Scottish Methodists and Muslims have joined forces to build new much-needed housing in the former Soviet state of Kyrgyzstan where a large percentage of the population continue to live below the poverty line.

|TOP|Christians and Muslims from Edinburgh, as well as members of other communities volunteering two weeks of their time this month, are among the 16-member group that will travel to Kyrgyzstan as part of the first-ever British interfaith Habitat for Humanity project, reports Ekklesia.

Project participants are hopeful that the venture will deepen understanding between different faith communities and break down existing barriers.

One member of the group, Laurent Vernet of Nicolson Square Methodist Church in Edinburgh, told United Methodist News Service that the trip will be an opportunity to see love, compassion and constructive interfaith relations in action.

"I hope to have a spiritual and human experience by helping others, not only with money but with time and sweat," Vernet declared.

The environmentally friendly reed and clay houses will be constructed by the team in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek.

The new housing will be more cost-effective for the families, as well as safer and better insulated against the harsh winter months which can see up to 50 per cent of incomes disappear in heating costs.

|AD|The trip has been largely put together by the minister of Nicolson Square, the Rev Peter Clark, a former building design professional who has formerly participated in some of Habitat for Humanity’s international projects.

"It's a country that's totally landlocked, with no mineral wealth and little arable land,” commented Rev Clark on Kyrgyzstan. “Soviet subsidies that once helped support the population have long gone," he explained.

Habitat for Humanity has been in Kyrgyzstan, a country that borders China and Kazakhstan, since 1999, working to bring quality housing to the most vulnerable inhabitants of a country where around 40 per cent of the population live below the poverty line and an estimated 166,000 struggle without adequate housing.

"When you are a Muslim, you have a responsibility to help other people. This seems a noble project," said Bonnie Jeanne MacDonald, a doctoral student and worshipper at the Edinburgh Central Mosque, located next to the Nicolson Square church. "Time is the most valuable, more so than just giving money."

Mrs MacDonald will be accompanied on the trip by her husband, Ahmad Hussein. She added that this was a particularly important moment for religious people to stop pointing the finger at one another and work together.

"We want to say to the people of Kyrgyzstan, 'no, you're not forgotten' and also 'we're people of different faiths working together,'" she said.

Mr MacDonald said: "When I heard about the trip from my wife, I was interested. We realized we could open people's minds and our own concept of interfaith dialogue."