On Christmas morning, Rowan left for her flight to Cairo, Egypt where she participated in the Gaza Freedom March.

“I was there to promote peace and human rights, and show others what we can do,” said Rowan. “Everyday that went by, I found out more and more about Gaza and how there’s not enough supplies to go around. People struggle everyday for the things we take for granted.”

Rowan, who is part of the Michigan Peace Team, traveled to Gaza along with a group of 1,400 other members of the organization. According to the Michigan Peace Team website, they train people to demonstrate for peace in a period of three to four weeks.

Throughout their trip, the team struggled with language barriers and had various problems with government officials.

On her blog written early on the morning of December 31, 2009, she told of a frantic text message she received that she needed to get out of the hotel immediately because authorities were locking down hotels and not letting any internationals leave. Rowans blogs continue at: http://www.bellaingaza.blogspot.com/.