LWF VTP – Jerusalem celebrates service of Munir Qreitem

Head of Auto Mechanics Department retires after 40 years

Today, the LWF Vocational Training Program (VTP) celebrated the career and retirement of Munir Qreitem, an educator for 40 years at the LWF’s Vocational Training Center (VTC) in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem.  Qreitem began at the VTC as a student in 1967 in the auto mechanics shop. He studied there for 3 years and graduated in 1970. In 1971, he began working at the VTC as a store keeper. He stayed in this position for 6 years and in 1977 was hired to begin teaching in the auto mechanics workshop. Upon receiving this position, he took 4 months to study and prepare in Finland. He returned ready to start and taught in the auto mechanics shop until his recent retirement, except for five years in the 1990s.

In his time at the VTC, Qreitem saw many changes and contributed to many improvements in the school. In comparing the VTC when he first started to now, he said, “Everything has changed”. Especially working in automotive repair, Qreitem saw many waves of changes in the construction of vehicles and continuously learned more to be an effective teacher. He taught more than 800 students in the classroom and invariably touched the lives of many others outside of the workshop. In his time at the VTC from 1971 to 2016, he worked with every director of the LWF vocational program, from his first interview until the present.

Qreitem is looking forward to his retirement and has plans to just relax. Colleagues in the VTP and in the LWF Jerusalem Program as a whole are grateful for the many years of faithful service provided by Qreitem. He will be dearly missed. We wish him all the best in his retirement!