“My name is Joe. I am a 22 year old Law student from Glasgow, Scotland, and I’m completing a one-month internship at the Excellence Center in Hebron.

The biggest obstacle for visitors to Hebron- at least for those coming from rain-spattered European countries- is the weather.  The feel of the heat on your skin here alternates between a hairdryer and a microwave, depending on the time of day. I think the coolest afternoon so far has been 24 degrees. There were therefore two challenges I had to face in my first week: endure the Middle East Sun, and learn some Arabic.

Alongside Greg, another volunteer from France, I was pencilled in for three hours of Arabic lessons each morning with Mahasin, a teacher at the centre. Mahasin managed to teach two foreign, milk-skinned novices with remarkable patience, unflinching support and good humour, not only teaching us Arabic but also teaching us so much about the culture of Palestine and the traditions of Islam, touching on everything from the practices of Iftar in Ramadan to the educational system in Hebron. Mahasin also speaks French, which comes in handy with Greg. Watching her switch effortlessly between English, French and Arabic was seriously impressive, and slightly embarrassing as a native English speaker with only a tentative grasp of basic Spanish to show for my language studies at school.

Arabic is by no means an easy language to learn. The pronunciations contort your throat, the alphabet seems alien. But outside, whether it be at the shawarma stands or the shoe stalls, you start to pick up on common phrases, absorbing them like osmosis. The best follow-up to each lesson was simply taking a walk along Ein Sarah, the main street in Hebron.  

Most of my attempts at speaking Arabic have thus far ended in the opposite person insisting on speaking English. This is either an illustration of how polite Palestinians are or how bad my Arabic is, or possibly both. The people here are respectful of the fact you are making the effort to converse with them in their own language, but at the same time eager to make it as easy as possible for you to get about, to buy your bread and find your way.

After our first week, thanks to the excellent tuition of Mahasin and the support of everyone at the centre, Greg and myself are now able to navigate our way around Hebron with some Arabic. There are volunteers here who travelled to Hebron with six months of Arabic experience, some with two years, and some with a decade or more. Then there’s Greg and I, who had as much knowledge of Arabic as we did Advanced Quantum Physics. However, every single volunteer receives the same high level of support and guidance. This is what has impressed me most about the centre, and made me feel so comfortable whilst working.”