The partially-sighted 22-year-old spent two weeks in July helping Palestinian children and their parents at a summer camp in Jerusalem when he volunteered with the Christian charity Bible Lands.

Mr Southey and a team of other volunteers helped children with hydrotherapy, dance, music and play during their working days and visited the Dead Sea, Bethlehem and Jericho during their time off.

Although many would find the work distressing, Mr Southey found teaching the children more uplifting than visiting places he had read about in the Bible.

He said: “Working with children has made the biggest impression.

“We made a big difference to their lives and to their parents’ lives.

“It has made a massive difference to my life and has changed the way I look at it. We saw lots of things and did lots of things, accepting them with open arms.”

Mr Southey was working at the Princess Basma Centre in Mount of Olives, where visiting children had physical disabilities, mental health problems and hearing impairment.

Mr Southey, who is studying childcare and development, helped parents develop their children’s social skills, and believes his experiences have helped him decide on the course of his future career.

The trip also helped Mr Southey with his understanding of the Bible, particularly when he and other volunteers also trekked out into the mountainous wilderness, a landscape Mr Southey found “incredibly scary” but breathtaking.

He added: “It is a hard job to do but it was made easier by the people we were with.

“I felt happy that I had helped the children and parents learn something new and helped support the staff in what they were doing.

“They know that a group will return to help them every year and it is something for them to look forward to.”