Hassan in Palestine: “This is Where I Need to Be”: Meet our volunteer, Hasoon. Born in the United Kingdom, Hasoon is a 29-year-old who studied business and joined Engage in Palestine in February 2022. He started with Engage Palestine’s (EP) refugees program and later transferred to the human rights program. In this article, he will tell you why.
CAMPS
“I arrived on a cold day with a jetlag. At Engage in Palestine I had to teach an English class straight away, without preparation, so I played ‘Simon-Says’ with the children. On the same day, we visited the refugee camp nearby. Children there have a much harder time to focus than the children we teach at the Center. The people in charge of the camps do their best, but the children suffer. So immediately on my first day, I saw how children are affected by their occupation. Every day spent here, I was confronted with big and small ways in which the occupation affects the lives of Palestinians.”
“FEELS LIKE HOME”
“Luckily, the people at the Center soothe the pain from witnessing the occupation. Initially, I planned to stay only one month, but I ended up staying three, which indicates how good I feel here. From the first moment, everyone has been welcoming. The people at the Center are warm and funny. The time I spent feels much longer than three months because I genuinely feel like this is my home and the people at the Center have become my family. If you don’t want to be alone, there are always people to hang out with. During Ramadan, for example, I was invited for iftar every day. Palestinians in general are extremely friendly. You can make friends anywhere. One night, I started talking with some guys on the taxi, and the next moment, we played games in a local shisha café all night.”
REFUGEES AND HUMAN RIGHTS
“In Hebron, I lived in an apartment with another male volunteer very close to EP. Men usually do not get to live with host families, but having our own apartment gave us a lot of freedom to go around. I started with EP’s refugee program and in the second month I transferred to the human rights program. The refugee program is a lot of teaching, and since I was already quite experienced with teaching I moved to the other program. The human rights program gives you a good understanding of life in Palestine for Palestinians. I learned about the different perspectives from all the people that suffer from the conflict, be it women, political prisoners, lawyers, journalists, activists, human rights defenders, or children. All of them are affected by the same conflict in different ways.”
SAFETY
“My Arabic has improved a lot through talking with people on the street. The classes were great, but you get what you put in it, and I rarely completed my homework, so I have myself to blame for not getting the most out of it. But even with my little Arabic, I managed to meet and hang out with a lot of people. Before coming to Palestine, influenced by the media coverage of Palestine, I was curious whether I would feel safe in the streets. But the only times I ever felt unsafe in Hebron was when Israeli soldiers confronted me. The clashes that regularly take place late at night in the Old City can easily be avoided. Other than that, people will always help you and treat you with kindness, so I have never felt afraid.”
JUST THE BEGINNING
“I am leaving only because my visa expires, and I will return as soon as possible. I have traveled a lot in my life, but I never found a place like this, in terms of the people and the culture. I am more curious now than I was before I came. It feels like I am just at the beginning, which makes it hard to leave. I don’t want to spend my life looking for money or ways to make money. The people here are my people, we look the same, eat the same, talk the same. But they suffer, so this is where I need to be.”
SEE FOR YOURSELF
Hasoon came to love Palestine for the kindness of the people. His adventure sculpted a family he never knew he had at Engage in Palestine. His gracious interactions with the locals built new friendships and memories. He explored a life most people cannot understand unless they travel to Palestine as see for themselves the knowledge one can obtain in this place. With Hasson’s testimony, it is a no-brainer that you see for yourself what EP can do for you.
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