A Final Hurrah

Here I am now bidding farewell to this amazing yet misunderstood place and it feels like it was only yesterday that I was unpacking my bag to embark on this adventure. When I first arrived, I straightaway fell in love with the hospitality, kindness and the warmth of the Palestinian people. From the first week onwards life has moved at an extraordinary pace and I wish I had more time to spend in Nablus. When I first started my classes, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Living in the Western world where technology is a part of everyday life we take certain life skills for granted. So to see women here not being able to turn on a computer was a bit of a shock for me. These women didn’t know how to operate the basic parts of the computer. I had Aroob who was hovering the mouse in front of the screen, and Muna pressing the monitor screen with her finger as if it was touch screen. Yet the progress these women have made over such a short period is nothing short of remarkable.

Jamalat and Shireen would come in early every lesson to practice what they had learnt the lesson before. The effort and the dedication all these women have shown over the two months has been amazing. I see the women and children of TYO leaving the centre with a look of happiness, self-satisfaction, and self-confidence across their faces and it makes me realise all the hard work we have been doing is totally worth it.

I could never have envisioned that I would have learnt so much in so little time. If organisations like TYO continue to provide these women and children with these fantastic opportunities and continue to cultivate them into change makers for their society then I am sure the future of Nablus, Palestine can be a lot different to its present. I am leaving Nablus with the fondest of memories and friendships that I will never forget

- Danish

Danish is an intern at TYO in Nablus for the Spring 2013 session.