Off I go to Wick

 

(multimap’s spelling is just priceless… Edingurgh, hmmm, so where’s that then?!)

Well, the time has finally come… Sue’s wedding is on Saturday, and I’m heading up to Wick tomorrow lunchtime. Flip me its miles away! Its probably still light til 11:30pm up there! Sarah and I are hiring a car from Inverness airport and driving up to Wick, which should be interesting! I’m looking forward to seeing the old flatmates again, its been a while… a jolly good time should be had!

My talk thing on Sunday night went pretty well I thought, although I was quite nervous to start with and suddenly my three pages (1.5 spaced, size 12 font!) felt like a 3 volume tome, but I got into it, and people seemed to be paying attention to me! Neil (the minister) asked people at the end for some feedback and it was good, so I feel encouraged. Will still need to get a whole lot of practice in before I feel really comfortable with it, but hopefully I’ll get many opportunities to inflict my trainee skills on innocent people!

Yesterday and Tuesday I did a couple of days work at a box-packing factory. Oh yes, I did. It was definitely an experience. The 3 ladies that worked with me were in their 50s and 60s, and were really friendly and helpful. Working there just even for those 2 days gave me a small insight into real ‘working class’ (I know its not very pc, but I don’t know how else to describe it) women’s lives. And it was both humbling, challenging and frustrating. Humbling and challenging because it made me realise how fortunate I am. Growing up with my parents happily married, going on holidays, going to university and now going to do my masters… these ladies’ kids didn’t have the same priviledges as that, and I think that alot of the time I took these things for granted. And it also made me realise how hard it must be for people to get out of their difficult personal circumatances sometimes. The one lady, Terry, really hates working in the factory, but she’s been there 6 years now, and she doesn’t really feel like she can do anything else. She is 6 years off her retirement and although she has applied for other jobs, she hasn’t got anywhere and she feels doomed. She also has RSI through working there, so its pretty rough for her. I tried to encourage her to maybe volunteer somewhere to get some other experience, and to get feedback from her interviews, but I really didn’t feel like I could actually help her at all. I just felt like a spoilt posh girl who didn’t understand what her life was like. Its so hard. We got on really well and it was great talking to her and finding out about her life, but I wish that I could have done more.

The experience was frustrating as well though, because of the close-minded views that the ladies sometimes had. Their main source of information for news and current affairs was the Daily Star. So, really, their opinions on the current situation in the UK with terrorist threats etc, could definitely not be repeated here! They often insinuated things like all Muslims were terrorists and should be sent back to where they came from etc. I tried to give an alternative opinion when I could, but I also didn’t want to come over as ‘holier than thou’. It made me concerned because there are millions of other people who read the Daily Star as their daily newspaper too, and if these people also have some of the racist opinions that seemed prevalent, then its no wonder that the UK is struggling with issues of intergration, and race relations. It also made me think about churches’ role in all of this. Where was the church for these women? Terry lives on her own, one lady was a raging racist and the other seemed quite lonely. How does the church reach out to women like these? What could I have said that would have helped? The gospel is for all people, so why did I feel that really it is very easy to be a Christian if you are white, middle class and educated? Its so hard. I don’t know the answers, and I don’t know how the church can relevantly reach out to millions of people like this, but I think that Christians and the church should seriously start thinking about these issues and finding solutions to them too. Its a challenge that is relevant to us all. We can’t just ignore the issue and hope that it will go away, we must be part of the solution.

Time is marching on, and Tuesday fast approaches! I can’t wait to be in Prague with Phil, it is going to be amazing! I am going to a conference that is going on at the Seminary next week. It is titled: The Theology of Creation Care: Christian Environmental Stewardship conference. What a name! I’m looking forward to going, and I will keep the blog up to date! I don’t think that I will have time in between getting back from Wick on Monday night to leaving for Prague on Tuesday morning to blog again, so farewell lovely friends! I will definitely keep blogging from Prague, as long as you read it, I’ll write it! Lots of love. xxx