Impressions about the International Evening

I am one of the participants of the International Evening event, which was held on the 6^th of June 2018 and was well- organized by the International Office. My colleague Leila and I had this great opportunity to represent our home university, Bethlehem University, and our country Palestine.

We deeply appreciate the help and the support of the Professorship for Adult and Continuing Education, and had a great time together along with our friends Laura and Karla, who studied for one semester in Bethlehem University. We are really proud to have this opportunity in Würzburg to represent Palestine and Bethlehem University, among the German people and international people, by providing them with information and stories from another perspective about our Palestinian lifestyle, which they do not usually hear or see in the media.

The event consisted of the community spirit, where all the representatives have had the chance to promote for their home countries, and reach out for other communities. Therefore, we had this chance to welcome many people from many different counties and cultures, receiving their questions, comments and engaging them in the discussion concerning both the political and the social situation in Palestine. Some of them did not know about our history and present, so we saw this occasion as a reach out for people by explaining the ongoing circumstances, and finally advocating for Palestine through verities of pictures we collected, in which they captured the lifestyle in Palestine. Also, since we study Adult Education in Würzburg, we had the chance to represent Bethlehem University, and speak about education in general by sharing our point of views on this matter. Moreover, we managed to deliver the humanistic vision and mission of Bethlehem University, and its important role in the Palestinian society.

 Our stand in the event consisted lots of posters, which had the political side of Palestine, like the Separation Wall, and the social side of it, like pictures of traditional Arabic food, the Palestinian wedding, and pictures about some Palestinian women wearing the “Thob”, the traditional dress. Not to forget to mention, we had a punch of pictures representing the lifestyle of Bethlehem University’s campus. Furthermore, we had the chance to play some music from our heritage which led for many people to dance on the rhythm of the music, and I was glad to teach some of the international people the basic moves of our “Dabka” dance. People with different nationalities had a good impression about we had represented, and many of them were supportive and enthusiastic to actually see Palestine is not only in the memory, but also on the real ground.

Shurouq Jaber