On October 3-7, cyclists from all over the world will ride 400 km from Boston to NYC to raise awareness and $250,000 that will go towards Women’s Empowerment, Community Rehabilitation targeting disabilities among children and adults, and Mental Health support in the Gaza Strip.
In 5 days, Cycling4Gaza is cycling 300km from Alkamaar, Netherlands to the International Criminal Court at the Hague for their 2015 cycle. C4G is dedicated to raising $286,000 to support the launch and running of the newly launched Pediatric Mental Health Project in Gaza for a year.
Tamara Ben-Halim writes about her experience with Cycling4Gaza, a group of 40 people who cycled from from Philadelphia to Washington DC to raise awareness and funds for Gaza. One of those 40 was a 16 year old boy from Gaza, Ahmed Abunammous. Ahmed was shot in the leg by an Israeli sniper last year, at the age of 15. His leg had to be amputated, and Ahmed was lucky enough to be treated by the tireless PCRF (Palestine Children’s Relief) who flew him out to the US soon after to be operated on and fitted with a prosthetic leg. Ben-Halim, writes, “A year later, this time last week, Ahmed was cycling with us across the east coast, working his one leg nearly twice as hard as the rest of us.”
Cycling4Gaza began in 2009 as four London friends recruited cyclists to raise funds for Gaza. Now it is teamed with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and coming to the U.S., with a Philadelphia to Washington trip on Sept. 18-21.