to rebuild a school after the devastating earthquake there in 2010.
Another theme of the charity’s work is security. I believe that Glasgow the Caring City is one of the best examples of a charity that sees security not only as physical security from harm but as human security—the belief that being secure means more than just having police and an army but also comes from having easy access to food and water and having a secure job, home, relationships and family life.
Human security was at the heart of the Caring City’s work in post-tsunami Sri Lanka, where it invested in medium to long-term projects in the fishing and hospitality industries that became self-sustaining. That meant that the community could start to build a better future for itself out of the horrors of that fateful boxing day.
That approach is also apparent in the charity’s work in South Sudan at Matthew’s farm, which helps young men and women to become farmers and teaches them the skills that they need to farm the land; it also teaches them to read, write and do basic maths.
I have had the pleasure of visiting Matthew’s farm, which was funded by Ross Galbraith, the Caring City’s international development officer, to whom I give a special mention. He has seen the farm grow from being just a patch of land into a sustainable farm. The people who use it can now grow their goods, take them to the market, sell them and feed their families on the basis of what they get. That was not the case before. I have spoken to a number of people who have benefited from the farm, which is fantastic to see.
Closer to home, the organisation’s sofa-cycle initiative gives recycled furnishings and white goods to people across Glasgow who might need a helping hand to make their home life more secure.
Under the health banner, the Caring City has done great work around the beautiful game. When I was in Uganda, I watched a football match between local children who all wore Scotland strips that Scotland’s captain, Darren Fletcher, had donated. That is a great initiative and I hope that it will get continued support.
I have only scratched the surface of the many great projects that the Caring City has worked on and is working on. It is fair to say that its work has had a huge impact at home and around the world. I have been fortunate to see at first hand a lot of the work that it is doing in my constituency and in Glasgow, as well as further afield, as I said. The charity is a brilliant example of the sort of work that epitomises the Glasgow spirit. In a previous debate, I spoke about the brilliant celebration city festival during the Commonwealth games, which showed the city at its best.
It will come as no surprise to anybody in the chamber that I am proud of my constituency, where lots of great things are going on—I could bore members to death with all the examples. However, not many examples show my constituency, the city of Glasgow and the country of Scotland in a better light than Glasgow the Caring City. It has done great work over the past 15 years and I look forward to the work that it will do over the next 15 years.
I know that the minister has visited and has a close relationship with the charity, and I am sure that he will have kind words to say about it. I am delighted that the organisation is there for all the people whom it helps and that it is based in my constituency of Glasgow Cathcart. I thank again the Rev Neil Galbraith and the others involved for all the work that they do.
12:39
I welcome the debate as an opportunity not only to celebrate the 15th birthday of Glasgow the Caring City, but to highlight the charity’s achievements and raise its profile. I thank James Dornan for lodging the motion for us to discuss in the chamber; it is exactly the type of motion for which members’ business was designed.
As a spokeswoman on education and lifelong learning, I find that many of the projects that are supported by Glasgow the Caring City resonate with me—for example, those involving the Ikotos school in South Sudan and the Himbaza school in Burundi, which James Dornan mentioned.
We regularly debate education issues in the chamber, but we often fail to consider just how fortunate we are, with universal opportunities for education from pre-school all the way to university giving Scottish children, male and female, the chance to discover and realise their potential.
That is not the case in some parts of the world, so I am proud that charities such as Glasgow the Caring City are working in countries such as Burundi and South Sudan to help to deliver education opportunities to those who need them most. I may be old-fashioned, but I have always believed that access to education and training is one route—although not the only route—out of poverty.
I praise the charity’s give a kid a goal campaign, which encourages children in Glasgow to fundraise for the Himbaza school project. That not only makes those children more aware of the world around them, but demonstrates just how fortunate they are to have a good education, economic security and more, as James Dornan outlined. We often take those things for granted.
The projects that the charity supports in Malawi, such as the David Livingstone clinic, reflect the special partnership between Malawi and Scotland. The clinic, which was founded in 2006, provides training facilities for student nurses and primary care to mothers and babies. We have previously debated in the chamber the dire state of maternity care in Malawi and the effects on mother and child. I remember the Deputy Presiding Officer’s input to those debates and her concern for many of the issues.
Another Scottish charity, Project Trust, sends approximately 10 17 to 19-year-olds across five projects to Malawi each year on 12-month placements. The charity is a member of the Scotland Malawi Partnership and has contributed to teaching and social care in the country for many years. As well as sending up to 300 young people to 20 other countries each year, Project Trust is another great example of young Scots and people of other nationalities striving to make a difference for those who are less fortunate. We should all be very proud of them.
