The Campaign kick-off

The campaign kick-off ceremony was held in the town of Fianarantosa, about 7 hours south of Antananarivo on a paved but extremely winding road, so we headed down Sunday afternoon. I didn't think I was prone to motion sickness, but quickly found that not keeping my eyes focused firmly on the horizon left me feeling rather green! It was beautiful though, as the road essentially winds along the spine of the country in the highlands. This scene not too far outside Tana reminded us of the danger of not driving very carefully! At least there are plenty of people to try to pull you out!

The Malagasy are skilled rice farmers, and we drove past miles and miles of rice paddies.

This house is fairly typical of the architecture in the highlands - two story, brick, with a balcony, and either thatched or tiled roof. They are very charming!

The kick-off, bright and early on Monday morning. I traveled with Luciano Tuseo, the WHO Malaria Technical Advisor, with whom I had worked on my previous trips, and he was delightful to travel with - his native language is Italian and mine is English, so we compromised and spoke in semi-fluent French. Here we are sitting at the kick-off.

The president of Madagascar was among many of the dignitaries present - here he is addressing the crowd. He has a very casual, off-hand manner that all the Malagasy seemed to love. While introducing one of the UNICEF good will ambassadors, South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka, he told her to "do something." (sing)

Admiral Tim Zienmer, the co-ordinator of the President's Malaria Initiative (USA), was there as well - here he is with some kids after the kick-off.