The Excellence Center Reviews

I love the Excellence Center. It helps local Palestinians learn English and gives international volunteers a chance to experience Palestinian culture and hospitality. It is a good way to see the occupation first hand and support people living under apartheid. You will makes friends for a life time, while improving your Arabic and teaching skills. I highly recommend anyone joining the Palestine Excellence Center.

I spent 2 weeks volunteering in Hebron in March at very short notice (I was already in Palestine at the time), with Rafat and all the staff being extremely accommodating and welcoming of me in every possible way. The volunteering schedules allowed for very worthwhile work whilst also ensuring enough free time to explore Hebron. The other volunteers were always both amazingly friendly and very interesting, and the house I shared with the other male volunteers was lovely and very well-located.

It was a truly eye-opening experience in so many ways, and all of the trips that Excellence Center organised (such as to the keffiyeh factory, al-Ibrahimi mosque and the ceramics factory) enabled me to explore parts of Palestinian society that I otherwise may never have considered. The locals were often just as welcoming as those involved with the Center, and I spent many fun evenings outside of the Center with some of the students that I had been working with.

There were periods when there were tensions in the Old City of Hebron due to escalations between Israel and Gaza, but nonetheless any violence is generally very localised and possible to avoid if you so wish. All in all, I had the most fantastic time imaginable and I’m extremely thankful to Osama, Rafat, Ahlam and all the wonderful staff, volunteers and others that made this such a fascinating trip. Thanks a lot!

My name is Matt. I’m from Utah, USA and I’m studying Information Systems at Brigham Young University. I had a wonderful experience at the Excellence Center in Hebron. I did the month-long internship program here at the Center. It was incredible. I didn’t know any Arabic at all when I came, but the instruction was really helpful and I was able to hold a conversation by the end of my time here. The staff do a great job creating a friendly and comfortable environment. They were very accommodating with our schedule, allowing us to explore the things we wanted to while still giving us responsibilities and opportunities to serve. They’ve become my good friends and I’m sure we’ll stay in contact. I got to go see Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, and even took time to go to Petra, Jordan. Almost everyone is really friendly here and wants to help you feel welcome. I felt safe throughout my time here and I’ve so much enjoyed seeing daily life here. The Palestinians are a happy people, even in the face of many difficulties. My favorite experience here was getting chased by on ostrich in the town of Kharas. True story! Palestine has left a lasting impression on me of really good people and a vibrant lifestyle. I’m so glad I came and would recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure.

My name is Mie and I am 21 years old . I live in Denmark and went to The Excellence Center during my second gap year. I finished the Danish ‘gymnasium’ (equivalent to high school) in 2016 and have worked as a substitute teacher since then. It was my work with children and my interest in art and travelling that lead me to The Excellence Center. I applied for the Art and Music program in the hope of teaching art here in Palestine.
The moment I walked inside the center I was welcomed by the other volunteers. My trip here was not as smooth as I expected, so it was nice to be welcomed in that way. As I sat in one of the chairs in the reception I heard volunteers speaking fluently with the staff – and I was speechless, I thought that if they all are fluent in Arabic I will be left behind in the social life at the center. This turned out not to be true, and at every activity and the everyday life at the center, English will always be the main language, especially when your Arabic is lacking or non existing, as it was in my case.
As you probably could guess from the text above – I DID NOT KNOW A WORD OF ARABIC. I knew the word for ‘dog’ and ‘animal’, but I learned from and Iraqi, which means that even those words were a different.
My very intelligent and sweet teacher Raghad learned me everything I know now from scratch. We started with the common greetings and during each class she would teach me five new letters. At first I didn’t see the use of learning the alphabet, but it will help me continuing my studies at home. She adjusted the classes to my needs, so I learned the different colours (to make my art class easier for the children and myself) and the numbers so I could go shopping and hackle with the prices as you are supposed to.
I quickly received many classes at schools and got my own class at the center. They do not have art at the schools, so no matter what kind of creative class I broad it was an improvement. The way of seeing art classes was also different: I was asked to choose the best drawing but refused – art is for me a place where judgment is put aside and it is more about the act of creating and the process than the product itself (especially when we are talking about children). It is the same reaction that art can bring children no matter the geographical place. Their smiles are the same in Denmark and in Palestine.
I also had drawing classes three times a week at the center, one for children and two for adults, who would also learn something about drawing techniques.
I was very fortunate and got the opportunity to travel around Palestine during my stay, even though I didn’t expect this when I planned my trip here. I have been to Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, The Dead Sea and Jericho during my five week stay and I have travelled both with friends I have met at the center and staff from the center. Seeing more than just Hebron has broaden my view on what Palestine is and what it is like living in Palestine. I have met different Palestinians living different lives both in Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, this have helped me colour my view of what it means to be Palestinian.
I lived at a host family with another Danish volunteer for the first 3\4 weeks of my stay, and to have her as a link between the new and the known has been a big part of my positive experience in Palestine. There will always be some adjustments when you travel to a new place and live at a family, but to be honest it wasn’t hard. There is the language barrier – but one of my host sister was excellent in English and the other children spoke it okay as well, so it was only in my conversations with the parents that I needed help. The most different thing when it comes to food is how the Palestinians loves their bread, hummus and oily food. My skin bears the clear signs of the oily food (which tasted good but my body had to get used to all the grease). I have eaten grey food, and it tasted just as you might imagine, I have also eaten yellow rice, so much that I think I am going to stay away from rice when I come back home, and I have avoided all the neon pink pickles (food should NOT be neon pink!) – but dear Lord if eating falafel and hummus was a sin, I would be deemed to hell. I have had falafel for breakfast, lunch and dinner and tried many different falafel spots, but I must admit that I got the best falafel in Jerusalem.
I can only recommend coming to Palestine and volunteering at The Excellence Center. Prepare yourself to have very busy days that feels overbooked and very slow days where you (seemingly) have nothing to do. Be open-minded towards the staff, the Palestinians, their culture and the other volunteers – they will make you feel sad when you are leaving if you open yourself up to them. Say yes to new things such as wedding invitations, trips with the center, time with the family, grey food, and no when you feel like everything is a bit too much. I will definitely come back. Or as they say it down here to make sure that you know that their promises and plans can change any minute it should be (also when you have arrived) INSHALLAH

