Wonderfull experience with the Excellence Center in Hebron

I am Miet, I am 29 years old. I live in Belgium where I teach Dutch to low-literate adults. I really wanted to experience the feeling of learning a totally different language in a foreign country. That’s why I decided to come to the Hebron Excellence Center to study Arabic. At this moment, in the last week of my month here, I can only say that coming here was a great decision.

I am participating in the ‘study Arabic in Palestine’ - program. Everyday I have 3 hours of individual Arabic lessons with Bisan, an amazing teacher. I was a complete beginner. I couldn’t write or read and I couldn’t say more than ‘shukran’ and ‘marhaba’. From my own experience I know that teaching the beginners can be hard and it requires some good teaching skills. And I can only say that my teacher has it all: not only great teaching skills but she is also really funny and so encouraging. I am so grateful that she is my teacher. Not only because I am happy that she taught me the basics in Arabic but also because I have learned a lot of things that I can use when I go back to my own class in Belgium.

Staying in the Hebron Excellence Center is not only about learning Arabic. The staff also organizes a lot of activities. During my stay I participated in some small excursions like visiting the Ibrahimi Mosque in the old town, the Koffiya-factory and the glass-factory. I was really touched by our visit to Susiya, a Bedouinvillage in the neighbourhood. We had the opportunity to talk with some people there to learn more about their daily struggle against Israeli occupation. Every day we have breakfast in the center with all the volunteers and students and we also cooked together for a couple of times. We also went on a trip to Akko and the beach with a whole bus full of staff, their families, volunteers and students. What a great experience. During the first weeks of my stay there was a summer camp for children in the center. It was nice that I could also help with some teaching for a couple of days. The staff is not only good in organizing things, but they are also here for us all the time; for a quick chat or to check up if everything is okay. I think that is why the Center really feels like a safe space.

Spending my days in and around the Center is great. But I can’t find enough words to say how grateful I am that I can go home to my host family every day. I stayed in a family with two young kids, who gave me their room for the month, so that I could have my own little space. Although I couldn't speak any Arabic in the beginning and their English was also very limited, we found our way to communicate. The basic rule during my stay was: ‘our home is your home’. They showed their hospitality by giving me the best food in the world (and really a lot of it), by introducing me to the whole family and to take me to special places like the Dead See. But the most special thing is that I am staying in their home in a really intense period. My host ‘mom’ is really pregnant. Each moment now she can have her baby and I will probably still be here when it will happen. In Belgium women at the end of their pregnancy would never host ‘strangers’. That’s why at first I felt a bit like an intruder at such a special moment. But each day it became more clear to me that she really is looking forward to share that moment with me. So now I am really looking forward to it and I feel really honoured that I can be a part of their family on such a special moment.

After my stay in the center I will be travelling around for 3 more weeks in Jordan and the Westbank. I have got a lot of good travel advice from other volunteers, the staff, my host family and all the other people I have met. Leaving here gives me some really mixed feelings. I am looking forward to use the things I have learned here in my own job, to talk Arabic with my students and to share the beauty of Palestine with my friends and family. But I also know that I will really miss Hebron, its food, the nice atmosphere and the amazing people. I am sad that I have to leave the center and my wonderful host family. But the thought that I will come back, sooner or later, eases the pain.