A FORMER Queen’s Park High student is heading off on a human rights mission to the West Bank next week.

Sarah Rowe, 25, will embark on a three-month trip to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories on Tuesday, February 7, as a human rights observer.

She will join one of seven teams in the area, living alongside local people. Sarah’s role might include accompanying children to school who are otherwise at risk of attack, monitoring checkpoints in the separation barrier to reduce the harassment of civilians, and reporting on any human rights abuses that she witnesses in order to document the impact of the occupation.

Sarah, a youth writer with the charity Christian Aid in Leeds, whose parents Katy and Brian live in Chester, will accompany Palestinians and Israeli peace activists in their everyday lives, and in their efforts to bring peace to this divided land.

She explains her motivation for the trip: “It’s so easy to feel helpless and hopeless about the situation, that when I heard about a call for internationals to do something useful, I was really excited. A big part of the programme is that when I come back I’ll be talking about my experience and encouraging others that we can all do something to end the occupation. Although I expect it to be a difficult experience at times, I’m looking forward to returning home with a message of hope.”

Sarah is travelling with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme, an initiative of the World Council of Churches.

The programme represents the biggest presence of internationals on the ground for human rights purposes in the territories and was started in response to the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem calling for support from the international community.

Since 2002 more than 800 people have travelled from over 20 countries to take up the call.