One of our Palestinian volunteers writes...

Ehab was our first Palestinian volunteer to finish his term here

(Above he is getting his Youthpass certificate).

He writes...

I came to London through the EVS (European Voluntary Service)  which is one of Youth in Action projects. I stayed for three months.  During my time I worked with CADFA (Camden Abu Dis Friendship  Association) on two projects: the first one was Arabic teaching in schools and in the evening a class  for adults, and the second one was agriculture.

The first project went very well , and I had many student coming regularly in both schools and evening class , however my second project did not go as well as the first one, because of the  rainy and cold weather of London ,that did not allow us to do  outdoor planting project in the school gardens.

I used to go to a three schools a week (Acland Burghley, Hampstead and Maria Fideles )where I used to teach Arabic and  tell the students about Palestine. Also I used to take part in the after school club in London Wildlife Trust in Hackney borough where I used to help in teaching students. The work I was doing was very challenging because of the difficulty of the Arabic language and the lack of information that people have about Palestine because of the media.

During my first month I lived in Camden and for my second and third month I lived in Hackney, with Sally Haywell.

In my first day in London I was very amazed by everything, the old buildings, the buses, the trains and the technological development of the city.  At the beginning I started becoming very stressed from it because it life in it  was very fast and crowded, also the difficult of the transport  system, but with time I became used to it and I start enjoying its beauty and cultural diversity. After that I start seeing the difference between life in England and life in Palestine and how  it feels to leave free with no fear or restriction on your movement or beliefs.

It is very amazing to be able to move and travel with safely with no worries, which is a lot different from what I am used to in Palestine, therefore I made the most of it while I was still in England, I visited many cities and areas to try to see the most of England.

Most of the English people are really nice ,they are very helpful and kind ,but the sad thing is that most of them so not appreciate the freedom and the luxury and independence they are leaving in, also most of them don’t know  about what is happening in the world outside England especially the things that arecaused by their own government.