You’ve Come A Long Way, Fire Marshall Bill

Here’s a fun story: About a week and a half ago, a group of international development workers and aid agencies arrived in a small town a few communes away from mine. They were visiting a SRI (rice planting under improved techniques) project run by the local farmers’ group. The farmers specialize in a particular variety of “pink rice,” which they are working with USAID and a group called Lotus Foods (I think) to export and market this rice in organic food stores in the United States. Well among the agencies represented was a philanthropic group called A Better You (again, I think that was the name… this story was related to me by the head of the USAID program in the area). A Better You is helmed by none other than comedian/actor Jim Carrey. He decided to come along, and Madagascar President Marc Ravalomanana caught wind of his arrival and offered Carrey the use of his private helicopter. So as the local farmers, villagers and some development folks gathered around the commune soccer field, the helicopter set down and out stepped Ace Ventura himself, along with the Lehibes (bigwigs) from his organization. Carrey visited with the farmers, saw the planting of the rice fields under SRI techniques, and even sampled some of the pink rice for the cameras. Then he was back on the chopper and heading out again. A bit of international celebrity, from a relatively random source, to the Madagascar scene.

Chris P