LAST month I was talking about the longing in all of our hearts at diferent times in our lives to go home, even when we can’t. Most of us reading this article will have known at least the warmth and security of a properly built house. For the majority of children in our world, home is a makeshift shelter, a temporary building that could be swept away at any moment. While people live and grow up in these circumstances, we who have plenty have a responsibility to reach out and try to change the life chances of children born into these conditions.
This month I want to relect upon the diference a home can make in the life of a child, and how the Vine Trust is inspiring literally hundreds of people in Scotland and beyond to become proactive homebuilders in Tanzania. At the tail end of 1985 when I first founded the Vine Trust little did I think that in 2018 I’d be visiting Tanzania to open the 100th home built by volunteers from the UK. These are homes gifted to children who have often lost parents due to the AIDS virus. Children in this situation usually find themselves being cared for by an elderly relative living in dire poverty. Having a proper home is the first step on the journey to reaching their potential and seeing the love of God in action.
Much of what has happened over these years has come about because of the freedom and trust that the Church of Scotland afords to their parish ministers as they exercise their ministries. More needs to be said about this in another issue, but it was the eventual collaboration and friendship that was built up between three ministers and their congregations in the town of Bo’ness that brought about the initial foundation upon which the Vine Trust now builds.