Aclai Community Gym West Bank Dublin Marathon Fundraiser

Hi,

My name is Aoife and I'll be running the Dublin Marathon on October 27th to raise funds for the Aclaí Community Gym located in the Lajee Centre in the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem, West Bank Palestine. I am asking friends, family and supporters to donate whatever they can spare (no amount is too little) to this fundraiser.

This gym has been a pillar of solidarity, strength, togetherness and autonomy in the Aida refugee camp, where residents live in a more contentious and dangerous environment than ever before due to the current genocide occurring in Gaza and the heightened violence and the intensified threats of death and forced exile in the West Bank region. Please see link below to read the testimonials of the users of the gym (predominantly female) and the important respite that this space gives the community of the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem.

https://www.aclai.ie/testimonials

The mission of the Aclaí gym is to:

The Aida refugee camp was established in 1950 and is home to over 5000 Palestinian refugees from 27 different Palestinian villages who were forced out during the Nakba of 1948. It is located on the outskirts of the city of Bethlehem, overlooked by at least 6 watchtowers occupation watch towers and the apartheid wall. There is military base right beside the camp, and the camp is subject to regular attacks by the occupation. The main issues at the Aida camp reflect the issues faced by all Palestinian refugee camps; lack of space and community resources, unreliable electricity and/or water supply, restrictions on freedom of movement, and escalating occupation violence.

So Far…

In Lajee Centre today, a gym has been running since February 2020 that provides training for people of all ages and abilities every week. We provide supervised sessions for patients from Lajee’s community health program, run strength and movement training sessions with male and female groups, boxing sessions for youths, regular yoga sessions, and we work with people who are living with disabilities from acquired brain injuries to cerebral palsy. All of our services are provided to our participants free of charge by our small team of coaches, thanks to ongoing fundraising efforts and contributions by supporters.

The Future

The goal is for ACLAÍ Palestine to be great resource for the residents of the Aida and Alazza Camps, providing important services in a place that is being squeezed from every direction by the occupation. The Aclaí team are working hard to develop the expertise of the staff, and helping to get more people through the gym doors every week to spend a bit of time in a friendly and encouraging environment to play and to work on their own health.