Short Term Volunteer Projects in Germany

I love it here in Halle! I am really going to miss being part of the community when I leave, and I am already planning a return trip. My German has drastically improved because of my exposure to the language in the city and with my host family but also because of my wonderful German teacher.

As well as being a student I have also I have also been teaching plenty of English in the centre. I have four classes, stretching from individual teaching to small group and various levels. I have found this equally challenging and rewarding but I received lots of guidance and support from Rafat and his team throughout. It has been wonderful getting to know so many different people at the centre – it is truly amazing to see all these different languages and cultures come together.

I have got into a real routine here including morning runs in the park and ice skating at the local ice rink and it was super easy to get stuck into life here. My German host family has also been wonderful welcoming me into their family, sharing their meals and making sure that I am happy in Halle. I will have to come to visit them in the future because I feel so at home here.

My experience at the Excellent Center in Halle (Saale, Germany) has been amazing.
I had the chance to meet very special and warm people, who made me feel at home.
Rafat and Mutaz are excellent hosts, very easy-going, always ready to help and adjust things for each one of us.

I totally enjoyed my Arabic lessons with Rafat and I deeply appreciated his patience with me in explaining both Arab culture and history. I'm also very thankful to my English students for being so keen to learn!

I would love to come back at some point this year. In the meantime I'll keep studying Arabic online.

Life is full of encounters. Some however, will stay in your memory forever. I can say without a doubt that the entire month I spent volunteering at the Excellence Center in Europe was filled with such encounters! Getting to know and help the wonderful souls that surround this humble language center was such a rewarding experience - it is opportunities such as these that emphasise the importance of seeing the human race as one big family.

Rafat and Mutaz certainly have a wonderful vision towards supporting the integration of Syrian refugees into Germany, and it was an honour to be a part of this purpose. My time at the center was dedicated to writing articles, teaching group/private English classes and presenting talks on Australia. It was also a pleasure to get to know my fellow volunteers, spending our spare time exploring Halle together.

I can't wait to come back and see my family in Halle!

Simply stated, I had a great time at the Excellence Center in Halle.
I found the Excellence Center a friendly, welcoming place full of activity, yet it was relaxed, never hectic. I enjoyed the all-hands breakfasts around 1000 in the morning where volunteers and staff leisurely discussed the day's activities and chatted. I also liked that you might be at the Center until around 1800, but there was always time between classes and other activities for lunch and to run errands or do other things.
Teaching Syrian refugees English was difficult but rewarding. I was there for a month, which might seem like a long time, but it was just enough time to get to know them and their needs and help develop some plans and projects. From that point of view, I wish I could have stayed longer.
I also had a good experience with the EC's Arabic program. I came with intermediate/advanced classical Arabic knowledge, which was a good prerequisite for delving into colloquial Palestinian Arabic. But even without any or little Arabic background, the advantage of learning Arabic at the EC is getting to work and practice with native speakers.
Halle itself is an interesting, middle-sized city. My accommodations were located near the Saale River, where there is a wonderful bike/walking/jogging path and green areas to hang out in, and all of this was just a pleasant 10-minute walk away from the Excellence Center. You can also take the streetcar or bus, or use the bike paths. Steinweg, where the Excellence Center is located, is one of the most interesting streets in Halle. It is full of shops and restaurants, and it is centrally located near the main train station and the downtown area (Marktplatz).
I whole-heartedly recommend spending some time at the Excellence Center in Halle; it's a great experience!

I stayed in Halle for ten days during August. I met so many wonderful and interesting people from many countries and we were unified by the constant warmth, humour and food of the Syrian people who run or use the centre. Endless conversations in a glorious mix of English/German/Arabic were had. Everyone was friendly and respectful to each other and I felt very appreciated for my contribution to the work at the centre. The cultural exchange and learning was such a high point for me; whatever I taught I received in equal measure.
I had some great German lessons and overall my German has improved. Admittedly, I wasn't immersed in the German language as much as I had hoped as English was the common language between all volunteers. However, due to the welcome, kindness and friendship that I received during my stay in Halle, my experience was a very positive one.

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I spent two weeks at the Excellence Center and the experience was very positive. I met many people of different nationalities and backgrounds, taught English to two groups, one of children and another of teenagers, and one-to-one lessons to several individials. I also had some individual German classes. And, last but not least, I got to know a lot about the everyday life and concerns of Syrian refugees in Germany. I strongly recommend it to anyone wishing to volunteer in order to do some meaningful work. As regards the city of Halle, it is small but with quite a lot of interesting things to visit. Accomodation was also very good: I stayed at the house of a very nice guy who made me feel at home from the first day and introduced my to his friends.

I volunteered at the Excellence Center for one week in August 2019.
My host mom was a lovely Sudanese woman who went to great lengths to make me feel welcome. She even invited me along to the Mosque, where she normally worked and where the kids from the neighborhood had their classes, and afterwards to their barbeque later that evening.