My name is Joanne, and I’m a British student studying Arabic at the Excellence Centre in Hebron.
I have spent the last three weeks living with a host family, taking part in intensive lessons during the mornings and exploring the city and surrounding areas in the rest of the day. Hebron is a great city for a base; it’s fascinating to wander through the old city and experience the reality of the settlements and how they affect the southern side. It’s a regional centre, with shops, markets and restaurants of every kind imaginable.
It is very easy to explore the rest of the West Bank too; the public transport is cheap and usually friendly, and despite restrictions on Palestinian-vehicular travel by Israeli checkpoints, Hebron to Ramallah is just under two hours by servees. The Excellence Centre organise a ton of trips each week – either to local places like the last remaining keffiyeh factory or the Maskobiyeh church, or to areas further afield, like Jericho and the Dead Sea, or to Bethlehem. The staff are really lovely and
The chief purpose of my stay in Hebron was to learn Arabic, so each morning I’ve had 3 hours of lessons with a wonderful tutor. Usually the classes are on a 1-2-1 basis, but my university friend and I have ours together – this is helpful because we can revise vocabulary and classwork together afterwards. We’ve covered a lot of material; basically we re-covered all of the basic grammar again and addressed a few topics such as human rights, future plans, marriage (!) and Palestinian cuisine. Both of us had been learning Modern Standard Arabic at university, but since no-one actually speaks MSA, we decided to focus on amiyya. Conversations with local shopkeepers, waiters and taxi-drivers has been getting much easier over the course of our stay – it is rewarding to be able to communicate in Arabic rather than switching back to English!
A number of friends from the UK were concerned about security issues and my personal safety when travelling around Palestine; I was also somewhat apprehensive about what the situation here might be. But the reality is that most of the time there is no overt difference between the lives of the locals here and those who live in other Arab countries – of course, the occupation means that there are restrictions for Palestinians, that many of them find themselves unable to travel to work or visit relatives in other areas of Palestine or even abroad because of new checkpoints, and it is impossible to drive anywhere without coming across settlements or Israeli military bases – but the lives still go on. They still go to school, go shopping in the evenings on the ein sarah street, attend university, work in every kind of business and go on day trips to amusement parks or other villages and towns. It’s been a right privilege to have lived with a host family in the north of the city, close to the main university, and see the familiar pattern of school term-time played out in another culture! The family are very welcoming – as are most of the people were have met here.
I thoroughly recommend the Excellence Centre to anyone who wants to visit Palestine, learn Arabic, meet wonderful people and eat awesome food.

