Bye, bye Hamburg! See you soon in Jerusalem

The first leg of the GDAB Hamburg-Jerusalem exchange 2011 concluded just last week. Twenty youngsters from Hamburg and Jerusalem had the great opportunity to exchange perspectives and get to know more about each other’s cultural backgrounds. After one and a half weeks in Hamburg, the Arab youngsters traveled back home, taking with them many new insights and impressions as well as great anticipation to welcoming their new friends in Jerusalem.

In addition to experiencing everyday family and school life, visits to Schwerin, Berlin and institutions in Hamburg were among the highlights of the first leg of the exchange in Germany. A meeting and in-depth discussion with German parliamentarian Mr. Ingo Egloff was also greatly appreciated by the youngsters.

A great thank you to all those who made this unique exchange program with Jerusalem possible! The return visit of the German students to Jerusalem is planned to take place in Fall 2011.

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Welcome to Hamburg!

At last: after months of preparations, ten students from Jerusalem arrived in Hamburg just yesterday. Their German hosts gave them a warm welcome at the airport. You could sense the great excitement with everyone looking forward to experiencing one and a half weeks of learning about different cultures and perspectives. Amongst other things, the guests will get to know everyday family and school life, experience Hamburg and its surroundings, and visit the capital city of Berlin and the Bundestag (the German parliament).

The Society for German-Arab Encounters (a German registered association) in cooperation with secondary school Gymnasium Ohmoor and the Awqaf Department Directorate of Education in Jerusalem organized this unique student exchange. The initiative would not have been possible without the financial support from the German office of the Arab League, the district assembly of Hamburg-Eimsbüttel and individual donors. We would like to extend our appreciation to all those who helped making the student exchange possible. The German and Arab students, their families and GDAB very much look forward to one and a half valuable weeks in Hamburg – they will lay the foundation for sustained dialog and friendship.

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Consensa-Workshop

Already in its first year of operation, GDAB participated in the competition „Anstiften! 50 Impulse für Hamburg” (Inspire! 50 Impulses for Hamburg) of the Körber Foundation. GDAB was not selected to be amongst the winning 50 initiatives, however, was recognized for its dedication and its potential to make an impact. The Körber Foundation provided project management training for the team of the GDAB which was delivered by Hamburg-based consulting agency “Consensa” in August 2009. In a half- day workshop the GDAB team strengthened its process development and implementation skills as a basis for future initiatives.

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