The students of Talitha Kumi Community College and the vocational Education and Training Center go for 2 weeks to the HOSPES Evangelisch-Tagen GmbH to do an internship at the Hotel Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Haus and at the Evangelische Bildungssätte on Schwanenwerder. The students train within the ranges kitchen, service, reception and room cleaning. In this way they get to know the German way of working in a hotel and make their first international contacts.

In the spare time the practical course plans both a touristic program in Berlin, which give the students  views of the German culture and history, and an Educational excursions to different hotels, culinary arts and hotel schools, Fruit and vegetable market, organic products companies, Ka De We and others in order to widen their knowledge and experiences of their speciality.

Also a visits to the Palestinian Mission office and Berliner Missionswerk are organized.

Beside all of the mentioned above, an important aspect is to build a bridge of relationship with the coworkers of the hotel through exchanging information of their everyday life style .

The student internship is the necessary prerequisite for applying for the one-year trainee program.

Since 2018, Talitha Kumi offers a 3rd year of training in Germany for two graduates. Currently there is the possibility that graduates of the different training courses, who have good knowledge of English and first knowledge of German, will be trained for one year in the partner hotels of the Community College. The students deepen their specialist knowledge and expand their knowledge in the hotel and catering industry in Germany. They gain experience abroad and their first professional experience, language skills and develop their personality further. The programme is an important building block for a career in tourism at home.

The first two graduates completed their year of training successfully and two new graduates now are in the hotel doing their training.  We wish them all the best.

Experience of the managing director of HOSPES Evangelisch-Tagen GmbH:

“The exchange with the Community College in Beit Jala is a real enrichment for us personally and for the company. The students bring along a consistently good education according to the German dual system and thus enrich the gastronomic line and the team of our houses. Intercultural abilities and language skills are naturally promoted in everyday life. Our guests and we love Arabic cuisine!

Stefanie Jüngerkiss

It is worth to mention that the students are covering their travel expenses (travel tickets, transportation to Germany and back and pocket money) which is a big burden on the families.

Some difficulty we face in getting fund to support our program to cover the travelling expense for the students, as well pass permit to travel via Tel Aviv which is cheaper, saving money and time