March 2014
Transforming Travelling Experiences to Everyday Life In the beginning of March, a group of voluntary workers left Global Platform Jordan to begin their stay in Palestine. ActionAid Denmark organizes voluntary stays for young people from Denmark in both Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. To prepare them the best way possible each voluntary stay starts at a regional Platform in order to provide the voluntary worker with the neccessary tools to get the best experience possible in working with a different culture in a different country. As told in our last newsletter, seven Danish volunteers stayed at the Platform for three weeks, and among other things their programme in Jordan included lessons in Arabic, Middle Eastern history and culture, and a Cultural Night. Since their departure, they have reported back a variety of experiences from their three new hometowns Bethlehem, Qalqilya, and Ramallah. Most work with children and youth, one works with media. Maja Nielsen, age 20, and Asta Rosalina Poulsen, age 21, work at an orphanage in the small townQalqilya, preparing food, looking after and playing with the children. To them the two biggest challenges are the language barrier and dealing with cultural differences in everyday life. In a traditional town in Palestine there are inevitably some limitations for two blond girls, and Maja says, that for instance not being allowed to walk around the city alone can be difficult to get used to, because this differs so much from what she is used to in Denmark. However, this and other experiences of cultural differences are one of the key factors why a voluntary stay is such an eye-opener, Maja says. This way she feels that she gets to know diverse parts of the Arab World first hand and not only from books, tv, and the news. She believes that the Platform helped prepare her for the stay in Palestine,