Cuban church visit to Castlemilk parish
Castlemilk Parish Church welcomed visitors from Cuba recently.
The visit, part of the Together For A Change project, was the latest step in an ongoing three year partnership between the Dougrie Road parish and Luyanó Presbyterian Church in Havana.
Earlier this year a group of Castlemilk parishioners travelled over to Cuba, and this was the return trip, as a party of five arrived in Scotland.
While there they were treated to plenty of Scottish hospitality, and Castlemilk minister Sarah Brown has been heartened by how well the congregations have mixed.
She told the Reformer:”What stood out was how much more comfortable everyone has been getting with each other.
“The language barrier has dropped and people are really learning about each other, so there’s an ease of relationships there now.
“They were involved in all kinds of things when they were over here.
“There was a trip to the City Chambers and we looked at Glasgow being twinned with Havana.
“We took them through to the Scottish Parliament, and met with a civil servant there.
“They were really surprised at the access that we had to the parliament and to the government, because that is something that they would not be able to get back home.
“We went to Iona too, and looked at the work of the Iona community there - they (the Cuban visitors) loved it as they see it as being like the grandmother church to their church.
“Everyone was hosted with families in Castlemilk and that went well, and we
Luyanó Presbyterian Church did a couple of other things like having a “It was obviously a big different to what salsa night - we’re already a line dancing they are used to. church so everyone was into it.” “We kitted them out with as much warm
Already a group of six people have clothes as we could get.” signed up for the return visit to Cuba The church also marked the first next year. anniversary of their new building opening
However, there was one problem for while their visitors were here. the group. Sarah added: “That felt like a
“The weather was very cold for them. momentous stage for the church.
“We also had the dedication of the final two pieces of the church that had been made in our workshop, and we had 10 new members join up, so it was a busy weekend.”
Together For A Change has been going for around 10 years and is run by the Priority Area team in the Church of Scotland.
The language barrier has dropped and people are really learning all about each other”