my $para = shift;

  my $result;

  for my $child ($para->getChildNodes) {

    if   ($child->isSpan) {

      $result .= span($child);

    }

    elsif ($child->isHyperlink) {

      $result .= hyperlink($child);

    }

    elsif ($child->isImage) {

      $result .= image($child);

    }

    elsif ($child->getName eq '#PCDATA') {

      my $text = ooDecodeText($child->text);

      $text =~ s/&/&/g;

      $text =~ s/</&lt;/g;

      $text =~ s/>/&gt;/g;

      $result .= $text;

    }

    else {

      warn "Element '" . $child->getName . "' was ignored ";

    }

  }

  return $result;

}