Volunteer & Study Arabic In Palestine (1-13 Weeks)

My name is Alicia, I am 22 years old from the United Kingdom and I came to the excellence center to participate in the healthcare programme for 5 weeks, however I went on to extend it to 7 weeks.
During my 7 weeks at the center, I did healthcare specific visits such as visits to hospitals, meeting healthcare professionals, went to a women’s rights clinics which had a healthcare center attached, visited the al fawwar camp where I visited the health center and went to 2 different nursing colleges. Additionally, I did a 3-part nursing workshop with nursing students. I also did other activities which were specific to other programs such as going to the tourism office, going to the human rights defenders office, meeting a lawyer, going to the special educational needs school, the blind school, the art gallery, the palmotion office, went to the H2 area, had a tour of the old city, went to the ceramic factory, the kafiya factory, the Bedouin villages, a children’s center, the women’s kitchen and finally I also had some opportunities to help the teachers at the center in their lessons.
Throughout my time here I had weekly Arabic lessons, I didn’t know any Arabic before arriving, but I know I have now progressed with the alphabet and being able to read.
I have found all the staff, other volunteers, and students at the center to be incredible. I knew before coming that it was going to be an amazing experience, but nothing could prepare me for how kind and welcoming everyone would be.
During my free time I also visited other cities such as Ramallah, Jericho, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem.
Living with my host family has been one of the greatest experiences I have ever had, my host mum, host dad and their children are a beautiful and kind family and made me feel welcome and part of their family as soon as I arrived. Their extended family have also been so welcoming and have included me in everything they have done. I am so lucky to have met them all and truly feel like I now have a second family here in Hebron and I am already planning to come back and visit them, any volunteer who has the chance to stay with this family are incredibly blessed.
Hebron is a beautiful city, and its people are so kind, and the 7 weeks here has gone incredibly fast. For the majority of the time, I felt safe in Palestine and the staff were always willing to assist with whatever questions or help you need
There are so many things I loved about my stay here so it is hard to choose one specific aspect, however, the thing I will cherish the most when I go home will be the people I have met and the hospitality shown, the host family, the teachers, the other foreigners, and everybody else I have met have shown me a kindness I have never been shown before!
The most important thing I wanted to mention about the center are the incredible teachers, I think they truly make the centre and without them the experience would not have even been half of what it has been. They are the greatest group of people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting- Amani, Anas, Duha, Ibrahi, Isaac, Khitam, Mahmoud, Mamon, Marwa and Saja are so kind, caring, compassionate and never fail to put a smile on our faces! Getting to know them has been one of the greatest experiences and they are an absolute credit to the centre and anyone who has the oppurtunity to meet them will be very lucky.

My name is Esther Pérez, I am twenty-five years old and I am from Spain. I have studied the Degree in Journalism at the University of Valencia, and later I have done the Master’s Degree in Culture of Peace, Conflicts and Human Rights at the University of Granada. Currently, I have been collaborating for a year as a volunteer in Red Cross organization, as an external communication reference. I have done the Journalism program at the Excellence Center.

I arrived at the Excellence Center in Palestine a month ago, on September 15, 2022. I am a journalist for human rights, and in recent years I have been studying in depth the historical and current situation of Palestine, so I wanted to come to see first-hand this situation of colonization. I discovered the excellence center by chance, looking for different centers with which to collaborate on the internet. This center caught my attention because of the different programs they have, as well as the opportunity to learn Arabic, because that could help me to explore new stories around the world.

During this month I have visited many sites and had the opportunity to meet workers and human rights activists in Hebron, as well as local Palestinians, in the context of occupation. I attended the Grape Festival, made visits to the ancient city of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque, went to a Bedouin Camp, visited the Hebron Chamber of Industry and Commerce, a tourism agency, the Hebron pension center, different agencies and media, such as the WAFA communication agency and a radio station. I have also visited human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Defenders. In terms of education, I have visited schools: such as a school of art and culture, the Al-Hussein school, and a school of autism and for blind students. All these visits have given me extensive knowledge about the current situation of Palestinians in Hebron, from different perspectives: communication, education, health, politics or the economy. It is a great opportunity to be able to know first-hand how the context of occupation affects the Palestinian people living here in Hebron, due to the numerous checkpoints, Israeli military control and settlers.

On the other hand, about the Arabic classes, I have received during this month three hours each week. During this time, I have learned to have a basic conversation as well as introduce myself. Basic knowledge that we need in our day to day: numbers, days of the week, months of the year, adjectives, pronouns, determinants, some verbs and basic words. Now I am able to introduce myself: what my name is, how old I am, where I live and with whom, what I did yesterday or what I will do tomorrow, or what I study. All this knowledge in Arabic language I have been able to put into practice in my day to day, on the one hand, with the staff and other volunteers of the center, and on the other hand, with my host family.