Glasgow the Caring City not only carries abroad the great name of Glasgow, but is an ambassador for Scotland and the United Kingdom, demonstrating our compassion and outward-looking vision. As a Highlands and Islands MSP, I cannot claim to be a representative or resident of Glasgow, but I recognise good work when I see it being done.
The United Kingdom has the second largest aid budget for international development in the world, and it is the only country in the G8 to meet its aid target regularly. On top of that, Scotland contributes an additional £9 million through its international development fund towards projects in Malawi, such as the David Livingstone clinic, which was one of the first Malawi millennium projects, and through Glasgow the Caring City.
As I see that my time is coming to an end, I will just say that, through the work of charities such as Glasgow the Caring City, and many others such as Mary’s Meals, Scotland has demonstrated that it can and will continue to make an impact on the international stage. I wish Glasgow the Caring City a happy anniversary and continued success in its charitable efforts. I praise the work of Neil Galbraith and thank James Dornan for bringing the debate to the chamber.
We have a little bit of leeway with time. I call Hanzala Malik, to be followed by Linda Fabiani.
12:44
Thank you very much and good afternoon, Presiding Officer. I thank James Dornan for lodging the motion to celebrate the 15th birthday of the charity Glasgow the Caring City. I also thank the Rev Neil Galbraith, whom I have known for many years. James Dornan informed us that the charity is based in his constituency, and it is in my region of Glasgow.
I have had the privilege of travelling with Neil Galbraith in a number of countries as he carried out charitable work. The charity has supported a range of health, education and security programmes worldwide. Among the prominent examples of the charity’s influence is its funding of schools around the world. I will cite one or two examples that will show how Glasgow the Caring City has carried out that work.
It is indeed a charity that cares. It works in many countries throughout the world. To give members a flavour, the countries that, to my knowledge, the charity has engaged with include Cuba, India, Pakistan, South Sudan, Uganda and Scotland.
Let me give two examples of the charity’s work in Scotland. When the factory in Firhill in Glasgow exploded and when Glasgow airport was attacked, it provided blankets and water immediately, and a lot of hard work was done by its volunteers.
The charity has also helped schools in Glasgow, including in Hillhead, where I was a councillor. The charity assisted the secondary school there with funding and support for its twin school in Lahore in Pakistan. The charity has also supported countries such as Malawi and Sri Lanka, particularly following the tsunami in Sri Lanka.
We can see the practical results of that work around the world. For example, I had the privilege of going to Sri Lanka during the Commonwealth games, and I know that the Sri Lankan community was very proud to say that they knew of Scotland and Glasgow because of the charity work that we had done for them. They did not know of Nigeria, because it was nowhere to be seen. I am sure that the Nigerian people supported the Sri Lankan community, but I am not sure to what extent. However, the Sri Lankan community certainly remembered the work that Glasgow the Caring City did. That is a tribute to Neil Galbraith, because he was very active in Sri Lanka and worked very hard. In fact, I was concerned about his health when I saw him—I felt that he was overdoing it, but that is the nature of the business that he is in.
One of the other charities in Glasgow that do a tremendous amount of work around the world is the Ucare Foundation, which funds schools around the world. Another is Islamic Relief, which is renowned for its work around the world and which has been supported by the Scottish Government on occasion in rebuilding and refurbishing schools and stocking them with equipment to provide children with the quality of education that they deserve, for which it is to be congratulated. Most recently, Islamic Relief has worked in Afghanistan and Iraq, which are in a very troubled part of the world. I believe that our charities do a tremendous amount of work, and I am really proud of that.
Glasgow the Caring City has also worked with Rescue 1122, which provides fire and rescue services in Punjab. Rescue 1122 was twinned with Strathclyde Fire and Rescue. Fire engines from Glasgow were delivered to Lahore, contributing immensely to the saving of life and limb and property. Such small measures go a very long way in supporting people, who appreciate the help and support that they get from other people around the world.
When I first realised that it was the 15th birthday of Glasgow the Caring City and that a parliamentary motion was to be lodged, I was pleased. It brought a smile to my face because I genuinely feel that we do not say thank you enough to the volunteers and donors who make it possible to support people at very short notice. I take this opportunity to say a huge public thank you to industry and all the private businesses, volunteers and individuals who make an immense contribution to charity and the charity movement in Scotland. That helps to make our charities matter and succeed around the world, which is very important.
