Grace's personal battle in Baghdad (From Stroud News and Journal)

Grace's personal battle in Baghdad

PEACE campaigner Grace Trevett has been spending this week with Iraqi schoolchildren painting a giant peace mural on the wall of a school.

A relaxed Grace spoke to the News & Journal from Baghdad on Thursday as she recovered after her fraught journey.

Last Wednesday Grace went to see a bombed out shelter which had been hit by the Americans in the last war.

"Over 400 people were incinerated," she said. "That was very powerful. You can see very clearly what the suffering and horror must have been like."

Grace said a small group of Americans had held a sit down vigil honouring the dead while she was there.

Grace and most of the other shields plan to ignore Foreign Office advice to return home.

"We've been called back by the British Government but as far as I know everyone here is saying we are not leaving at this stage," she said.

"There are a lot of Western people here. "About 150 of us are involved in the shields action but there are lots of other things going on too."

"Around 40 people flew in yesterday and a delegation of 60 Russians is arriving this week.

On Saturday Grace began helping the sick by working at a hospital.

"I trained as an assistant nurse and have worked as a carer so I can actually be of some use," she said.

To her surprise Grace found Baghdad was a huge, sprawling city full of beautiful architecture. "In my naivety I was shocked by the size of it," said Grace.

"It's a massive, functioning city and that makes the idea of bombing it somehow even more horrendous."

She had initially planned to stay for just two weeks but is now thinking of staying longer.

"I made so much effort and endured so much to get here that I don't want to leave," she said.

"If an attack starts I'm not sure if I can leave these people, who have become my family.

"There are certainly people who are prepared to stay if the invasion begins.

"I'm still questioning whether or not I am one of them." She said she felt sure that she was doing the right thing and her resolve had hardened since arriving but she misses Stroud.

Grace said: "I'm thinking about everybody. I'm here for everybody and I love everybody."