By Hugo – Portugal

When I first found Zajel I was looking for something interesting and useful to do. I did not want it to be a normal vacation abroad; I wanted an experience in which I can volunteer in whatever I can help with. The Palestinian subject has always interested me. Palestine and Palestinians are being presented in a completely different image of what they really are; they are always presented as the “bad guys” and that Israelis are good ones. This camp has opened my eyes to see the reality, since I believe that people shouldn’t just blindly follow the criteria of the western media. Zajel has been an experience of the Palestinian daily life. It allows the international volunteers to approach the Palestinian culture, history and family. All of this allows these volunteers to understand the Palestinian actual cause.
The camp was “a brilliant two weeks”.

The program was perfect and the organization of it was so good. The combination of the voluntary work in the workshops and leisure time in the morning and evening social and cultural activities was so good. We would give the workshops and then spending the rest of the day learning, whether we were having dinner in a typical Palestinian house, visiting a refugee camp, or having a tour in the old city of Nablus.
Most of the students in the workshops were very good; they had the skills of writing and reading, but not speaking, so they needed to learn conversation skills. And they did. The transformation they have gone through since the first day of the workshops until the last one was a very positive surprise. In my class ‘Learning English by western songs’, we did several things. I even added debating, where the students are given enough space to think and form their opinions.
These two weeks were truly the best experience of my life. I have done much cool stuff in my life and travelled a lot, but this was the best. Actually, what make this experience so special are the people. The Palestinian people.
“A human being can live without food for several days, and can survive without water for a short period of time, but cannot survive without a smile” and Palestinians live with that smile.
Family spirit, amazing history and a wonderful culture; this is what Palestine is about. However, Palestinians must do some improvements in some fields. The youth should work harder to be heard and recognized by the world. Also, authorized people should support them in order to reach that, because the youth have the power to change anything.
Thank you guys for everything. Thanks for the incredible hospitality and overwhelming welcoming. Thank you for being so kind to us. I’ll learn Arabic in Portugal, and for sure I will come back.