The Excellence Center in Palestine

My overall experience with the Excellence Center has been wonderful. I spent two months volunteering at the Center in Hebron. My students were of different age groups, socioeconomic backgrounds, and genders which made the classroom setting both a learning experience for me and the students. It was a cultural exchange in every sense of that phrase. The Center also provides for a “lived” experience of Palestinian reality in political, economic, and social sense. You’ll get the opportunity to meet with local business and community leaders. You’ll have an opportunity to meet with locals and hear their testimonies of life under a military occupation. It’s a perspective worth listening. I know safety is a concern for many contemplating about making this trip. In my experience, I did not encounter anything that I would deem dangerous or life threatening. Being a responsible adult is always advisable wherever one may travel and Palestine is no exception to that rule. I strongly recommend the Excellence Center!

I volunteered at the Excellence Center in Palestine for two weeks in 2015. it was a great experience. I met many Palestinians und I was able to participate in a lot of different activities I felt very safe in Hebron and Palestinian are very hospitable und always welcome internationals. All in all was a great experience that I made and I would recommend this to anyone who would like to visit Palestine und meet Palestinians.

When I arrived in Hebron two months ago I did not know what to expect. The city is an incredibly well-kept secret with very little information available on line or in books; beyond the often negative news stories which too often define the image of Hebron in peoples' minds. My time in Palestine has been incredible, due mainly to the warmth and generosity of the Palestinian people. Throughout my time in the West Bank, I have never felt worried about my safety as there have always been people who are more than willing to help. Any conversation in a taxi, bus, café, or shop more often than not results in an invitation for tea, coffee or even lunch. I wanted to come to Palestine to get a real insight into what it means to live in the Occupied Territories. Throughout my last year of university I have read a lot of material from both sides of the conflict but felt that I still was unable to fully understand what and why the conflict in Palestine continues to this day and how it affects the daily lives of the people who suffer from its impacts. It was only when I began to experience just a few of the daily inconveniences endured everyday by the majority of the residents of Hebron that I felt I was beginning to understand the type of life many people here lead. These experiences included being stopped and searched at random by the IDF; having the bus I was on stopped on the side of the road, in the mid-day heat with no air-conditioning while the IDF slowly checked everyone's ID cards. Moreover speaking to locals, young and old who have lived through an incredible amount of violence and instability has been one of the most eye-opening and grounding aspects of my time in Hebron and something I will never forget. My time spent at the Excellence Centre has allowed me to explore Hebron, the surrounding villages and the wider West Bank in an safe and comfortable way. I immediately felt at home in the Centre, and by living with a local family in Hebron it quickly became as familiar as London is to me. The trust placed in me by the Excellence Centre provided me with the freedom to explore and expand my own abilities and confidence in teaching English and developing professional and respectful relationships with the students here. My time here has taught me to look beyond the superficial images I create within my own mind; instead I have learnt to build an image of a country based on the people, their actions, words, dreams and experiences that I hear for myself and to not rely on the words or stories used by other people. I have discovered the difference of getting to know the soul of the country and not just its geography or architecture. This is what has made my experience here so enriching, enjoyable and a part of my life I will never forget.