Rev Gcobani Vika

Our visiting preacher today has very special relationship with Edinburgh.

As a newly-arrived student in 1997 he received a welcoming visit from Jenny Quinn, a member of a Methodist congregation, which led to the formation of a fundraising charity, Friends of Goboti, (his home village in the Eastern Cape of Africa) to build a permanent classroom to replace the decrepit mudblock one.

Over the years since then, using bricks made from purchased cement and local sand, a church has been built, followed by new classrooms and a health clinic used by all the local villages and much, much more.

It was a delight to hear from Gcobani what progress has been made and plans for the future of the village.