Three people hosted the special live Christmas program.
Egypt (MNN) ― Christmas is not over yet for children in the Middle East. Because they follow the Eastern (Gregorian/Coptic) calendar rather than the Western (Julian) calendar, they will celebrate Christmas on January 7. In Egypt, president Hosni Mubarak declared January 7 a national holiday in 2003.
SAT-7 ARABIC and SAT-7 KIDS will continue broadcasting Christmas programming until January 7. The programs will include rebroadcasts of a live Christmas Eve service from the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, and the first-ever live program for children on SAT-7 KIDS.
During the live showing, so many children called in to the KIDS Christmas special that the phone lines and the on-air hosts could not handle all the calls. The children were calling from countries all over the Middle East, including Egypt, Lebanon, Syrai, Kuwait, Iraq, and the Gulf.
"We were amazed by the response," said Naji, the host of a children's science show and one of the three hosts of the special Christmas program. "I wasn't expecting that we would get so many people calling. The phones were ringing all the time and people were texting to say they couldn't get through."
Although technical difficulties delayed the program for 45 minutes, it was a great success. The people who ran the show will learn from the experience as they plan more live shows for 2009.
Like all of the special Christmas musicals, cartoons, films, and other programs, the live show pointed to Christ and the true meaning of Christmas.
"We had Santa come on later in the show, but he was upset," Naji explained. "When we asked why, he said, 'Because people have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas. It's not about me, but about Jesus and that he came for the salvation of all people.' So the show helped our young viewers remember the true meaning of Christmas."
SAT-7 KIDS was launched in October 2007, and it is the first and only Arabic Christian channel exclusively for children. It broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and aims to make the Gospel of Christ available to an entire generation of young Arabs in a way meaningful to them.
