Paul Calvert spoke with Bogart Shunthurst from Lifegate

The building is not the main thing though; what is most important is that inside the building there are living stones and this is our team and that the people that are coming out of this building are alive and that they have courage and self esteem and knowledge in their profession; that they can do something.

At the same time we teach them a profession, we teach them also the Arabic language; we teach them maths; general knowledge; we are looking in the medical problems they have; we introduce them to specialised doctors in Israel and here in Bethlehem. The approach of Lifegate is a holistic approach. We look at the child or at the young person from all sides and even sometimes we develop the family situation. We do income generating projects in the families who have nothing to pay for their children, who cannot help any child, so we help the families that they gain a little income. When the young people come in, we accept them how they are and very often impaired people in this society, no-one looked at them; they have no self esteem; they feel no-one wants me; no-one thinks I can do anything in my life. In Lifegate we say you are welcome; you are a lovely person; you are a creation of our Lord with all your problems and now we need you as a partner to work with us because we cannot do it for you; we can do it with you. The approach in Lifegate is often one to one. One therapist is with one young person or with one child. We work with the parents and it's really nice to see how they change. In a very short while they can look in your eyes; they're happy.

Paul: How should the general public treat the disabled?

Bogart: Some of our people drive electric scooters or wheel chairs; they are in the traffic being seen; they are coming here every day. Here in the population there is openness because the people are around. In the villages we have the situation that they are often hidden in the houses. We find in the villages people were never taken to any family event, wedding, or anything outside the building. We were even in houses and we haven't seen all the people with impairment; they were hidden from us even, from our team. We encourage people that these people belong to us; they are a part of us; they are a part of your family; give them a chance. We want people to help us and you to discover what they are able to do. Many people don't mean it in a bad way, they are helpless; they are helpless because they don't know how to treat them; they don't know how to develop them. They are afraid that the non-impaired girls in the family will not be married if people outside know there is a disabled person in the family, so they hide the people.

We do a lot of awareness meetings in the countryside, in the north, in the Jenin area and in the south in the Hebron area. We go in with teams where we go in 80 families with mentally retarded children and we develop these children with our service in the homes and we teach the mothers how to do that and we bring parents together to parent meetings. In many of these locations parents start to take initiative and meet together alone after Lifegate goes. In one village the parents even succeeded making a little kindergarten out of their own initiative in the village for the children, so something is going on. With the awareness meeting done by Lifegate, we invite all people in the government, the teachers in the area, the mayor, and the people who are having responsibilities to learn about our work and to give people with impairment a chance. I would say there is something changing; it goes very slowly, but I think also in Europe it took us some time until the approach was changed.

Paul: You are from Germany. Why are you in the Palestinian Authority?

Bogart: This is a good question. Many years I was travelling to the country; I lived part of my life in the country before the work of Lifegate was introduced to me. I think Israel and the Palestinian Territories for a believer is not a strange country, because you already know it from the Bible and you're curious to see it. When I came here several times I met people and the country became very close to me. Then when I was asked from a German friend who was in charge before me, I didn't need to think very long to say this is a challenge I would like to take on. I think along the way our Lord confirmed this decision several times and the years passed just like that. I still get up in the morning and there are many new things to come in every day and now especially connected with a new building and the work will hopefully grow and we can help many more people than we could in the past. It's a place I am put in and called to and as long as God wants me here I will do this work with his help.

Paul: What's your prayer for Lifegate and disabled people around the Bethlehem area?

Bogart: Our Prayer is that we start our week every Monday here with the word of the Bible. My prayer is that the people, even if they come from a Moslem background, that they receive this hope, which we have and I think Jesus Christ can give. We share this with the people. My prayer is that many people will be really connected to this source of power and love we have in our life and that the society is opening more up for people with impairments and that the parents and we in Lifegate plant something in the heart of the children, which is love and understanding and we do build many bridges between Palestinians and Israelis. The second main aim of Lifegate is to build bridges between people and we do that all the time and have very good experience and I see peace in this country might be possible if just we plant the right seed in the heart of the children in the Palestinian and the Israeli side.