I congratulate Glasgow the Caring City, and I congratulate Neil Galbraith on all his hard work. I hope and pray that he will continue it in the future.
12:50
It was interesting that James Dornan said that he could speak for half an hour about this subject—and I am sure that Hanzala Malik could speak for double that—because that is a mark of how much Glasgow the Caring City has achieved in the 15 years since it was set up. I say happy birthday and thank you to Glasgow the Caring City. I thank Neil Galbraith and his team and everyone who is involved in the charity, not least the ladies in Cathcart parish church who always make great cakes when we go along for events.
I am fascinated by the work that Glasgow the Caring City does, and I find the breadth and depth of it quite amazing. Even having listened to three contributions already, I can still think of other things that Glasgow the Caring City has been involved in, such as the wonderful link with the New York firefighters. I remember attending a very moving service at Cathcart parish church in honour of the victims of 9/11.
I was interested, too, to hear that James Dornan and Hanzala Malik have travelled to various places in the world with Glasgow the Caring City. I must be doing something wrong, because the furthest that I have ever got is East Kilbride. I mention East Kilbride mainly because it is my constituency but also to make it quite clear that Glasgow the Caring City does work at home outwith Glasgow the city itself. It is that kind of charity; wherever there is felt to be a need, we will find Glasgow the Caring City.
One thing in East Kilbride that I have been involved in is the give a kid a goal project, which I find uplifting. Hunter primary school and St Vincent’s primary school in EK have both been involved in the project, and their headteachers are to be commended for having realised the value of it. It makes it quite normal and natural for children to work towards goals themselves while recognising that they should work towards those goals for children in other parts of the world, too. Too often we hear phrases such as “charity begins at home.” Glasgow the Caring City makes it quite plain that charity may well begin at home, but it certainly should not end there, because we are all one big global family.
The fact that it imparts that message to young people and makes it fun is what makes the charity so precious. It is a long time since I was at primary school and I will except the minister from this, but I think that just about everyone else in the chamber would agree that if their teacher ever said that the reverend from the local church or the priest from the local Roman Catholic church was coming along, the children thought, “Oh no.” In the schools in East Kilbride, if the teacher says that the Rev Neil Galbraith is coming along, the children think, “Yahoo! This is wonderful. We’re going to have a great time”. That raises their self-esteem, too.
Another thing that has not been mentioned today is the cross out child poverty initiative, which was started and carried through by Glasgow the Caring City. I want to extend that initiative to East Kilbride; I hold my hands up and admit that I have been quite lax in so doing, but that is on-going.
That initiative is a recognition that we have to work across borders and boundaries. There is absolute poverty in other parts of the world, which we should address and raise awareness of, but we should also recognise that there is relative poverty in our country—in our cities, satellite towns and rural areas. If we are truly talking about having successful cities and towns and a successful nation, and extending that across the world, we have to recognise that we are all in it together. That is what Glasgow the Caring City does in a wonderfully non-judgmental way, from which we can all learn lessons.
I am delighted to recognise the 15th anniversary of Glasgow the Caring City. I do not just wish it another 15 years; I hope that it continues way beyond that.
12:55
It is a privilege for me to close this debate on behalf of the Scottish Government and as a proud Glaswegian. I thank James Dornan for securing this precious parliamentary time and I fully endorse the motion in his name.
I join other members in the chamber in complimenting Glasgow the Caring City on the excellent work that it does in Glasgow and overseas, as well as congratulating it on its 15th birthday. I also add my compliments to the Rev Neil Galbraith, whom I hold in high regard. It is a testament to him that everyone in this chamber, across the political parties, speaks highly of him. I also know him as an individual. He is one of those forces of nature to whom—sometimes even somewhat annoyingly—it is difficult to say no.
Although I fear that Linda Fabiani might have got herself into trouble with her priest or her minister, there have been some excellent speeches today reflecting on the facets and strands of work—too many to mention—that have been done by Glasgow the Caring City.
As the discussion was going on in the chamber, I reflected on my two favourite parts of the Commonwealth games opening ceremony. We all, universally, enjoyed the UNICEF moment, which showed off Glasgow as the caring city and Scotland as the caring nation and made that opening ceremony the first ever to raise money for orphans across the world.
