Osama Abu Hussein is the Center Manager at Volunteer in Palestine. He has a BA in Media from Hebron University.

Mr. Abu Hussein has a great experience with Palestinian community organizations in Hebron. He has volunteered with youth and children and participated in many local and international workshops over his professional career. In 2014 he became the Community Activities Coordinator at Volunteer in Palestine and part of the media unit. Now, he is the Center Coordinator. 

Husband to Marwa Shantir and father to Mais, Kareem, Salma, and Alma, Mr. Abu Hussein still finds time to be a constant support for our international volunteers and students while doing a great job around Volunteer in Palestine. 

General Volunteering in Palestine

When international students and volunteers come to spend time at the Center, they often talk about the big impact that it has on their lives. Especially, they talk about how welcome they feel in Palestine, how friendly the people are, and how safe they feel walking around the city. 

Volunteering with Volunteer in Palestine helps so much to support the local community here in Palestine. Our volunteers come to participate in all kinds of programs like Human Rights and Journalism, where they learn from local organisations, hear people’s stories, and share their skills. Skills like teaching English are incredibly valuable, but so is just being there and spending time with the people. 

The biggest challenge that volunteers face when in Palestine is learning the reality of the situation. Internationals can be shocked by how tough life is under occupation and really respect the resilience of the people here when they see it with their own eyes. 

People can also feel a bit trapped by the occupation too. Sometimes the roads are closed, some gates are closed. The lack of mobility can be hard for some people because they don’t feel as free as they usually do at home. 

Most of our volunteers come to discover the West Bank and to see a new place. When they understand the situation better, and really meet the Palestinian people, they start to plan to come back and think about how they support the Palestinian people after they leave and return home. 

Volunteer Programs and Opportunities

We have a wide variety of programs available for people from different backgrounds and with different interests. Some of our most popular programs include the Human Rights program and the Journalism program, as well as our Arabic intensive courses. All of the programs have a focus on positive community impact, but some are specifically made to empower young and marginalised communities in Palestine. For example, our programs to Volunteer at Palestinian Orphanages, or Volunteer in Palestinian Villages and Rural Areas directly support vulnerable people. 

The only requirements to come to Volunteer in Palestine are that you should be over 18 years old, and you should be curious and willing to learn about your new surroundings!

Time spent in Palestine has a big impact on our volunteers. They learn and improve many new skills like teaching, organizing events, or running workshops – many of them also learn how to cook some delicious local dishes. Through Arabic we also give them a whole new language and way of seeing the world. 

One volunteer from Australia stayed with us for a whole year to teach English and learn Arabic. She was really shy at first and had never taught before, but she learned well from her Arabic teachers. Now, she lives in Nablus and teaches at the international school. 

The biggest impact that many volunteers talk about is speaking with the local people and seeing the occupation for themselves, with their own eyes. It is one thing to read about Palestine and another thing to see it for yourself. Many people that go through programs like the Human Rights program really understand that they can make a difference when they go home. They write, they make speeches, they encourage their family and friends to come and see Palestine too. 

Cultural Considerations and Living in Palestine

The first thing to consider is that the West Bank is a Muslim majority area, which means the society operates with a mix of culture and religious practices. If you have never visited or lived in a Middle Eastern country before, it might be a bit different for you. However, I find that our volunteers always settle in very easily once they know how things work here. 

Maybe the most important change for new people is around clothing. Hebron is quite conservative as a city, so it is respectful for people (women especially) to cover themselves by wearing long clothing that isn’t too tight. Men should also not wear shorts. Men and women don’t usually shake hands, and they should not show physical affection toward one another in public. 

Another good thing to know is that Muslims sometimes fast during the days – during but also outside of Ramadan. It is kind to be sensitive when people are fasting, and remember they might be a bit more tired than usual. 

When it comes to food, we’ve had a variety of different dietary requirements here at the center. Vegans, vegetarians, those with dairy intolerances, and those with other dietary requirements find the restaurants that can provide for them. Usually, the people working at the restaurants will come to know them and help them with food that can avoid their allergy. 

To prepare for life in Palestine, keep an open mind, learn from your teachers and the staff at Volunteer in Palestine, and don’t be afraid to ask if you’re not sure!

Practical Considerations for Volunteering

One of the big questions people ask about is about the accommodation at the Center. We provide comfortable, modern shared flats for our volunteers. Depending on the amount of volunteers, you might be sharing a room with someone else . It is also possible to request your own room, or to talk about organising alternate accommodations outside the flat if that is your preference. We sometimes have a homestay available for volunteers to spend time with a Palestinian family. 

To travel around Palestine, it is possible to take shared taxis called ‘Service’. They are like small buses that take people from city to city. Depending on where you go, it can be pretty affordable to travel by Service. They usually leave to go in different directions from different parts of town, and it’s easy just to ask where the Service is that goes to whichever place you’re heading. From the Center, you can easily travel to places like Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Ramallah. 

Accommodation, some Arabic lessons, and breakfast most days each week are included in your program fee, as well as visits to different places (depending on which program you do). The main expenses volunteers usually have day to day are mobile data, food if they want to eat out for dinner (although this can be cheap too), and any travel they might want to do. 

My main advice is to listen to the Center staff. We have been recognised by GoOverseas as a trusted provider of international experiences, with a focus on the safety of our programs.  Our accommodations are located close to the Center for the comfort of our volunteers, and we make sure to check the safety of each location around Hebron before we go to visit. 

Future Opportunities and Impact

The future of Palestine is in the dark right now – nobody knows what will happen. Nobody can know when our situation might be better. In general, as Palestinians, we hope for the situation to improve. We hope to continue hosting more international volunteers, for them to learn about Palestine, and join the palestinian people here. 

If the situation is to improve for the future, Palestine is still a holy land, and it has a very old history. In the future, inshallah, we hope to host many people to learn about this history instead of the political and human rights situation, and to study Arabic with Palestinians. 

Always we look to our volunteers like messengers, to speak about Palestine and to say the truth about the situation here as they see it. It’s hard for the outside world to know exactly what happens here, so they can get clear information from people who came to see for themselves. 

Our volunteers become like a friend for the Center, for Palestine, and for the Palestinians. Many of them also choose to continue with Volunteer in Palestine for online learning after they finish here. When something happens in Palestine, we look to their social media accounts, and many of them take a stand for Palestine.  

If you’re looking to join a volunteer program in Palestine, please see our programs and reach out to Info@ecpalestine.org.