West Cork fishing industry magnate and fitness enthusiast, Mel Bendon is undertaking an ‘epic' cycling trip from Cairo to Cape Town.
WEST Cork fishing industry magnate and fitness enthusiast, Mel Bendon is undertaking an ‘epic’ cycling trip from Cairo to Cape Town.
The journey is part of the Tour d’Afrique 2020, but it will double up as a fundraiser for an Irish voluntary organisation called ‘Wells for Zoë.’
Wells for Zoë was founded in 2005 and works mainly in Northern Malawi by enabling poor people living in rural areas to get access to clean, safe, drinking water.
The organisation works with women’s self-help groups, a pre-school, child and adult education groups, and also in the area of climate-smart agriculture, and runs a tree planting programme.
By taking ‘a bottom-up approach’, it works to create a sustainable and life changing impact on communities.
A spokesperson for the organisation contacted The Southern Star to let our readers know about Mel’s effort and to wish him ‘good luck’ on his journey as well as his retirement as CEO of Glenmar Shellfish.
The spokesperson confirmed that the situation came about after a random but nevertheless fortuitous meeting at Dublin Airport a few months ago, and he said: ‘We are really delighted he has chosen Wells for Zoë to be the focus of this great effort.’