Paul Calvert spoke with George Saadeh from the Shepherd's High School in Beit Sahour, about the challenges and trauma the children face and the importance of teaching them about peace.

Paul: Do you have things like a Christmas tree in the school? And do you do Christmas nativities?

George: Starting from November they are preparing for Christmas. We have a Christmas tree and decorations. Each class have their own way of decorating. We start Christmas carols teaching the students how to sing Silent Night and all those Christmas songs, to live the spirit of Christmas. We give them Santa Claus to come and give them gifts for the small children.

It's a way of letting them enjoy life from the spiritual way, from the material way, and at the same time to be connected together.

What's the meaning of Christmas spirit? It's living with and remembering the child, our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was born, and to bring a good relation with the Church, with God and with each other, and to celebrate.

Paul: Are you making a difference in the lives of the children?

George: Of course. The first teacher we consider is the Lord Jesus Christ. He was preaching and giving examples, the same thing like when you are teaching Arabic you give examples, you give a way of living, and you give a way of how to study. That's the same thing we are living.

It's very important for us education and knowledge and how we are going to live in this big globe with different contradictions.

At the same time, in Palestine we don't have oil. We don't have sources of income except from tourists coming, and Christian pilgrims coming here.

Education is very important, to educate our children so when they emigrate in the future, they can work in any place that they approach. It is like a weapon for our children to face life with, to work and to sustain and to keep living, no matter whether they are living inside or outside of Palestine.

We have here the highest percentage of children that go to school, even between the Arab countries. Palestinians are the highest percentage of boys and girls going to school.

Paul: What is your prayer for the future of the school?

George: We are praying to sustain and for God to give us strength to continue our work. It's not an easy work nowadays teaching, with our circumstances living under occupation, and with all this contradiction in the world. We pray to God to give us health, prosperity and the ability to continue teaching our children.