Throughout my stay I have felt very safe in Palestine. I arrived with fear and something insecure, because the great number of news that comes through the media in Spain are quite negative, and only talk about violence and conflict. Also quite unsure by the questions on my arrival at Ben Guiron airport. But when I got here, everything went well. And little by little I got to know the lot of positive and life things that the city of Hebron has, as well as the hospitality and kindness of all people. Shops, restaurants, cafes, shopping centers, shops, the beauty of the old city... the city of Hebron, despite its complicated circumstances due to the occupation, is full of life and joy.All the staff of the center and the rest of the volunteers have always been very kind to me, and have made me feel very well when I have expressed myself in English. All the staff of the center is always ready to help you, and welcomes you every morning with a big smile. As for the rest of the volunteers, I return to Spain with great friendships. I have been able to learn a lot from them and their perspectives. And we've had great times together. It is very nice to learn from people from different parts of the world. In addition we have made several trips together, we have practically been able to know all of Palestine: Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Jericho, Ramallah and Nablus. I think these have been the best times I've ever had here
in Palestine.

In this paragraph I would like to talk about my host family, since the first day I have felt at home.And I have had the opportunity to try a lot of Palestinian dishes, I love Palestinian gastronomy! Both the parents and the children have made me feel like one more in the family. In addition, I have shared a room with Rachel another volunteer of the center, and I have been able to enjoy a lot with her.

Definitely, I recommend everyone to come to the center to do the communication and journalism program. Palestine needs ethical journalism, and it is a great opportunity to learn about the occupation situation firsthand, and then to be able to communicate and give a voice to the Palestinians globally.

I originally signed up for a one-week program in Palestine but extended it to two because of how much I was enjoying the experience. I was initially a bit apprehensive about safety but not only did the Centre always ensure that we were suppported, but the situation in general was much safer than I was expecting. The program includes multiple trips to the Old City, Bedouin and refugee camps, visits to local organizations, and cultural sites. Overall, I would definitelty recommend this program. The staff were always incrediby friendly and eager to learn about where all of the volunteers came from.

The volunteer programme at the Excellence Centre was a great way to get to know the city of Hebron and also a good base from which to explore other cities in Palestine. The staff were helpful and friendly and there was a very good sense of cameraderie between them and the international volunteers on the various programmes.
We were taken on outings to various parts of the city and the surrounding countryside which gave us a very good insight into the situation in Hebron under occupation. I found Hebron itself to be a friendly and safe city.

Hi, my name is Zoe and I am a 19-year-old politics and economics student from the UK.
While at the Excellence Center, I participated in the women's rights programme so I spent most of my time visiting different organisations and talking to women about their experiences living and working in Palestine. It was incredibly inspiring to see their determination and creativity, even in the face of such severe challenges. I especially enjoyed meeting some of the female journalists, both at the WAFA agency and at the Al Huriya radio station. At the core of the Palestinian struggle is a fight against supression of the Palestinian perspective
and narratives propagated by the media. It was shocking to
hear directly from these women about the ways in which the news agencies had been
targeted by Israeli forces; through forced eviction from the building, nighttime raids and
destruction of equipment as well as opposition in the field. While hearing about these
challenges, I was especially struck by their relentlessness and courage which really
highlighted the importance of the work they were doing.
The Arabic lessons at the center were very well structured, focussing on both reading and
speaking. Marwa was an amazing teacher and being able to apply everything we learnt
immediately talking to my host family and other people we met around Hebron made the
language much easier to remember. Apparently, I’ve even picked up a slight Hebron accent!
Staying with a host family was such a privilege as it allowed me to have an insider
perspective on the culture and feel properly integrated into the community. I was even
invited to join my family at a wedding which was an incredible experience!
The environment at the center is warm and friendly so I felt at home after no time at all. The other volunteers and staff get along very well and I have made many friends I know I will stay in contact with. One piece of advice is to try and be really open to trying new things and using all the Arabic you learn without worrying about making mistakes.
I felt safe most of the time in Hebron. There were a couple of times when we came back late
from visiting other cities where it had gotten dark, but the other
volunteers I was with were very good at making sure everyone got home safely. As with
everywhere, it is important to take precautions, but I felt safe enough to travel by myself and
found people friendly and eager to help.
While here, I also got the chance to visit some other cities in Palestine; Jerusalem,
Bethlehem and Nablus. It was really interesting to see the differences between the cities and
experience a broader range of Palestinian culture. I would especially recommend Nablus-
the Kanafeh there is world renowned!
After spending 2 weeks here, I would definitely love to come back! I have really enjoyed
getting to know Hebron and the people here and would like to spend more time travelling
throughout Palestine and further developing my understanding of the situation here. I have
been incredibly struck by the warmth of the people here and the beauty of the landscape and
culture so would definitely recommend visiting!

