Guacamole Girl

Visitor's book

Good morning readers, I know you're out there! I seem to have quite a few visitors to this blog, but few comments. This is called "lurking". It would be nice to know who's lurking out there, so if you're reading this, please add a comment to say hello. Even if you think Guacamole Girl is talking mince, feel free to say so! It's quite easy, just click on the bit that says comments (0) at the end of this paragraph.

Thank you!

More About Cambodia

Had a brilliant afternoon on Tuesday, catching up with some of the team from my trip to Cambodia. Even though it's 2 years since we wre there & no one knew each other beforehand, we gelled so well that we have kept in touch & met up regularly since. Our ongoing interest in & concern for the Cambodian nation is part of the bond, but the times we shared, both happy & harrowing, have forged deep friendships.

This was not an official reunion, but an impromptu gethering of 7 out the 12. The occasion was a "bon voyage" for Alastair, who is taking 5 members of his church, Garelochhead Parish Church, back to one of the towns we visited in 2005. It was wonderful to get together, (pushing the tables together in Wesley Owen, just like we did in every restuarant we went to on our travels!)  hear Alastair's plans & hopes for the trip, and reminisce about the amazing people we met in Poipet. We all wish we were going too, but just sending the Garelochhead team with our greetings & prayers will have to do for now.

We're looking forward to meeting up when they get back for the full report. We are the only ones who will really want to see their 3000 photos & video clips. Everyone else will be relieved to see the edited highlights! Meanwhile, the breaking news is available on The Poipet Post. Please pray for them & for Cambodia (more info on Tearfund website)

Check this out

Some friends have set up a blog to raise the issue of asylum seeking, in particular it's a place where asylum seekers can tell their stories. It's called Still Small Voices and it's uncomfortable reading - that's why you should read it!

I think attitiudes in Scotland are slowly changing away from prejudice, towards  welcoming acceptance, but we need to take the next step and actively promote the rights of asylum seekers.

In my work, I often speak to ordinary folks about things they see as "cost-cutting" - denying them aomething they believe they have a right to. A few years ago, it would not be unusual for me to get an earful of "I've paid my taxes for x years, and now these asylum seekers are coming here and getting everything. There's not enough to go round......." You can imagine how much I wanted to shout rude words at such people! (Instead I had to just deflect these comments to get back to the matter in hand) The truth is, we are a rich nation - there is enough to go round if it's shared out evenly. Asylum seekers are coming here for a better life and I was ashamed that this is how desparate people are treated in Glasgow "the friendly city".

However, as I said, this is changing. I was moved to tears by pride in my country in July 2005 when, during a pit-stop on the Make Poverty History march, a large group of people marched past us chanting "Refugees are welcome here!" I pray these people, even if they were just swept up in the day, have gone back home to live that out since then.

What can I do about it now? If I wrote to my MP of the top of my head, I might get carried away & have a total rant, so if I can get a template letter to start from, I'll post it here.

However, as this is my space, I will have a final rant. There is something that to me makes no sense. Why are asylum seekers not be allowed to work? I know people who have been here for 5 years or more and are in limbo, made worse by the fact that they are living on meagre benefits, not by choice. These are people with skills they want to share with us, people who want to support their families & have some say in the running of their lives. Instead they have to live where they are placed, and accept the handouts that divide them still further from their neighbours. We are a small country with a diminishing and ageing population. It strikes me that we can solve that problem and save the government millions by welcoming those who have risked their lives to be here, rather than persecuting them. Just think, Dungavel could be remodeled into a luxury hotel, hundreds of civil servants could be retrained in urban regeneration, we could stop wasting police time on dawn raids, and I'm sure we could find a use for the smart people-carriers with the blacked-out windows. Am I dreaming? Yes. Is it a dream worth pursuing? Oh yes. This is the Scotland I want my children to grow up in. What do you think??

Viva Cambodia!

Two years ago, I spent two weeks in Cambodia. It was a Tearfund "study tour", so we were visiting local Christians who are working in partnership with Tearfund. We spent 4 days in a town called Poipet (known in the guidebooks as "the armpit of Cambodia") It's not a nice place - so Wild West, you expect to see tumbleweed blowing down the mainstreet! However, the people we met there are veritable diamonds in the dust. Here they are:

The happy band known as the CHOboys (CHO = Cambodia Hope Organisation) buzz around town on moto's bringing food to the hungry, skills to the teenagers, and the love of Jesus to everyone. They have so little, yet they are so content. They looked after us like royalty & we shared a genuine bond of Christian bortherhood (& sisterhood of course). We left after four days, determined to return....which brings me to the point of the post......

One of our team, Alastair, has rounded up 5 comrades from his church & is heading back there next Saturday. He was keen to get some from the original team to go too, but none of us can. I am toally grinding my teeth over this, because I would so love to be setting off next weekend, back to a country I love (just look at it...) and to people I have imense love & respect for.

However, I really believe God is saying "not this time". It's not the right time for me to go trailing half way round the world without my family. I also believe I will get there one day (possibly with family in tow)......

Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy hearing all about the trip & look forward to hearing news from the frontline. I have been studying Philippians over the last month, and this has turned out to be very apt. When Paul says "every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God", the CHOboys are always in my mind.

I went to Cambodia in 2005, expecting it to be difficult & challenging, and yes, there were some days I struggled to understand how God could allow some situations we encountered. However, my overwhelming sense throughout was one of joy. God is doing amazing things, through some amazing people & I know the 2007 team will find this out - have fun, bon voyage & haste ye back!

Sidey bits

In answer to Stuart's comment to "new year, new blog", I am getting to grips with the sidebars on this site at last. Hopefully I will be able to add more stuff so you can get an idea of what makes me tick! Any suggestions for typelists etc gratefully received.

It's a shame I can't import my Blogger blog to here, so if you want to read Guacamole Girl #1, you need to re-tune to this address

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all the many readers of this blog!! Hope you had fun over the last few weeks whether you celebrate Christmas as a spiritual event, a family time, a break from work or all of the above.

We had a great time, first of all spending a few days with my family, then with friends visiting us for New Year. It was brilliant to just relax in good company. We even had a wee party on Hogmanay!

I had 3 weeks off work, starting on 13th Dec, so I did actually find some time before Christmas to be quiet and conteplate what Christmas is all about. I was totally struck by the enormity of God actually compressing himself into the form of a human being. That God didn't just sit above the clouds in another dimension, knowing we were physically incapable of reaching out to Him, but became one of us so as to reach out to us is so mind-blowing. I was just impacted again by the brilliance of God's plan. It was at horrendous cost - Jesus' brutal death, but He did it anyway and bridged the chasm, so we can live in a new dimension. I can't mentally understand this mystery, but it was brilliant to re-appreciate it on a deeper-than-mental level this Christmas.

Looking forward to 2007, I began thinking what my hopes & dreams are for this year. I want to be closer to God and experience (deeper-than-mentally again!) Him in my life, I want to be a better parent, I want to be a better friend, I still want to save the world, I want to have more fun. Oh the life of an idealist! Stay tuned, and find out how many of these get checked off!