My other favourite moment was when the African singer Pumeza sang “Freedom Come-All-Ye”. Leaving aside the issue of what freedom might mean in a traditional sense, what I liked about that was that it encompasses everybody in its come-all-ye stance and includes freedom from poverty, freedom from deprivation, freedom from social stigma and freedom from having one’s life opportunities hindered. It means freedom not only for Scottish children and Glaswegians but for those across the world. If ever there was a charity that summed up that approach, it would be Glasgow the Caring City, because of the work that it does domestically in Scotland as well as overseas—there are few organisations that manage to do both as successfully as Glasgow the Caring City does.
Many of the charity’s projects have been mentioned. I want to mention again its training programme, which provides training opportunities to young adults and empowers people to make the most of the skills that they have. It is a great example of its work, as is the give a kid a goal campaign, which helps our schoolchildren to gain a better understanding of their place in the world and how they can make a difference in tackling the challenges that are faced by our planet.
The Scottish Government fully endorses that ambition to help our young people to become fully global citizens. It is a key part of our curriculum for excellence. Last year, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning and I jointly announced funding for six development education centres to work with our young people in Scotland in accordance with the ethos of the give a kid a goal campaign in order to empower them and give them a knowledge of the world that we live in, so that they can gain an appreciation of the difference that they can make.
That is hugely important. In a world in which, as Linda Fabiani said, people are cynical about giving money overseas—asking, “Why do we do it?” and saying, “Charity begins at home”—and in this day and age, when finances are tough and we are in difficult economic times, we have a real obligation to ensure that our children are educated to understand the responsibilities that they have as individuals and global citizens.
When it comes to partnership working, which the Scottish Government is keen on, a great example was provided by Glasgow the Caring City’s superb contribution to the celebration city festival during the Commonwealth games. The phrase “people make Glasgow” was one of the slogans of the games, and Glasgow the Caring City helped to demonstrate that through the work that it did, working with 40 other partners, to showcase the very best of Glasgow hospitality through a superb cultural programme of activities that were attended by more than 10,000 people.
The work that it is doing domestically is on the record, and that brings me to the overseas work that Glasgow the Caring City has been involved in over the past 15 years, much of which has been mentioned.
Hanzala Malik mentioned the genesis of that work at the time of the Balkans conflict. The motion also rightly recognises the support that Glasgow the Caring City has been giving to Himbaza school in Burundi. That is just a flavour of the work that it is doing. It is also working in South Sudan, Malawi and Uganda and throughout the developing world.
I was interested to hear about James Dornan’s trip to Uganda and South Sudan. I read some of the articles that he wrote on his return. I am pleased that he got to see the football game, but I am also pleased that he was not playing—otherwise, the poor Ugandans might have needed to be sent some shin pads as well.
Through its international development policy, the Scottish Government aims for Scotland to be seen not only as a good global citizen but as a global leader, in which context I acknowledge the work that Scottish charities such as Glasgow the Caring City do. However, as every member who has spoken has said, that work is underpinned by the volunteer network that those charities have. People have a real affiliation not just through Cathcart old parish church, which I have had the pleasure of visiting, but more widely across the city and the country. We politicians have the easy job of putting the funding together and making the resources available where and when we can; those who work on the ground through charities such as Glasgow the Caring City actually get the work done, and I commend them for that.
The Government is determined to play its part in helping to make that happen through our international development work. We have made a commitment, in the event of a yes vote, not only to meet the target of spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on overseas development assistance but to enshrine it in legislation. However, whatever the result of the referendum, we are committed to helping those in the poorest parts of the world. That means helping women and girls into education, helping those who do not have access to energy or clean water and addressing the simplest and most basic challenges that nobody in the 21st century should have to suffer.
I add to what Hanzala Malik said by placing on record the Scottish Government’s appreciation of all the non-governmental organisations throughout the country, which do a phenomenal job. He mentioned the Ucare Foundation and Islamic Relief. This morning, I had the pleasure of meeting the new director of the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund. I also acknowledge the work that is done by all the members of the Network of International Development Organisations in Scotland, the Scotland Malawi Partnership and many others.
I commend the motion. Over the past 15 years, Glasgow the Caring City has done not only Glasgow but Scotland proud. As is customary in discussing such a motion, I look forward to James Dornan providing the 15th birthday cake. I wish the organisation every success for more than another 15 years. I commend the work that the Rev Neil Galbraith and his team are doing, and I look forward to working closely with them in the future.
13:02 Meeting suspended.Previous
First Minister’s Question TimeNext
Scotland’s Future