My name is Joshua Boyes, I am a doctor in the UK about to start training as a specialist in Obstetrics
and Gynaecology. I chose to come to the Excellence Centre to do the Medical and Healthcare
Programme for 3 weeks. For me, this involved visits to various hospitals in the Al-Khalil including a
government hospital, a private hospital and a newly built but non-functioning hospital. On these
visits I was able to meet with and discuss healthcare in Palestine with doctors and other healthcare
professionals. I was surprised to learn that the main barrier to improved healthcare is the allocation
of equipment to the hospital. There are plenty of very competent doctors that I met throughout my
time and their main complaint was not having the resources to do their job. The other challenge was
the sheer volume of patients in a cramped government hospital, while the new hospital struggle to

exist at capacity due to the lack of equipment.

After learning a bit about the healthcare situation in Palestine, I was then able to provide some
lessons to students at the local Hebron University. For me this was the best part of the whole
programme. The students came from a wide range of disciplines including medicine, nursing,
pharmacy, midwifery, lab science and biology. In these sessions I was able to share with them some
of my own clinical experiences and provide some training on communication skills, medical ethics
and academic writing. The students were very engaging and asked lots of good questions, I was
impressed with their knowledge and enthusiasm. They were incredibly grateful for the information I
shared with them. Through this teaching I was also able to learn a lot about them and asked many
questions about the healthcare system in Palestine. We discussed life at university, what they think
of the doctor-patient relationship in Palestine as well as ethical issues in both the UK and Palestine.
My favourite moment was seeing the students debate real ethical cases and present their arguments

for and against.

Alongside the Medical and Healthcare, I also received Arabic lessons from one the of the brilliant
teachers at the session, Saja. The lessons were really fun and interactive, and I learnt lots of useful
phrases that I could then use in daily conversations. The overall environment of the centre was
equally conducive to speaking Arabic, as there were constant opportunities to speak with others and
ask questions. To be honest, there were definitely times when I wish I was studying Arabic at the
centre full time rather than teaching medicine. Furthermore, this experience has given me a great
boost and inspired me to continue to learn Arabic so that I can hopefully come back and explore the

Middle East some more.

As for Palestine itself, there is so much that I could say or write. It is difficult to put fully in to words
all that I have experienced in Palestine and all the emotions that I have felt whilst here. Whilst
initially I was worried about what the situation might be like, I have had no concerns during my time
here. In all my interactions with Palestinian people I have felt welcomed and a desire to connect.
People have been incredibly kind and generous and approach life with a great joy. This has been true
of the Palestinians I have met but also the other volunteers. I cannot speak highly enough of this
experience and programme. On a slightly lighter note, the food has also been a definite highlight.
Every single dish that I have tried here has been delicious and full of flavour. My particular favourite
was eating fresh figs for breakfast, one day I managed to get through about 12!
When I applied to the programme at the Excellence Centre, I did so without any particular
enthusiasm or excitement. I was simply looking for something interesting to do whilst awaiting to
start my new job. However, the time here has far exceeded my expectations. Whilst it hasn’t all

been easy and there have definitely been challenges, I have really loved my time at the centre, and I

truly hope that I can come back some day.

I am a recent graduate from the USA (University of Wisconsin-Madison) with Palestinian heritage. I had never traveled to Palestine before, and was looking for opportunities to serve the Palestinian community and learn more about my culture and history. The Excellence Center was the perfect option for doing so. At the Excellence Center, I did the Volunteer and Study Arabic program for two weeks. I taught English lessons alongside an English instructor and engaged in cultural exchange with my students. Furthermore, I attended a cultural performance show where students performed self-created poems, songs, and plays inspired by their Palestinian experiences. It was incredible to hear them share their stories. Other opportunities offered by the Excellence Center were tours of the Old City of Hebron, Glass factory, Keffiyeh factory, hospitals, and refugee camps. I had three hours of Arabic instruction per week, and it was particularly helpful to learn the Palestinian dialect, which contained many rich words that helped me immerse myself in the community more. The staff and other volunteers were incredibly welcoming, and one of the best benefits of the program is getting to meet people from all over the world. The staff is always engaging with volunteers and available for any support. My host family was also wonderful and I learned a lot from them about the ongoing occupation and how their lives were affected. Despite having misconceptions about safety in Palestine due to Israeli threats, I felt incredibly safe. My favorite things about Hebron were the people and the food! This positive experience has encouraged me to return to the Excellence Center sometime in the future. I highly recommend this experience for those looking to learn more about the Palestinian people and culture.

