Q&A
What projects are you working on now that are most meaningful to you?
I have learned that the availability of natural resources is one of the most reliable ways to foster sustainable development and that conserving natural resources depends on community empowerment and involvement. My next challenge is to create an alternative source of revenue from the valuable natural resources in Madagascar. Right now I'm working to establish a healthy, successful, win-win business plan that will be a leader in both environmental and social entrepreneurship in Madagascar and beyond. The goal is to reduce poverty while protecting our incredibly diverse and endangered ecosystem.
Besides your work, what issues/ideas/pursuits are you passionate about?
Foko-Madagascar was my main project until quite recently. Foko is a small nonprofit organization I co-founded with a Malagasy blogger team. As a blogger, I am aware of how the Internet allows a small and fragmented community to connect with the rest of the world. Voices on the web are strong, loud and passionate. My vision is to use all this energy and web presence to create a real project offline for our community. We have experienced it slowly with a successful tree planting project last year and another ongoing project of free Internet training on how to use new media for supporting causes and involving people with the same interests in a global conversation.
What do you do for fun?
In my spare time I cook, eat and spend time with my family and friends. I also read blogs and books, browse Facebook and Twitter, enjoy art, especially primitive art, and listen to undiscovered, talented musicians and artists from all over the world.
Recount a surprising anecdote about yourself that few people know.
Last September I missed out on a trip to south Africa. I was supposed to be a speaker at a digital conference there, talking about "blogging for a small audience in Madagascar." To be a part of the conference, I had to pay my visa fees. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough money to pay. One day before departure, one of my neighbors came to my house to ask for money to send his children to school. With the small amount I had saved for the trip, I chose to help his kids. The day I was supposed to depart, I had no visa and couldn't make the trip. I didn't know what to say to justify myself to my anxious friends about my absence. I finally did find the amount -- but I was two days late. I felt embarrassed (and sorry to my friends who worried), but in another way I was at peace with myself through my actions. I am optimistic and hope that, in the future, our blogger friends will participate in another digital conference -- under the topic "blogging for a big audience in Africa." And I hope my neighbor's kids attend the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences in South Africa as part of the Next Einstein campaign.
