For the social studies people

The Isle of Iona is located off the West coast of Scotland. It is a very small island, only 100 people are full time, year round residents. There is a village on the island, with a couple of hotels, a pub, a gift shop, and grocers. The principle means of income seems to be tourism, largely to the Iona Abbey, followed by agriculture primarily sheep and cattle.
The Abbey was founded by Columba, in 586 when he fled Ireland. He led others to form a community and ultimately build the Abbey. Not much later there was a Nunnery founded on the island. It is believed that Iona was the entry point of Christianity to the British Isles. It is only a few miles from the Isle of Mull, a larger island with more than 200 miles of coastland. From there you can island hop to eventually end up on the primary island of Scotland and England.
Because of Iona’s location, and its completely unguarded coast it was a constant target for Viking warriors who invaded the island several times. This resulted in the deaths of all the monks and nuns on the island, and caused them to be repopulated several different times. Eventually the island full on hard times and both the Abbey and Nunnery fell on hard times. In the 30’s a minister of the Church for Scotland, George McLean, came to the island and was distressed at the condition of the buildings. He began a reconstruction and reclaimation project of the buildings. Apparently many young ministers were country born and bred, but being sent to serve in urban environments and lacked many skills. McLeod made arrangements for groups of young ministers to come to the island and to work on the buildings. The men lived in wooden huts on the ground of the Abbey. Once those grounds were restored, they built the McLean center, which remains a functional unit today.
This ministry was extended to bring young men from the urban areas of Glasgow and Edinburgh to Iona and introduce them to a new experience. Sort of a British Upward Bound. It became such a popular program that it has been extended to a center on the Isle of Mull, Camas. Ultimately those that loved the reconstructed Abbey and the ministry that it was engaged in became the Iona Community. Today the Community is responsible for the maintainence of the Maclean Centre, Camas and the programs of the Abbey. The Community consists of those that a members, associate members, resident staff and volunteer staff. The Historic Society for Scotland has taken over the maintainence and structure of the Abbey, because the cost had become too expensive for the Community.
Resident staff members work for a contracted period of time, typically three years. They manage the shop, the volunteers, the worship services, the kitchen, and the programs for various participants. Volunteer staff comes to the island to work for a specified period of time, with the minimum being six weeks and the maximum 15 weeks. Volunteers are used in the kitchen, housekeeping, shop and maintainence. The volunteer staff is selected from throughout the world. When I arrived there were volunteers from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Paraguay, Sweden, Ukraine, Canada, Scotland, England and the U.S.