Moray man is in the thick of it as an aid worker
Published:
A YOUNG Moray man has swapped the cold of the north-east winter to volunteer as an aid worker in the West Bank area.
Oliver Munro, 23, of Lossiemouth, is living in a town in the West Bank and working with the International Solidarity Movement.
The ISM has a volunteer presence in both the West Bank and crisis-hit Gaza, where clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen have raged for the past 11 days, resulting in hundreds of casualties.
Mr Munro, a former pupil of Hythehill Primary School and Lossiemouth High School, is on his third trip to the area, his second time as an aid worker with ISM.
His interest in international aid work began when he was at Stirling University studying for a degree in history and politics.
He had an opportunity to go to the West Bank in 2005 as part of a research trip organised by a solidarity organisation, although he was unable to get involved in practical volunteering until the following year when he joined ISM.
He said: “I was mainly staying in Bi'lin after I joined ISM and was also part of a group that tried to help in Izbat al Tabib.
“There was only one road to the village and it had been blocked by a mound of earth and concrete, which we moved. I also helped rebuild a house in Jerusalem which had been bulldozed.”
On his latest trip Oliver, whose parents still live at Lossiemouth, has been based in the town of Ni’lin, which has had at least one demonstration per week since May.
On December 28, he witnessed the death of two demonstrators. He said: “It has been a terrible ordeal for everyone, especially the victims' families.”
