Harry Hill In February 2002, British celebrity and comedian Harry Hill visited VREL. He was invited by AgroFair UK, who sells and market VREL’s bananas to supermarkets in the UK and The Fairtrade Foundation. Harry was briefed on the visit and was more than curious to find out what Fairtrade really was all about. He spent time at VREL, watching the harvesting, talking to the farmers and finding out how the Fairtrade premium is spent and how it directly benefits the farmers at the plantation. Harry, once a doctor, visited one of the site nurses and was fascinated with the composting process and enthusiastically spent time finding out what mixes of ingredients were used.
Harry met the local villagers at the South Senchi village where he was treated to a display of dancing by the children and was amazed by the high spirits of the Ghanaian people, who own little in terms of material possessions. Harry has seen at VREL what Fairtrade has offered the farmers in terms of medical care, sanitation and clean water supplies.
When asked why Harry had found the Fairtrade initiative appealing as he must be asked to support hundreds of good causes, Harry replied, "I have been waiting for a good cause. Fairtrade is such a simple idea and that’s why it appealed to me. It’s a system which guarantees a fair deal to farmers for crops grown in the developing world. Going shopping is something we all have to do and just by paying a few pence more for things which carry the Fairtrade Mark, we can help families on the other side of the world.