Irish expat couple moving to Gaza as volunteers

AN IRISH couple living in Limassol will soon be traveling to Gaza, where they will volunteer with the Free Gaza Movement (FMG) for three to six months.

Derek and Jenny Graham, who have been active with the FMG for over a year, will be describing their Gaza experiences at an online blog.

“We both think it would be of more benefit for the people of Gaza to actually work for the FMG from inside Gaza. That way we can be on the ground to hear what the Palestinians actually need and want,” Jenny Graham told the Cyprus Mail.

The couple, who have been living in Limassol for the past three years, are waiting for the flotilla of FMG boats which will travel from Cyprus to Gaza to be arranged. The trip will take place in May and the Grahams plan to stay in Gaza for three to six months.

“We have many plans and ideas as to what to do, but obviously it will become clearer once we speak to the people on the ground in Gaza. Derek plans to work on rebuilding and restoring of the port, which was hit several times during the war in Gaza. We both plan to accompany farmers and fishermen to Gaza city. I want to work with several women’s and children’s groups there, and also to try to help with editing and translating documents in English for some of the aid agencies. I am also going to be reporting back to some Irish and Northern Irish newspapers on a regular basis,” Graham said.

The couple will be working as on a volunteer basis, relying on their own savings and on donations. Details on the project and how to donate towards their effort are available on their blogspot http://irishingaza.wordpress.com

The Grahams have already been active with the FMG and were part of the effort to send humanitarian aid to Gaza by boat, an enterprise that had not been achieved in the last 41 years. Since last August, however, the FMG managed to send five aid boats to the war-torn area.

“These were the first international boats in 41 years to enter the international port of Gaza. We have brought in medical and humanitarian aid, brought in delegations of parliamentarians to observe in Gaza, brought in surgeons and doctors who have spent time in the hospitals in there and also managed to take out Palestinian students that had visa and scholarships for other countries but had no way out,” she said.

For more information on the FMG, visit www.freegaza.org

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.