One Month in Hebron

My name is Allie Kay, I am from the United States and I chose to come to the Excellence Center for a month to engage in their journalism program and Arabic classes. I had a wonderful time at the center and learned a lot! Osama took me and other volunteers on interesting touring activities such as visiting the Ibrahimi mosque, the Hirbawi keffiyeh factory, the Hebron glass blowing factory, and showed us the market in the old city of Hebron where H1 meets H2. After a couple tries we were able to pass through the checkpoint to Shuhada street, which is an Israeli-only street in the heart of Hebron, and had a wonderful meeting with a Palestinian family living under the boot of occupation. Osama also took us a little bit outside of Hebron to visit the Al Fawwar Refugee Camp. Because I came for the journalism program, the Excellence Center introduced me to many male and female Palestinian photojournalists! I was so inspired by their work and look forward to continuing to network and foster professional connections with everyone I have met.

After a month of volunteering and studying in the West Bank, my lasting impression of the Palestinian people is that they are kind, hospitable, helpful, and courageous to continue to live and love others the way they do.

My overall experience at the Excellence Center was so wonderful that I can’t wait to come back next year! Marwa and Osama feel like my family now, and I am excited to try to come back and do some ride along work with the photojournalists I have been introduced to. Palestine was all I thought about for the year and some change before I came to volunteer, and now Palestine fills my heart as well as my mind. I highly recommend coming to the Excellence Center for anyone that is interested in getting out of their bubble on the imperial core, and experiencing firsthand the absolute kindness that embodies Palestine as a whole. I know that once I get home I will spend this next year telling everyone I can about the hospitality of Palestinians and will be gathering a group of friends to come back with me to experience the absolute magic of Palestine.