Thank you so much for visiting my marathon page....

Introduction

On 23rd March 2018 I am running the Bethlehem Marathon in Palestine raising money for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in their on-going work helping to improve the lives of Palestinian Children.

The Children of Palestine

Palestine continues to be a conflict state under occupation, and Palestinians including its millions of children, are subject to all the hardships and constraints that this brings. The children of Palestine have never known anything else. Many Palestinian children have been traumatised by their experiences; losing family members, their homes and their ability to learn and play in safe environments. MAP, a non-political non-religious charity, work within the West Bank, Gaza, and in the numerous refugee camps both within Palestine and in Jordan and Lebanon to support all Palestinian children to have better, more fulfilled and safer lives.

How your sponsorship money will be used to help Palestinian children

- MAP set up projects to build and develop child-friendly spaces, activities and parks.

- MAP provide psychological support to children who through their life experiences under occupation suffer from trauma and poor mental health.

- MAP provide healthy snacks and meals to children in refugee camps, particularly those suffering from malnutrition.

- MAP provide medical equipment, supplies, and medical staff to health centres and hospitals in Gaza and the West Bank where all these things are in short supply and in high demand due to the restrictions of the occupation.

- MAP run a mobile health clinic for families living in hard to reach and rural areas where medical care and supplies have been scarce or previously denied by the restrictions of the authorities. The mobile clinic means  families with children no longer have to travel for hours or even days to access necessary medical help.

- MAP supports a team of skilled orthopaedic surgeons who perform complex and lifesaving operations to children who have suffered life changing injuries due to the conflict. This team also train up Palestinian medical staff.

About me & the Marathon Course

I am a 32 year old Father of one, passionate for life with a love of carbs, the great outdoors, and a challenge! Despite my asthma inhalers (!) and having only taken up running these past five months, I have already pushed through two half-marathons in building up my training for the biggest challenge of all: The Bethlehem Marathon!

Bethlehem is a historic, vibrant, beautiful, and not to mention very hilly city! In fact its pretty much all hills. And unlike my training in South East England over the winter in the freezing cold, snow and ice, Bethlehem can be extremely dry and hot. I am thinking I may forgo wearing my thermals....

The Bethlehem Marathon was established to raise awareness of the restriction of movement for Palestinians due to the Israeli Military Occupation of Palestine. The separation wall currently stretches 260 miles across Palestine, with the city of Bethlehem, like Gaza, being shut off from the rest of the country. You cannot run 10kms in any direction in Bethlehem before you are stopped by the separation wall - Palestinians wanting to access their lands or property outside of the city have to queue for hours to obtain a permit, which are then sometimes declined. The marathon course starts and finishes in the old city, it runs alongside the separation wall, passes through 2 refugee camps and just for fun goes up and down several steep hills along the way. Please wish me luck! :)

All your kindness and support, however small, is greatly appreciated by myself, MAP, and the Children of Palestine that I am running for. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

Gawain