About this campaign

I'm cycling with the Thighs of Steel team from Perpignan to Lyon, week 4 of a 2 month long cycle trip down to Athens, and we are raising money for the charity Help Refugees - this is an organisation that funds and assists people to set up grassroots projects for refugees in Europe. One of the main ones that they have helped is one called Khora that gives both legal advice and also a community centre - bringing the humanity, dignity and purpose to these people's lives that is all too often lost while they are in limbo.

Last year I did some volunteer medical work at the Moria refugee camp in Lesbos. The conditions there are shocking - it is overcrowded and unsanitary and there is so much unmet medical and psychological need it is difficult to know where to begin. However, I have also seen the difference that small projects can make to people - whether it is setting up a woman's safe space group, a creche, a yoga studio, a regular football game, helping refugees to start small shops inside the camps and so much more.

These are so important because the large NGOs are good but they focus on the big issues and not these smaller aspects of people's lives. But these small aspects are living! And without them many people are lost. Providing the funds and means to make these changes is so important, and THAT is why I'm cycling a really really long way for one week to raise money.