Paul Calvert found out more about Shevet Achim

Paul: How long does the whole process take from leaving the country to going back to their country again?

Jonathan: Typically two to three months, which gives us an amazing window of time where we're living alongside these families, particularly the ones that come from Iraq. You and I are sitting alongside this old stone building here in Jerusalem which used to be the first children's hospital in the Middle East; we've converted it to be housing for these families. Our Christian families work, live, pray, worship and do just about everything alongside these Moslem families. It's a great opportunity to open up our hearts to one another to let them see also that we really love them for the Lord's sake.

Paul: These are life saving operations, so how do these families feel about you doing this?

Jonathan: They are of course very grateful and the natural thing they try to say is "you have done this for us;" but we're very quick to say everything you are experiencing is the grace of God and we wouldn't be here if he hadn't first poured some grace into our lives and forgiven us so much and started changing our selfish hearts that don't care a whole lot about our neighbours. It's because of him that we do care about you and what's happening with your child.

Paul: Now how do these families react when they hear that Israel has an answer to the problem that they have?

Jonathan: You would be surprised. In Gaza for years and years their only hope for good medical care is coming out to Israel, so they know; they know they will be cared for; they know they will be respected. They trust the doctors here and that's an important message to keep putting out there because there is so much division in a political and religious level coming in telling people these are your enemy's so hate, kill, destroy; but the doctors are coming in saying no - care for each other, love each other, help each other and we believe that's a message that reflects the Kingdom of God.

Paul: Is it easy getting children and their families into Israel?

Jonathan: Nothing is easy here. There is a lot of paperwork. You can work on paperwork for a couple of weeks to get the permission to leave Gaza; a couple of weeks to get a visa to get an Iraqi child to come into Israel; it's a lot of leg work. Each time we successfully cross the border though, its like a little glimpse of what the Messiah has done, tearing down the wall of division between peoples. We're all equal before God; we all have access to the Father through him. I love having the opportunity to demonstrate that in a tangible way too.

Paul: These are Arab countries, so they must be predominantly Moslem children who are coming here?

Jonathan: Most of the kids we have worked with are Moslem; we have had a couple from the ancient Christian community in Northern Iraq, but 99% are Moslem.

Paul: How do you hear about these children and find these children to actually bring them over here to minister to them?

Jonathan: It starts by going there. First my family went and lived in the Gaza Strip and people were coming to the door of our house there all hours of the day and night with their babies in their arms. Word spreads quickly when there is no other hope. It was the same thing in Iraq. After the war I went in and visited a US army doctor in one of the big hospitals there who was screening kids; he began to cry saying, "I'm seeing all these kids and we can't do anything for them. I'm telling them what's wrong then they're going and dying". While we were there a family walked in with a two day old baby and put him on the desk between us and he examined him and said, "this is an emergency; within two weeks she has to be in an advanced medical centre". That was another hopeless case. How could that happen from the middle of Iraq? Sometimes the Lord gives us a little gift, the seed of faith and I didn't now how it could happen either, but we stepped out and one thing after the other; papers, visa, transport, permission, funds and within two weeks that child was here in Israel and had the surgery that was hoped would save her life.

Paul: Do you have any special stories about what God has been doing over the years?

Jonathan: I think at one level you see kids' coming in so blue that it's scary. We had a boy who just went home a week or two ago. When he got here he was so very blue. They took him to hospital and he died and they revived him and he died again and they revived him again and they realised, we're not going to get him back unless we rush in right now, open him up and fix that heart, which is a very rare thing to do without any preparation or planning. It was night time but they wouldn't let him die, so they called everyone in and went in and fixed him right there and then. He goes home three or four weeks later, a perfectly normal looking child. It's a miraculous change on that level. We have also seen many of the kids, younger kids, older kids, parents, really opening up to the Lord while they are here. We read the scriptures and sing praise songs, they love to do that. The kids love to dance. There is just no human heart that won't respond to God's grace when it is freely given to them.