My name is Maj, and I have studied Arabic and taught English with the Excellence Center from February 2018 to May 2018. I am from Denmark where I study at the university in Copenhagen. In the spring 2018 I took 6 months off between my bachelor and my master to travel to Palestine to improve my Arabic.

I studied Arabic with the competent teacher Maryam. We had Arabic class every day for three hours in the morning. The topic of the class changed almost every day which suited me very well. The teaching methods varied so I have never been bored during a class. As I am studying Political Science I asked my teacher to focus on this topic in our class which led me to have a great vocabulary on politics and have the skills to talk and discuss a difficult subject.

I started volunteering at the same time as I started studying Arabic. During my three months in Hebron I have taught the same class together with another volunteer twice a week at the Excellence Center. This has been a very good experience for me as I got the opportunity to get to know the students very well. After class we sometimes went out to eat ice cream or to have dinner which was something I enjoyed very much.

Besides from teaching at the Excellence Center I have also taught at public schools. This gave me the chance to see how the school system in Palestine functions. At the same time I enjoyed speaking with the children and teaching them English. The wonderful thing about teaching children is that you get more familiar with their native language which in this case is of course Arabic. In that way teaching English also helped me understanding Arabic better.

During my stay in Hebron I have lived with a Palestinian family. You can choose to change the family during your stay to get different experience, but I enjoyed my time with my host family so much that it was never something that crossed my mind. I owe my host family great thanks for making my time in Hebron so amazing!

I didn’t know what to expect regarding the safety situation in Hebron before I arrived but after spending three months in one of the most conservative cities in Palestine where the occupation is close to daily life I discovered that there was nothing to be afraid of. I have not once felt unsafe during my stay. People are very friendly and if you need help finding your way there will always be someone guiding you. The Palestinians are very outgoing so if you want to practice Arabic with other Palestinians than your teacher you will have a great opportunity to do that with people in shops and everywhere you go. As a woman travelling to Palestine there are different rules than for the men when it comes to staying out alone in the evening. I chose to follow the general costumes regarding this though the few times I went out alone in the night I didn’t feel unsafe.

Choosing to volunteer at the Excellence Center and living with a Palestinian family have been one of the best things I have done. The staff at the Excellence Center is so friendly and you feel welcomed from the moment you step into the center. I would definitely recommend this to others who want to learn Arabic and get familiar with the Palestinian culture.

I have been working with the excellence center for one month. I work as a registered nurse in the UK and wanted to take a career break, I decided to come to Palestine as I enjoyed my last visit. I have enjoyed my time here from my host family who have been absolutely amazing to the staff at the center. I came to volunteer for the heath care program and had the honor of delivering a workshop at the The University of Hebron in front of 50 students. I think that for me was the highlight of the trip. I also had the opportunity to visit hospitals and discuss with registered nurses about the challenges they face as well as discuss some of the differences between UK nurses and nurses working in Hebron. I also assisted in teaching English at the center which has made me realize that I love teaching and cant wait to get a teaching qualification soon. I hope to return to the centre next year as one month was not enough.
I would recommend coming to Hebron and volunteering with the excellence center as they help you get settled and you will feel safe. Despite the language barriers I managed to communicate with my host family via Arabic translation apps and I have been able to learn basic conversational Arabic.

I am Colter, a Canadian Master of Arts Student at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. My experience of the Excellence Center in Hebron, Palestine, has been incredibly rewarding. The decision to study Arabic in Palestine has been fulfilling, not only because of the high level of professionalism and enthusiasm with which the lessons are conducted, but also because of the chance to continually practice and develop my Arabic while casually speaking to people at the Center, in the city, or at my host family residence.
Not only has the Excellence Center’s program given me the opportunity to intensively study the Arabic language, but it has also afforded me numerous memorable encounters with Palestinian culture and society. The atmosphere at the Center has been welcoming, inclusive, and learning-friendly. Living in the Center of Hebron city with a Palestinian host family has furthermore allowed me to directly connect with regular Palestinian life and traditions. The warm hospitality, delicious food (falafel, shawarma and knaffeh), and weather have been wonderful. I have also been thankful for the opportunities organized by the Center to travel around Palestine; while here I have visited not only Hebron, but also Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Jerusalem. Along the way, I have made numerous friends, both local Palestinians and fellow students, volunteers and lecturers.
I have furthermore welcomed the many opportunities provided by the Center to further earnestly explore various aspects of historical and contemporary Palestinian life, in addition to the nature of the Israel-Palestine conflict. As such, I highly recommend the Excellence Center to anyone who wishes to study Arabic, volunteer, or grow in their understanding of Palestine. It is worth every moment.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at The Excellence Center in Palestine. This was actually a life changing experience where my eyes were opened to many issues both good and bad for many groups. I have made many lifelong friends and have been a recipient to the most incredible friendship and hospitality. The safety issues are sadly exaggerated in the media to the point that I am dismayed at the unfair contrast. Not once, have I ever felt that my safety was compromised, always did the the people welcome me; in fact I would go as far to say that the Palestinian people were protective. I went into a shop, and the keeper tried to overcharge me, and two Palestinians standing by intervened and told the man to charge the regular price. Furthermore, foreigners are needed in Palestine, and can perform a valuable mediation and education role to explore possibilities for peace. I must have a genuine affection for these people as today I leave, and I am very heavy hearted.

