Medical and Healthcare In Palestine

Hi everyone here is Carol from Switzerland. I’m a physiotherapist and I chose the Medicine & Healthcare Programme of the Excellence Center.
During my Programme at the EC I had the chance to visit some places in Hebron, as hospitals, refugee camps, and local organizations. I participated in some presentations about the Healthcare system and they gave me the opportunity to organize a workshop about health topics.
The Arabic lessons give me the chance to communicate in a certain way with my host family and the people around me. Of course practice in everyday life was helpful for learning new words and repeating the others. I also learned useful idioms for everyday life.
The time spent at the EC was instructive and interesting, all the staff of the center was very kind and of course the Arabic teacher too. Getting involved in this Programme led me the opportunity to get in touch with others International Volunteers, we had time to share our experiences and to taste the local life.
During my stay in Palestine, on my days off, I visited some places like Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah also with my host family. Travelling around Palestine and its nature was suggestive, I had the chance to admire its amazing sunsets on the houses rooftops and go through its beautiful hills.
Living in a host family was the best part of the experience. This gives me the chance to practice and learn Arabic every day and to have a full immersion in Hebron's culture. We spent a lot of time together, I learned how to cook some typical dishes, how to dance on particular occasions like graduation parties and how people in Hebron live their life. Palestinian people in general are very kind and they always try to help you in all the ways they know.
I had some reserve before leaving home but I never felt unsafe in Palestine in general. Traveling from Ben Gurion to Hebron was easier than my expectations and all the people I met were very polite and they made my trip more comfortable. I felt completely safe also in Hebron of course as in every other place in the world you have to pay attention especially to the traffic and how to cross the street.
I really enjoyed my time in Palestine. The food and the nature around were amazing, of course the food was my favourite thing.
Getting in touch with another culture can be harder than we think but for sure it is worth it and thanks to this experience I learned how to be patient and flexible. I would say that my time in Palestine was very interesting and changed my view, caused by the media, about this place. The Excellence Center gave me the chance to discover a beautiful place.
I recommend the Center to every person curious about life in Palestine and ready to learn some Arabic. The center offers you the occasion of fully living in this place.