As for my daily routine, every day I would walk to the center, the view of the Saale river on my right. When there, I would help preparing breakfast and then enjoy it with all the other volunteers, before our day started.
Normally, I would teach one class to early teenagers, or two at most. So, I had a lot of free time to prepare for my classes and I used to spend the day looking up materials and activities with my computer.
My students were generally from Syria or Egypt and had been living in Germany for a few years, so their command of German was much better than their English. Sometimes the challenge, especially with beginners, was that they were often tempted to switch to German or Arabic, but with gestures, pictures and a lot of drawing on the board we were always able to communicate and learn new vocabulary.

I also had a total of 3 hours of Arabic classes taught by native speakers. Afterwards, I was able to say common greetings, understand the numbers and the days of the week and to tell simple things about daily activities such as working, eating and sleeping. The nicest part about the Arabic class was that my teacher would go get any other native speakers who was hanging at the center, so I could practice more and make sure I would be understood.

At the center, there's always a team leader in charge of organising activities for the group and ensuring everyone is helping out with the daily chores. All volunteers are also asked to give a presentation about their country and everyone is welcome to attend. At the end of the working week, there's usually a special activity planned. During my stay, we went for a barbecue at Peißniz, a park closeby where volunteers, students and friends were all invited to have dinner together.
In conclusion, my stay in Halle was brilliant. I really enjoyed teaching English and I found friendly people from all over the world at the center. I really recommend everyone to come and spend some time here, but for at least two weeks if you can.

From the middle of June to the middle of August I did teaching English/German volunteer for three weeks at the center. I had a great experience there.

-Teaching Experience
I taught English in one kids’ class and one individual class. Actually, I did almost nothing in my kids’ class because my partner did everything. Only what I did there is to help children individually. I also had a chance to teach German to a volunteer member who want to learn it, which was interesting for me. Sometimes we study outside or at a cafe, with seeing beautiful scenery in Halle.

-Learning Experience
I learned German and Arabic in the center. For a long time, I’ve been learning German, but it was the first time to learn Arabic. The teacher Rafat, a manager in the center was so supportive. We can practice what we have learned at any time because there are a lot of people who speak Arabic like Syrian. A few easy expressions can make our communication easily. I really liked these language courses here.

-Developing Community with Refugees
Refugees, the word is very unfamiliar for all of us in Japan. We rarely see or cannot recognize them though we heard about an unstable situation in Syria by newspapers. When I lived in Dresden in 2015, I feel something changing, however, I do not know how serious the reality is. Here I got to know some people from Syria, who are so clever and friendly despite their tough situation. They did great efforts to adapt themselves to German life. Now, I would like to do something related to refugees in Japan if I have a chance.

-Life (Homestay)
Living German itself is not new to me, but this was my first homestay. My host mother from Sudan was very nice. It was good that I met some Muslim culture.

Other volunteer staff is very supportive, kind, friendly. We understand each other though I had some difficulties in communication with them because of my English ability. I would like to visit the center someday!

I volunteered with the Excellence Centre as a volunteer teacher for English in July for about a week! It was immensely fulfilling, especially due to the exchange of knowledge and culture between myself and my tutees, as well as the fun and supportive environment with all the other volunteers. I had three students to teach as a pair and individually, and whom I had about 2-3 lessons with each that week. They were of relatively higher level in English skill, but were still incredibly passionate and eager to learn English which made teaching them so much fun!
My host family was also a joy to get to know in my week there. I practiced the little Arabic I learnt with them, ate traditional Syrian food, and taught each other things about our countries.

I spent two weeks at the Excellence Center
in June/July 2019 and learned so much even in the short time I was there. I was able to take Arabic language lessons and even go out into the community and practice what I'd learned with Arabic speakers living in the city.
I also spent time teaching students English in one-on-one sessions. I had some really incredible conversations with students in these sessions, and their perspectives on the world widened my own in many ways.
Everyone at the center was great. The center has a real community atmosphere. Scheduling and plans are pretty flexible, so as long as you're also flexible you should feel right at home.
I stayed with a Sudanese host family, and they were really wonderful. They suggested places for me to visit and helped me practice my Arabic, and just generally made me feel very welcome.

I have just spent two weeks here at the Excellence Centre in Europe and can say I have loved every minute of it! The centre staff are wonderful, I could not have asked for better hosts and teaching English to refugees has provided me with so much new experience.

I was nervous to travel as a solo female but everyone here made me feel so at home. Just go for it if you are considering volunteering here!

The interns at the centre introduced me and the other volunteers to the city upon arrival which was very insightful and prepared me for the weeks to come. Having breakfast most mornings at the centre together was a lot of fun as we were about to have a good time before getting into work for the day! I had no issues with anyone I worked with, the centre is incredibly relaxed.

Shortly, I got great experience in this excellent center. I have always wanted to interact with refugee people and help them. I got two weeks off and I wanted to spend my time on valuable experience. Even though I had only four days in the excellent center I have gotten a lot of amazing experiences. Usually, in this center, I participated in some English lessons and helped students. I felt they are eager to learn English to be able to get a job in Germany and to have a better future. In another class, we talked about different cultures and countries.

