Visit to the Church of the Nativity and a chance to meet Sami Awad

I met a great policemen called Hafeez at the Church of the Nativity this morning. He was relaxed and friendly and helping all the tourists - this illustrates what a good place Bethlehem is now - very friendly and safe. We heard all about the Siege at the Church in 2002 and then had a tour of the Church. It was good being there a second time as I was able to focus on things I had missed last year.

We had a great meeting with the Assistant Mayor of Bethlehem and were pleased to hear that the city has been getting more international support in the last few years. Any growth of the city has been severely restricted by the wall being built close to the present built up area. 

We had a wonderful lunch out at the Shepherds Fields, then back to the Holy Land Trust to hear Sami Awad. He inspired the students and there were a lot of interesting questions. 

Finally we had a trip around one of the refugee camps - mine. It was interesting to see some aspects of the camp which  I have not yet had time to explore. 

I have had an incredible week and been very privileged to be able to visit different places and to speak to a lot of people.