I am a 43 year old Mother of 4 teenagers from Philadelphia in the US, I have degrees in Urban Studies and in Theology, and I am currently a full time freelance musician. I have been at the Excellence Center for 2 weeks composing, playing, and singing music to help children and adults learn English. Before I came here, I did 30 hours of online Arabic lessons with a teacher from the Excellence Center and I had an additional 5 hours while in Hebron. I found the online lessons a very important and beneficial preparation for coming to Hebron, as I had previously only studied MSA alphabet, grammar and vocabulary from books. My Arabic classes in Hebron focused on learning Arabic language and Palestinian dialect through listening to Arabic music and lyrics. I chose this approach because a goal I have is to learn more Arabic music, and also because this is the same approach I have been using to teach English to my students here.
As an intern in the Music and Arts Program at the Excellence Center, I taught English through music to classes of students and adults at the Excellence Center. Additionally, I visited several private schools in Hebron and taught classes of 20-30 students between the ages of approximately 10-13. I taught English using music and lyrics at an all boys public school in H2, the Israeli-controlled part of Hebron. I also taught 6 lessons at the School for the Blind. In each school, there was always a teacher present who could translate my English to Arabic for the students when needed. I also led a workshop for about 20 public school English teachers and led a brainstorming session with them about the challenges they face and how music can help them engage their students in learning English. Facilitating this workshop was one of my favourite activities because the teachers were so engaged and appreciative. I also visited a hospital and led a small workshop on music for healing and relaxation for patients and then demonstrated by playing music for several patients who were interested in receiving this type of support.
I enjoyed three cultural outings that were coordinated by The Excellence Center for volunteers. A group of volunteers toured the Ibrahimi Mosque, Old City Hebron, and saw Shehadah Street. At another time a group of us toured a Kaffiyeh factory and a pottery factory in Hebron. Another day several volunteers and I visited several places of interest in and near Bethlehem such as a remote monastery from the 5th century, the ruins of Herod's palace, and the church of the Nativity. Each outing was an important way to get to know other volunteers and was culturally enriching.
Another meaningful part of my two week visit to Hebron was living with my very welcoming host family. They have 4 children and live in an apartment that is about 30 minutes walk from the Excellence Center. I shared the bedroom with their 18 year old daughter, ate many meals with them, and they invited me on several outings with the family during my stay, including several visits to extended family. Several teachers or students I met here also invited me to their homes, so I had multiple opportunities to experience Palestinian hospitality.
One of my favourite evenings at the Excellence Center was when two teachers organized a guided conversation and other staff prepared a meal for us staff and internationals to enjoy together. It was so nice to be together with all the internationals and many of the staff.
Every day I walk thirty minutes to the Center in the mornings and I ride a shared taxi home. On my second day I got lost and was dropped off by the taxi in an unfamiliar neighbourhood. Teenage boys and several men gathered around me and I was nervous because I knew I was lost and my Arabic skills are very limited. The boys began to practice their English with me and giggled with each other. The men helped me use their phone and call my host father to get directions to the apartment. This is an example of how helpful and respectful the locals are to internationals and women. I believe it would also be safe to bring my family and children to visit Hebron.
The Excellence Center is well-connected to many agencies and leaders in Hebron and the surrounding area so they can help internationals do research or volunteer in a wide range of settings based on each person's unique interests and goals. It is also a friendly, welcoming home base for internationals visiting the West Bank, studying Arabic language, experiencing Palestinian culture, or volunteering. I will definitely visit Hebron again and look forward to another chance to study Palestinian Arabic and volunteer at The Excellence Center.