To be honest, before I came here, I did not talk a lot with people from Syria. I have been in Germany for about two months and even though I know there are a lot of refugees in Germany I did not have any opportunities to talk or interact with them. In this excellent center, I talked with young people about a lot of topics in the classroom and it was quite interesting for me. We talked about cultural differences, countries, and people. People here are very welcoming, passionate which makes me motivated and I had a lot of things to learn from them. Staying with my host family was an amazing experience and it was my highlight. I was not so familiar with Arabic culture before I came here but I experienced their culture as being a part of their family. Meeting a lot of people from different backgrounds was such a great experience and in only four days I had a lot of things to learn. This time I had a short time here, but I wish I can do it more volunteer activities in the future. Overall, I got an amazing experience in this excellent center.

I was thrilled to see that the center and the experience were everything I was expecting, the family atmosphere, everyone so hospitable, but also a lot of dedication and hard work they put into developing this place. When it comes to teaching English experience, I was very happy to share a classroom with students from Syria, seeing them engage in conversations, introducing Syrian culture and sharing their German experience with me, all in perfect English, and with such will to improve. It was so rewarding to see how little of right support can go a long way, so to say. At the same time, we would all just hang out together, talking, sharing, cooking together, spending time, learning about each other, sharing our cultures, which was a very special experience! Classes are fun, creative, and as a teacher, you do have the freedom to adjust the classes to the needs of students, and their interests, which helps them so much with motivation; I was so happy to see how interested they were in speaking in English! The host family was wonderful, so hospitable, it was really special to share meals, drink tea, talk about everything, just spending time together, and see Germany in a different -through the eyes of foreigners, which was the best experience! So many cultures blending together, it was the most special experience ever!

The refugee crisis in European called my attention since it began to be show on Brazil’s television news. What we heard about the war in Syria sounded something totally out of reality (for brazilians, at least); the images of the boats full with thousands people, seemed like a fiction story. Still, it was true. Some years later, venezuelans seek for a better life in Brazil, creating some difficulties for the government to deal with it. Seems politics keep ignoring history in order learn with it.
How can you integrate people in a broken world? How can we integrate people and respect their differences at the same time? How can I help them to have decent life? These are my questions as a human being, as a christian, and as a civil engineering student. I started to look after volunteer programs to discover how to put theory into practice. When I got the opportunity to go to Europe as an Erasmus student, I used the chance to get to learn more about the refugees situation and try to help them. So, I found in The Excellence Center, a great opportunity to do it.
In the EC I had the chance to interact with kids and have really good talks young adults, both groups from Syria; helping them to learn english. Also, I could study a little bit of German during my short stay in the city of Halle. It was my first time living with a host family, they were so nice and kind… I will always remember them. I felt bad I could not stay more than a week and I imagine how much more intense it would be the experience and how much I could had helped if I stayed longer.
The help they receive from Germany can really lead them to a better life. It’s a both way gaining: the country prepare refugees to become citizens and the refugees turns into economically active population. However, it is still not easy, for example, for Syrian women to find a job; most of them were full time housewifes in their country. Also, in order to work in Germany, refugees need to achieve good results in the german language test, and not always the courses has a good didatic for them. Besides this, there’s also the prejudice and the growing anti-refugees movements.
I hope the amount of volunteers in the EC rise up, for them can have more stability and continuous course for everybody. The first results of this hard work are in the smile of each kid, is in each new word students are able to learn. But the long-term results are the establishment of good and well prepared citzens for this world.

It was a chilly December day when I came to Halle Germany. The center itself is located in a very convenient quite part of the city. It’s a small center but the atmosphere inside was very welcoming and comfortable. This was my first experience volunteering so I had very little expectations. But I had taught abroad before in Asia so I imagined it might be similar to that. I met Rafat and the other volunteer I would be working with as well as other local teachers and students. The first thing that we all did was have breakfast together. While eating and getting to know everyone I realized that this was a place very conducive to a community atmosphere that supported a multicultural environment.

I should tell you my reason for taking the trip and a little about myself. I’m from the US and I spent a decent amount of time studying abroad in Japan. Since then I’ve had a very different view of the world and all the people in it. When I felt like I had been in my home country for too long and needed a break I started looking for volunteer work. Some people like to travel the world and go sightseeing. While that is nice, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to enjoy myself as just a tourist. I really look for a sense of purpose in any kind of international traveling I do. I enjoy the opportunities to meet people in an international community and have meaningful experiences.

My time here at The Excellence Center has been short, sweet, and full of memorable experiences and people. I feel absolutely honored and humbled to have had the chance to get to know these people. What life has been like for them, their struggles and hopes for the future. From the volunteers to the refugees not a single one falls short of incredible. I definitely got what I was looking for and so much more. For instance, my views on a lot of things changed, like my perspective on Germany and the refugees in Germany. Rafat and his staff are superb, kind, and friendly. They are always so flexible and understanding you won’t meet many people like them that are so hard working and driven. I will definitely miss the center and all the people. I hope that in the future I will have a chance to work with them again and stay longer. I would recommend The Excellence Center to everyone.