When looking to travel abroad for study, work, or volunteer purposes, you will find yourself with a plethora of options for potential destinations. Every region of the world offers its own unique experiences and will inevitably provide you with internal growth and a more holistic global understanding; however, certain areas may hold greater advantages than others—allowing for a higher margin of impact that you can make on local communities. The Middle East, in particular, offers volunteering opportunities that are unique from the rest of the world, and has proven itself as a destination for ambitious and altruistic global citizens.
Develop a New Cultural Perspective
Traveling abroad anywhere will give you a new understanding of different cultures. Interacting with the people, experiencing new music, food, and traditions are something that you can expect to find with any volunteering experience abroad. However, volunteering in the Middle East will equip you with advantages unique to other, more conventional destinations abroad. Palestine’s family-centered sense of community, delicious cuisine, and long-lasting traditions will give you a new cultural perspective that you will not be able to find anywhere else. Even within the Middle East, the history, tradition, and relevancy of Palestine is the main attraction to volunteers looking to develop themselves and make a difference in the lives of others.
Learn and Practice a Language of Critical and Strategic Importance
An invaluable life skill, regardless of your level of proficiency, is exposure to and practice of a foreign language. Volunteering in the Middle East will provide you with practical experience in Arabic—an undeniably relevant and critical language in the world today. Although one can study classical, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in school, this antiquated form of Arabic is rarely spoken in day-to-day life. The reality is that each region in the Middle East speaks a unique, slightly different dialect of Arabic. Immersing yourself in a Middle Eastern region like the Levant—made up of Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria—where Shami Arabic is spoken, will allow you to master conversational Arabic in a dialect that is practical for use in daily life.
Many volunteer programs, such as the programs offered by the Palestinian in Hebron, also include weekly or daily lessons in an Arabic dialect that will help you along your path to developing conversational fluency. Furthermore, if you choose to volunteer in Palestine, the eagerness of the Palestinian people to help foreigners practice the language will be especially beneficial to acquiring the language through deliberate activation.
Volunteers can expect robust results in their Arabic with genuine effort and commitment during their time in Palestine. Even volunteers who have never studied Arabic, or have a limited background in the language, can expect to pick up enough of the language to engage in casual conversations with locals, and take part in day-to-day interactions and transactions.
After your time volunteering in the Middle East, your mastery of an Arabic dialect will be advantageous to countless positions of positive influence and impact in countries worldwide. Studying Shami dialect, specifically in Palestine, will empower you to live and work with people from all over the region, most notably in the countries of Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
Provide Valuable Service
Another advantage of volunteering in the Middle East lies within the primary reason of all conscious and altruistic global citizens—the ability to make a difference. Both on an interpersonal and community level, people who venture abroad to volunteer in the Middle East are provided with the opportunity to positively impact people’s lives. Particularly in Palestine, where the citizens face daily politically charged hardships, volunteers are able to immediately improve the lives of people.
By embodying a sense of cross-cultural understanding, empathy, and desire to learn more about the conflict at hand, volunteers are met by the Palestinian people with the open arms—making for a productive, culturally engaging, and empowering experience for all involved. Whether it is teaching English, working with refugees, or engaging in community activities, your time spent volunteering in Palestine will provide invaluable service to the people you encounter.
Break Down Barriers
Volunteering in the Middle East provides the opportunity to break down cultural barriers both at home and abroad. By venturing into the Arab world, you have immense potential for positive influence within your placement community, and the opportunity to gain insight into the people, culture, and history of an often misunderstood and misrepresented world region. Volunteering will allow you to recognize the humanity of Middle Eastern people and provide you with a unique, first-hand experience that you can share to empower your neighbors, friends, and family at home with knowledge and empathy.
Furthermore, Palestinians are typically eager to learn about various cultures from around the world; thus, as a volunteer, you have the ability to influence perceptions of foreigners and foster interactions that both break down barriers and build bridges across cultures.
Final Thoughts
Volunteering in the Middle East is an extremely beneficial opportunity that will open your heart and mind to the Arab world, allow you to develop valuable language skills and a new cultural perspective, and affect positive change both within yourself and for the people in your placement community.
