Paul Calvert spoke with George Abdo, Deputy Director of the Shepherd Society

George: The school tuition for every student costs around $500 and the average of the children here in each family is around four children, so it's not easy for the people who have limited income to pay for the school tuition.

Paul: You also said you were helping with utility costs. Are people just struggling with day to day life here?

George: Yes they are suffering, like for example many people stay for sometimes one week or 10 days without electricity and they are suffering, yes. For this reason we hope we could find a source to support this kind of project.

Paul: You have also been looking after the physical side of people by establishing an ear, nose and throat clinic. Tell us a little more about that.

George: Yes there is an organisation in New Zealand called Tearfund and they supported the Shepherd Society and private hospital in Bethlehem called Arab Society Hospital for rehabilitation with the equipment for the ENT clinic. We used to have partnership with the hospital and give the salary for the doctor and for the surgeon there and we used to give discount for the needy people who needed the surgeries. Now we are no longer with this project because of the budget so we don't have enough budget as income from the ENT clinic and it became a burden on the Shepherd Society to give salary for the doctor from the budget of the Shepherd Society.

Paul: Do you get any money from the Government or are you totally faith based?

George: As you know the Palestinian Government is a poor government and its not easy for them to support the non-governmental organisations like the Shepherd Society, so we are trying to work with the Palestinian Government, especially the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Palestinian Ministry of Social Welfare to provide the needs like the food or the medical treatments, because these kinds of treatments are not funded by the Palestinian Authority.

Paul: Who gives you money to help the people in Bethlehem?

George: Most of our donations come from abroad; America, Europe, New Zealand and many countries around the world. We get support, donations from churches, Christian organisations and individuals, but currently the majority of the donations come from individuals. For this reason we appreciate any kind of support from those people.

Paul: So Christians from abroad are helping the people of Bethlehem to stay in Bethlehem as well aren't they?

George: Yes, especially when they come to the Shepherd Society; when we talk to them about many cases, the serious cases and the need of the importance of the Shepherd Society to continue in the ministry to support those needy people because of the hard economic situation.

Paul: Is it important for Christians to stay here in Bethlehem? I know many people have left and gone abroad.

George: Yeah many of them have left Bethlehem and the Palestinian Authority. The first reason is the hard economic situation that was affected by the political situation. They are struggling and for this reason many of them decided to leave the country and for us we are upset, because as the Christians, Jesus says the Christians who believe in Jesus are the light of the world; they are the salt of this earth, especially where our Lord was born and he made the miracles. He felt with the needy people and he died on the cross and he saved us, so it's not easy for us to see Christians leaving this country.

Paul: So really it's very important for the West to invest in Palestinian families to keep the Christian presence here and to keep the evangelistic presence here as well?