One woman and one man and their love for cycling4gaza. 

Lina Abou Chaaban from Gaza, my first ride was back in 2012 in Turkey. It was only my visualisation of the kids of Gaza that kept me going through that hilly terrain. One ride lead to two more and Norway marks my fourth.

Khaled Lababidi from Akka, Palestine. This marks my third ride, and it should be the most challenging compared to the flat roads of The Netherlands last year. 

Why are we cycling in Norway and supporting Paces? Simple, when growing up we never got denied the right to play. We lived a healthy and innocent childhood;  swings, slides and playgrounds. We think it's crazy that kids in Palestine don't have access to that. Today we give back, we try and give them a childhood and find creative ways to heal their traumas through play. And that is exactly what Paces is doing.

PACES was founded nine years ago for the almost exclusive aim of developing and funding much-needed sports programs for Palestinian children: for boys who would otherwise would be on the streets with nothing to do and therefore exposed to potential extremism, violence and radicalization, and for girls who would be stuck at home feeling marginalized and not empowered. Their initial set of programs were for 400 children at 6 locations around the Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah areas. The aim is to add 200-300 children in 2016 and aim to raise it to 6000 children.

As for the programs on the ground, a video is worth a thousand words http://vimeo.com/38566167

The funds raised through Cycling4Gaza will be used to support 700 children and their coaches in Gaza. More specifically, 70% of the funds will be used to cover the direct running of the PACES sports and civic social programs in Gaza as follows:

C4G 2016 will help create much-needed employment for over 600 coaches in Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon. These jobs are for young men and women who would otherwise have very few opportunities of work.

PACES is a UK-registered organization that does not have any political affiliations. They are transparent (audited accounts are on their website) and their only aim is the well-being of the children and the creation of jobs for young women and men.

To find out more please visit http://cycling4gaza.com/thecause/projects-2016/