Sunday, July 26, 2015

WCLAC - Workshops across the West Bank

We are now at the end of the first month of our volunteering work at WCLAC with ICS. Our work started on the first day of Ramadan, which was the most challengeable thing. The challenge wasn’t in just spending the day without eating and drinking; it is about waking up early to work with not enough sleep at night. This is because in Ramadan our prayers end late at night and after that we need to wake up for Souhor (the meal before the fast begins). After this we can only sleep for another two hours. 

I was a teacher for one year before volunteering at WCLAC. Working here was a new experience for me and this experience took me to another side of my actual job. At WCLAC I have various projects that improve my skills and abilities, such as translating reports, finding crowdfunding websites and writing an overview report, and holding mini workshops, where I am able to maintain control over things even if my plans change at short notice. I work with a team from different cultures and backgrounds; I know more about women’s issues and how to empower women through the success stories that I hear from women’s organisations. I also know more about my country from the field trips because I’ve been to some places I have never been to before, like Tubas and Tulkarem.  On the way, I discovered so many settlements that I don’t know about and two camps in Nablus I never heard about, Askar and Alfara camps. Askar was very nice looking because it’s a small camp with colorful buildings. 

The field trips to meet the WCLAC youth volunteers have been the most interesting thing during my work at WCLAC. I’ve been on two trips to meet WCLAC’s volunteers in Bethlehem and Tulkarem. I went there thinking that I would meet victims of violence, but they were volunteers about my age of both sexes. They were excited to practice English with the UK volunteers and that allowed me to use my translation skills. We played games with them to practice using English words, which I enjoyed, and had a discussion with them in English.  At the end of both workshops, the volunteers told us how much they enjoyed it even though they were fasting and in Tulkarem they thanked us by singing an Arabic song.

I’m working with two UK volunteers and one Palestinian. The UK volunteers are from a different background and culture, but they are open to know more about the Palestinian culture. We are working in an environment of respect, joy, and achievement. When we work we plan together and help each other; I feel like we are one hand. One day we had Iftar (the meal to break the fast) at Al Marah restaurant in the old city of Ramallah and then the Palestinian sweet kanafeh with the PFU volunteers. This gave me the opportunity to know the PFU volunteers, to be closer to my group and to realize that sharing cultures and habits makes people closer to each other and more open to other cultures.

To end I would like to mention this poem, which describes why I choose to be volunteer:

Why be a volunteer!
It's not for money, it's not for fame,
It's not for any personal gain,
It's just for love of fellow man,
It's just to give a helping hand,
It's just to give a little of oneself,
That's something you can't buy with wealth,
It's not medals worn with pride,
It's for that feeling deep inside
It's your reward down in your heart,
It's feeling that you've been a part
Of helping others far and near.
That's what makes one want to
BE A VOLUNTEER!


No comments:

Post a Comment