George Bannoura

George Bannoura, 40, comes from a family of Christians native to the Holy Land. He learned woodcarving from his father, who learned from his father, in a tradition stretching back generations. In Bethlehem, located in the West Bank south of Jerusalem, he and his family own a farm of olive trees that are nearly 800 years old.

Bannoura and his family carved crosses and other religious items from the wood, relying heavily on money made from selling the items to tourists. However, with the unrest in the region during the early 2000s, tourism decreased drastically and Bannoura struggled to make a living.

“We almost had no income for three years, not just us, but the entire city had no income,” he said.

He and his wife decided to move to Colorado in 2003, where they had their first child and began selling hand-carved items from the Holy Land.

“To be honest, I had no idea where I was going to,” he said. “It was really, we saw hope for us when we made the decision. We saw the hope there to support our family and other families as well who are connected to us by carving.”

After several years selling through kiosks and in churches across the state, Bannoura opened Bethlehem Handicrafts, a store with nearly 1,000 items, in Aurora. He is also a recent citizen, having been naturalized in November 2017 after 15 years of working towards citizenship.

“It’s an achievement that I worked towards and I was so proud,” he said. “It was so emotional for both my wife and I to become U.S. citizens and I remember the first thing we did when we went home, we told our kids ‘Now we are citizens just like you guys.'”