Tips to help you prepare for your trip!
A quick introduction to some Arabic terms and phrases in local Palestinian dialect:
Greetings and Response
| English |
Arabic |
Arabic Response |
| Good morning |
SabaH 'el khair |
Saba 'el Nour |
| Good afternoon |
Masa’a ‘el khair |
Masa’a ‘el Nour |
| Congratulations |
Mabrook |
‘Alla ybarek feek (to male) |
| |
|
‘Alla ybarek feeky (to female) |
| Thank you |
Shukran |
Afwan |
Overseas travel can be expensive. A number of our participants have successfully fundraised through their own list of contacts to cover a portion of their expenses. We fully encourage you to do this to whatever extent you are able.
How to Fundraise for Your Trip
There are a couple quick steps to get you started:
1) Create a budget. Figure out how much you need. Take into account the cost of the program, the cost of your plane ticket and any other funds you might require for your trip. Try to come up with a fundraising goal.
You will be responsible for purchasing your own airfare.
Generally people fly into the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. From there we make our way to Jerusalem or directly to the city of Bethlehem.
In terms of flights, we encourage you to do two things in order to save money: 1) Buy tickets as early as you can and 2) Spend some time researching your options. Flights to the Holy Land can be quite expensive and a little bit of research and planning ahead could save you several hundred dollars.
Here are a few airfare "search engines" you might want to try:
In general, as much as possible, we encourage you to pack light. When in doubt, leave it out. Make sure you pack appropriate and comfortable clothing. It will be hot so light clothing is generally better than something super heavy. T-shirts and pants are fine but avoid things like tank tops or shorts. Some nights in certain areas it might occasionally be on the chilly side, so pack at least one light sweater or jacket. Sandals are okay but generally you'll just want to make sure you're wearing something appropriate for long walks (including walks on uneven pavement or rocky surfaces).
Building Bridges by Fouad Elias Accad
"Fouad Accad grew up in Lebanon and spent most of his life there building bridges between individual followers of Christianity and followers of Islam. His passion was to bring two communities together-Muslim and Christian. What Accad built were bridges of understanding, communication, and love.
