adelaide place baptist church

Over the past few years at AP we have shared a giant Christmas card and used the money saved to buy chickens, goats, bicycles and other useful stuff for people in developing countries.

This year we’re doing something different. We’re going to buy a brick-making machine for Reuben N’gwala, a Tanzanian pastor who worshipped with us while studying in Glasgow for three years.

Reuben N'gwala

The brick-making machine will help Reuben to build accommodation at a Bible College in rural Tanzania, upgrading the living conditions for the students. The machine presses bricks from a mixture of earth and cement, reducing the amount of cement needed (ratios of around 1 part cement to 14-18 parts earth), enabling the bricks to be made on-site, reducing the energy needed to manufacture the bricks (they are cured, not fired), and enabling the buildings to use less mortar as the bricks are shaped to be interlocking. Overall the machine should reduce building costs by over 20%. The machine can continue to be used by Reuben’s team for other building projects in the area, generating much-needed income.

Making interlocking bricks

We’ll post here how we get on!

Today is one of my favourite days of the year, because we use the proceeds from our massive church Christmas card (a brilliant design by the church children) to buy stuff from Present Aid, to benefit people in developing countries.

So today (using Jack’s credit card) we bought £150 worth of:

• 2 pigs
• 2 ducks
• 2 turkeys
• 2 cans of worms

Brilliant gifts!

This summer, Christian Aid is asking people to walk the walk on climate change by joining the longest ever protest march in UK history.

The Cut the Carbon march started in Bangor, Northern Ireland yesterday (14 July), will last 80 days, cover 1,000 miles, and see marchers from rich countries and poor spread Christian Aid’s cut the carbon message to companies and politicians. The march ends at the London Stock Exchange on 2 October.

The march passes through Glasgow this Tuesday, 17 July, and there are a number of events planned, all in the Southside:

• 2-3pm, Newton Mearns Parish Church. Meet the marchers, listen to their stories.
• 5 pm onwards, Queen’s Park duck pond. Meet the marchers as they arrive at Queen’s Park. Join the marchers for a walk around Queen’s Park duck pond in the Glasgow “Put Your Best Foot Forward” event.
• 6pm Queen’s Park glass houses. Meet the marchers, listen to their stories.
• 10pm St Ninians Church, Glasgow. Reflection with the marchers.

Further information is on the Pressureworks site, and on the Cut the Carbon Facebook site (registration needed).

Update 21/07/2007: Read the BBC interview with Angela Rowe of Renfield St Stephens Church (just one block down Bath Street), who is one of the Cut the Carbon marchers.