I’m from Japan, currently pursuing my master's degree on Modern Arab History, and this was my second stay in Palestine but the first one in Hebron. I participated in the women’s rights volunteer programs for six weeks. I am very much satisfied with the overall experience at the center and my stay in Hebron, for the reasons most of the previous participants have already mentioned - welcoming and generous people, richness in culture and history, abundant opportunities to immerse yourself in the local culture. Despite some points that should be improved, I recommend this program especially to those who have never been to Palestine and wish to get a good grasp on the situation of Palestine.

The program consisted of 3h/w Arabic lessons, lectures on a variety of topics by the local staffs at the center/lecturers from the outside, visits to local organisations/humanitarian NGOs and UN offices/activists/artists/Palestinian villages/Palestinian residents in Israeli-controlled areas/refugee camps/settlements etc. Since there were only a few participants in the women’s rights program while I was here, I was put in the same activities as Human Rights program most of the time. Among some activities that are specifically related to women’s rights are visits to local associations such as “Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association” and “Women’s Studies Centre”, where we could ask them about the problems the local women face in detail.

Although I was expecting to have more opportunities to actually volunteer at certain places, the Human rights/Women’s rights program were designed to make participants understand the general situation of Hebron rather than to give them opportunities to actively do something. In my case, the center allowed us to hold two sessions of workshops about the women’s rights for teenage girls at the center, which was one of the memorable experiences to me. If you are looking for interactions with the locals, I would recommend English teaching programs, or to make specific requests to the center on what you want to do, as the center is really open to suggestions and try their best to meet your requests in most of the cases.

As for the Arabic classes, I was happy with all three teachers I had lessons with during the program. If I am to be honest, the level of the lessons was too easy for me as I already have B2-C1 level of MSA and dialect Arabic, but I still benefited from the lessons where I could have a deep conversation with them in Arabic for an hour straight, which was quite an intensive speaking practice.

As I wrote in the beginning, the experience at the center would be the perfect introduction to your understanding about Palestine. Even for those who are already familiar with the situation of Palestine, you could take advantage of the connections you make with locals throughout the program and visit them individually. As I don’t have difficulties in talking with locals in Arabic, I visited so many Palestinians I have met throughout the program and sometimes stayed at their places overnight, which gave me detailed understating of their culture and daily life. Especially if you have interests in specific fields, the center will introduce you to the right people. In my case, because I am studying the history of Palestine under British Mandate and interested in Palestinian embroidery, I truly benefited from some activities such as the presentation by a local history researcher, who later generously shared with me some primary sources relevant to my research, as well as the visit to a village where I became friends with a Palestinian woman who has a great collection of vintage Palestinian embroidered dresses and is a wonderful embroidery artist herself.

With regards to the host family, I was lucky enough to be placed at a wonderful family, who always invited me to join their family activities- dinner, visiting/receiving their relatives, Eid al-adha celebration, chilling at a nearby cafe, etc-. In case you are not satisfied with your host family, you can ask the center to change your host family like some of my roommates did before they came to our host family’s place.

On the safety here in Hebron, despite frequent Israeli forces’ night raids on Palestinian houses, confrontation between the locals and the Israeli soldiers, and Israeli setters’ harassment to the locals, you will have almost zero chance to be in a dangerous situation as long as you stay away from those volatile areas, and I did not face any difficulties in traveling to other cities either. You have to keep in mind that this is not the case for locals, and you would often be reminded of your privilege as a foreigner (or non-Palestinian) in the racist occupation system especially when you see the difference in the way you and locals are treated at the checkpoints, where the soldiers stop Palestinians and investigate them for ages for no reason.

About the center itself, the staff is all nice and kind people, and ready to offer you a help you need. I must say that the program was not necessarily perfect in every single aspect, such as lack of communication before the arrival (confirmation that the center received the tuition fee and the instruction on the way to get to the center, etc), relatively poor organization of the program as every activity may be subject to change at the last minute, shortage of the staffs to attend us at the visits, where sometimes I and some internationals of Arab origin had to do interpretation between locals and the other volunteers, chances of being put in an activity not relevant to your program (such as teaching English session in my case), but all the good points I mentioned above made up for most of these cons.

Brief notes on the internationals at the center: everyone is nice and friendly, and most importantly, shares the pro-Palestinian view, so I always felt comfortable to share with them whatever opinion I had on the situation here. You will meet people from diverse backgrounds in terms of ethnicity, religion, age, occupation and life experience, and this is another thing I enjoyed at the center as the only participant not from either the US or Europe at the time of my participation.

Last but not least, I would like to thank the center, which allowed me to spend the the most beautiful two months I have ever had in my life here in Hebron, the Hebron people and the internationals I have met during my stay.