The Scottish WEvolution

Thursday May 1 2014

In January 2011, a group of women from Glasgow’s Provanmill Estate set off on the journey of a lifetime to India. They called it ‘ Passage to India’.*

But they weren’t tourists. They were there, as part of a Church of Scotland project, to look at micro businesses: small companies that serve their own communities and help them plough any profits back into their area.

The women returned to Provanmill excited and eager.

Willie Main, husband of Liz Taylor Main, one of the initiative leaders, said she was ‘absolutely buzzing’ when she returned.

“She was very emotional and inspired,” he said.

That emotion and inspiration led on to greater things, and a launderette was opened in what had been a glory hole inside St Paul’s Church, Provanmill, just the most recent initiative by Women@Work in Provanmill. ‘Fluff and Fold’ provides not just cleaning, but ironing and alterations to the community, all the time being run by the women of the area.

A new charity, WEvolution, aimed at helping to create similar groups around Scotland, was officially launched at St Paul's yesterday (Wednesday). Supported by the Church and the Scottish Government, it uses the group enterprise model responsible for creating more than eight million businesses in India.

John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth with the Scottish Government, said that ‘small steps help people make big journeys’ and that there were many types of journey being taken by WEvolution – a journey out of poverty, out of loneliness, and a journey overcoming challenges together.

He said: “I am often asked what the point of the Church in 21^st Century Scotland is.

“Well, this is the point of the Church. It is there in every community in Scotland, providing accommodation and support to the people of that community to help them help each other.

“The Scottish Parliament is currently considering a ‘Community Empowerment Bill’, trying to create and encourage good, strong community initiatives. You people here have given us in Parliament an enormous gift. The Government should not be turning up with a rule-book that hinders people. That’s a message I will certainly take forward very strongly, on your behalf, to the UK Government”.

* Passage to India is now into its third year as a project supported by the Church of Scotland Guild.

Comments

There are currently no comments on this post

Add a reply

All fields are required. Email address will not be published.