HUMANITARIAN adventurer Kerys Williams has returned from a peace boat cruise of a lifetime with a different outlook and a determination to campaign to help the world's poor.

The 29-years-old traveller is hoping to forge links between pupils in Leigh area schools and refugee children in Kenya and South America -- and is appealing to people to help replace millions of olive trees lost through war in Palestine,

Kerys won a place as a volunteer teacher on the 45th global voyage of the Peace Boat, SS Topaz, a floating villa and school rolled into one, which sailed with 700 passengers from Japan in April to spread the message of harmony among nations.

And the three month trip was a new experience for Kerys, the 1996 Leigh and Wigan ambassadress in France, who saw life in the raw in some of the world's troublespots.

Her journey of learning took her to a Vietnamese street children's centre, a children's orphanage in Kenya, a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, a slum in Guatemala, a native American community in Canada and to a Kenyan elephant sanctuary.

The former Westleigh High school girl from Tiverton Avenue in Leigh, who already has a catalogue of solo travel journeys behind her, also took part in home stays in India and Guatemala and a huge cultural exchange programme in Vietnam

While working in Japan lone traveller Kerys made a snap decision to apply for a voluntary teaching position on the Peace Boat and went for an interview, never thinking she would be successful.

But she was thrilled to learn she would be teaching English and yoga on the ship which carries fare paying passengers on a unique journey.

Kerys' main role was to prepare the Japanese passengers for their arrival at different ports by teaching them English.

In turn she attended lectures by guest speakers who went on board to educate and raise awareness of global issues including photo journalists who told of the real reaction in Iraq to the US/UK military invasion, environmentalists from Israel and Palestine telling of their world of conflict, a 90-years-old Japanese war veteran recalling his horrors of being involved in WW2 and native Americans settlers from Canada showing government plans to take away their sacred land to build to 2010 winter Olympic site.

She said: "I don't quite know how to put the past three months into words, they fail me right now."

Kerys says she realises that many of her thoughts have been manipulated by the mass media, but she has learned much from seeing and hearing for herself.

Instead of taking the tourist trail from the Peace Boat Kerys went to see life away from the masses. She visited the Hattin refugee camp in Jordan, one of six Palestinian camps in the country.

"I wanted to rid this imposed media image that they were all suicide bombers with only revenge in their eyes and blood on their hands -- and I did. All I found was love, compassion and utter desperation to communicate to the rest of the world that all they want is the fighting with Israel to stop."

Kerys played with the children, belly danced in secret with the women and when it was time to leave they tried to hide her and gave her the rings of their fingers and bracelets off their arms.

"I was trying hard not to let the tears spill from my eyes when they asked me to do one thing -- promise to spread the word that they are not bad people, that they are just waiting to go home. Their desperate dignity was a lesson to everyone who visited the camp that day."

Kerys learned that the Palestinians are losing millions of their olive trees and their livelihood as the armies invade their territory, and one man mourned that "losing a tree is as painful as losing a child".

As a result Kerys is backing a Peaceboat Campaign to help replant some of the 12 million trees that have been felled.

She said: " This voyage has left me with a new bank of information and ideas and I would like to appeal to others to help me raise awareness of these issues.

"I want to launch the Olive Tree Campaign everywhere I can and I want to get supplies together to send out to the refugee camp in Jordan.

"If any schools are interested I would like to come and give presentations on the Peace Boat and start links between children here and children in the Kenyan orphanage or the slums of Guatemala.

"For five dollars anyone can buy the seeds to plant a tree in Palestine, have their name tied to it and they will be able to follow its progress via photos and updates on the internet."

The highlight of the trip she says was seeing a full lunar eclipse in the middle of the Red Sea, somewhere between Yemen and Somalia.

"I have never witnessed shooting stars so big and bright in my life. I was just in awe of the natural world around us."

Globetrotter Kerys, who speaks five languages, was back in Leigh after her journey, paying a rare visit to mum and dad Sylvia and Ken and her two brothers and two sisters.

Asked what it's like to come home she said: "It's always raining, but it's good to see my family. It is my neices and nephews that I think of the most when I am away and I not only carry their photo and show it to the locals but I also bring back a little piece of everywhere I go for them so that they can taste a part of my experience and open their minds to the colourful world of different people and cultures that is beyond Leigh.

"Now I don't feel like this is really home. I feel more relaxed in Thailand where I have a house in the hills built by friends and keep pigs and chickens.

"It is a bamboo hut with no facilities and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who likes their creature comforts, but it is my home and it is in a beautiful place in the mountains and I love it."

Kerys is now hoping to take off again on the Peace Boat's 47th journey which leaves for the southern hemisphere in October and will explore issues such as apartheid and aborigines in Australia. She will be the webpage reporter.

The ship will visit a Kenyan orphanage to deliver supplies so if you can donate any pens, pencils, condoms, medical supplies (not clothes) they will be much appreciated.

Asked if she will ever settle down her immediate response was: "I'm settled inside."

Kerys, who also gives Thai massages, can be contacted at kerys_williams@hotmail for details on the Peace Boat and her campaign.