Paul Calvert spoke to Tony Samaan from Mr Ok Theatre, a theatre company going into schools and reaching marginalised children in the Palestinian Territories.



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Tony: Yeah for Christmas and Easter I have a special programme with drama. The idea is to give the real meaning of Christmas and the real meaning of Easter and also just to bring happiness for the children and their parents.

Paul: That must make you very busy around Christmas and Easter time.

Tony: Yeah it does! Last Christmas I did 32 shows all over the West Bank and in some areas in Jerusalem too.

Paul: Do you go into schools for children with special needs as well?

Tony: Yes we do, we go into orphanages and schools for children with special needs. We really want to focus on these groups. We do regular visits and also monthly activities with them such as drama and therapy activities. We follow up with them to try and make their lives better.

Paul: Do you do performances for adults as well?

Tony: Well our focus is on children, but often particularly at Christmas and Easter the parents will be with their children.

Paul: How many people do you have on the team?

Tony: I have seven people on my team, there are four who are full time and there are others who I went to university with who sometimes work with me. We would like to have a big team because this work takes a lot of time.

Paul: It must be expensive to actually run a theatre. How are you funded?

Tony: Yes, we have some churches and friends who like what we do and they support us, and also whoever is able can give us an offering for what we do.

Paul: So are you seeing God provide?

Tony: Yes we are, God is the provider. We are really doing this by faith, we have the desire to reach children, God knows that and He provides for us.

Paul: Can we find you on Facebook or YouTube to see some of the work that you do?