 | Why this trip?
There are many reasons why we wanted to travel.
We wanted to see some of the world. Meeting other cultures, learning from other people. We were curious how we would react on leaving our safe and well known living in Holland and open our mind for more than that. |  | Why travelling by bicycle?
Sport has always been very important to us. We believe it helps us to make our dreams come true. It helps us to improve life skills, leads to either physical as mental strength and health. Everywhere we come, people start to smile immediately when they see us on our bikes. They invite us for a cup of tea or offering us a place to sleep and tell proudly about their culture. We believe that’s at least partly because we travel this way. |  | Why Right To Play?
We already have the right to play and are thankful for our chances. We don’t think we can change the world, but we would like to give something of the thing that is so important for us: sport and play.
We formulated four goals to do this:
1. Play ourselves. We believe that’s after all the first thing we should do, to be able to give something to others.
2. To gain media attention for the right to play in general and Right To Play in particular. 3. Do some fund raising. We collected about € 10.000,- for Right To Play.
4. By sharing knowledge and experience with local people in Lebanon. |  | Why Lebanon?
In Europe we hear mainly the bad stories about the Middle-East and Lebanon. For the last few decades, the media tells about several conflicts and wars. We’d like to tell about the beauty of the country as well as the people. What we do in Lebanon?
Working together with Right To Play Lebanon we will organize workshops for staff and partners from Right To Play Lebanon. The workshops are about teambuilding and communication and how you can use (outdoor) sports to improve skills according to those themes.
In Holland Valentijn studied Sports and Leisure Management. |  | Fund raising
We wanted to collect money but not just by asking for money, we wanted people to play as well. That’s why we invented a game. People could buy a Right To Play-Red Ball (€ 7,50). The challenge was to play this ball to Egypt at a certain address which we crossed on our way to Lebanon. How they had to play it? It was up to their creativity! The only rule was not to send it by post. Meanwhile you could follow your ball at www.ball2egypt.com. Some people went to Egypt themselves, others knew someone who went there or brought it to a country closer to Egypt. Finally seven balls arrived in Egypt, but a lot of them went all over the world, from Alaska to Thailand. So except for the money we raised, al lot of people played and even more heard about Right To Play. |  | Our trip
We cycled over 5000 kilometres in 5 months. After Europe, we crossed the Mediterranean Sea and enjoyed the hospitality of a part of North-Africa and the Middle-East.
We started October 15th from Holland, on our trailers we carried 120 Red Balls. On the first 2000 kilometres throughout Europe, crossing 9 countries and the Alps, we sold those balls to people we met. From Italy we took a ferry to Tunisia. We couldn’t cycle through Libya because we didn’t get the visa. After taking an airplane from Tunis to Cairo, we saw the rich history of Egypt, its incredible desert and great hospitality. |  | After 6 weeks Egypt we where in Jordan and Syria, were we also enjoyed their beauty and felt really welcome. Finally we arrived at the Lebanese border at March 13th, were the complete staff of Right To Play was waiting for us with a fantastic warm welcome. We never had serious problems. A few flat tires in Europe (non in Africa and the Middle-East!) and some scary moments in busy traffic. And a few times we asked ourselves why we did what we where doing, especially sometimes in The Alps :) |
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