Women's Rights Volunteer in Hebron

I am very grateful for all I have learned and for all the wonderful people I have interacted with during the short time I volunteered with the Palestinian Excellence Center (PEC). It has been a privilege to work with an organization that is well respected locally and well connected to the community.
Because of my interest in women’s rights and based on listening to the requests of the women we met via the PEC, I was able to create two small projects while in Hebron. The first was to teach professional skills at the Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association. I ran a two-hour workshop on CV preparation and cover letter writing the Association's young volunteers.
My larger project is to help Palestinian women communicate their stories outside of Palestine. This project arose from hearing several women ask us as volunteers to share their stories. I am calling this project Amplifying Palestinian Women’s Voices. Through connections made for me by the PEC, I interviewed six inspiring women from the Old City, the Palestinian government, and the Al Fawwar Refugee Camp. I will translate and edit videos of the interviews into a short, cohesive documentary, allowing women to bring their stories to people across the world.
Fortunately, I have a lot of help with this project. Osama Hussein set-up the interviews and provided important conceptual guidance on the filming and production. Ghalya Abu Omar has been an excellent translator, both in this project and with the professional development course. She also learned to use a camera to record the interviews.
That leads me to reflect on one of my favorite parts of volunteering at the PEC, which is working with young local volunteers. I think the capacity building the center facilitates for young
Palestinians is a very important part of its work, and creating relationships between local and foreign volunteers helps foreign volunteers to better understand Palestinian culture.
I believe I made the most of my short amount of time here. Although I think all volunteers
would like to start working right away, the PEC’s method of scheduling the first week of a
volunteer’s stay with visits to local people and important sites creates perspective that informs further work.
I will miss Palestine very much. I have never interacted with people who are so welcoming, resilient, and kind, and I admire the Palestinian people deeply. I hope I will be able to return and to support people here from afar as well. I’d like to thank the PEC for this incredibly insightful opportunity