In picture: The Palestinian WorldSkills delegation at the Startech’s Award Ceremony in Liège, Belgium.

Last week, the Palestinian WorldSkills delegation completed its training in Belgium. Two young Palestinian graphic designers Sobheya Abumusallam and Ibraheem Qawasma had been selected during the first national Palestine Skills competition in Ramallah to compete in the official WorldSkills competition in Abu Dhabi in 2017.

WorldSkills is the largest vocational skills competition in the world with young talents from over 70 member countries and regions coming together to compete in around 50 skill competitions, such as graphic design, cooking, carpentry, electronics, metal work, hairdressing and many more. For the Palestinian youth it is the first time they have the occasion to participate. 

In order to prepare for this competition, Sobheya and Ibraheem, supported by the Belgian Development Agency (BTC), received an intensive training in Belgium over the course of 2 weeks in March 2017. Moreover, during this time they were able to compete in Belgium’s Startech’s Days, the Belgian national World Skills competition.

During their visit to Belgium, the Palestinian WorldSkills delegation enjoyed a successful trip with plenty of new discoveries, learning opportunities and unique experiences. The trip started with the 2-day Startech’s competition in Brussels where Sobheya and Ibraheem performed very well. Afterwards, they received a tailor-made training on graphic design from Thierry Herman, a Belgian expert from the Centre de competence Forem Cepegra in Charleroi, where the young graphic designers were able to discover new ways of designing.

The morning of their first training, the WorldSkills delegation already prepared their first exciting visit to meet the Palestinian ambassador Mr. Abdalrahim Alfarra, who was very impressed with the achievements of the students. Nothing could have prepared them, however, for being invited by the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas! The Palestinian president was on a mission in Europe and staying at a hotel in Brussels at the same time that the WorldSkills Palestine delegation were preparing their training in Belgium. Through their new contact, the Palestinian ambassador in Belgium, the delegation received an invitation from Mr. Mahmoud Abbas for a short visit.

“Unbelievable, we thought we are dreaming, but called and got the hotel address. We headed back to our room for redressing, entered our rental car and out we were for Brussels! After being guided by dozens of security guards we finally entered Abu Mazen’s private hotel room. How surprised we were! He asked a lot of questions about our mission, about WorldSkills and promised out any help if needed! (…) We were so happy, this is like reaching the Olympics for WorldSkills Palestine! (…)” (Michael Buechele, Palestinian World Skills delegation). 

After this big encounter with the president, the delegation turned back to work and visited DICO, a small graphic design company with a small team of highly creative people from whom the young graphic designers could learn a lot. While continuing their training in Charleroi, the team attended the International Marketing Week at EPHEC LLN in Louvain-La Neuve where the students had a wonderful day learning about the lifecycle of design. On their last day, the delegation was invited at the Belgian Parliament. In the afternoon, they were special guests at the Opera House in Liège, the venue for the Award Ceremony of the Startech’s Days.

The visit of the Palestinian WorldSkills delegation to Belgium has given them the incredible opportunity to raise awareness for the importance of technical and vocational skill training, especially in the Palestinian Territory. Youth unemployment there is exceptionally high and vocational training has proven to be one of the most successful ways of tackling this issue. This is why the Belgian Development Agency (BTC) focuses its efforts on supporting these technical and vocational education and training initiatives.

Of course, for Sobheya and Ibraheem, as well as their dedicated team of national and international experts Alaa Doudin, Shadi Ragabi and Michael Buechele, their visit to Belgium has been first and foremost an enriching and life-changing learning experience.

Sometimes things are going far beyond your dreams and this is what happened to the WorldSkills Palestine Graphic Design Team. (…) Thanks once more to all who supported us: BTC, The Belgium Consulate in Jerusalem, WorldSkills Belgium, Cepegra Training Center in Charleroi, Thierry Herman our teacher, (…) thanks to the Palestinian Embassy in Brussels, thanks to Abu Mazen!” (Michael Buechele, Palestinian WorldSkills Delegation) 

Check out this short video on their experiences here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1JfnZTxBgw&feature=youtu.be

Follow their next adventure to 2017 World Skills Abu Dhabi on the following channels:

• www.facebook.com/palestineskills 
• https://www.facebook.com/BTCPalestine/ ·     
• https://www.facebook.com/WorldSkills/?fref=ts ·  
• https://worldskillsabudhabi2017.com/en/