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Palestine
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:
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