Friday, November 27, 2009


In January I will be embarking on the Tour d’Afrique,a 11,800-kilometer (7,375 miles) bike race from Cairo to Cape Town which takes about four months to complete. In doing so, I’d like to give something back to a continent I once called home, while quenching my own hunger for adventure in this hauntingly beautiful land. What better way to reacquaint myself with Africa than to bike from Cairo to the Cape and use the experience to bring attention to a very worthy cause?

That cause is the Solar Electric Light Fund - better known by its acronym SELF - whose mission is to provide solar power and wireless communications to a quarter of the world’s population living in energy poverty. SELF believes that energy is a human right, its goal to empower people in developing communities by providing sustainable and targeted electrical energy sources to reduce poverty by improving health, education, water supply, communications and security for individuals, families and communities.