Ras Hailu currently resides in Addis Ababa, where he teaches Banana Art at the Eagle International English School. As we parted, he gave me a few copies of his book, The Banana Art and How It Started, to bring back to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Ras Hailu speaks about his conversion to the Rastafari faith in 1978 as a turning point in the development of Banana Art. He found making art from goat skins to be incompatible with his new vegetarian lifestyle and so began to concentrate solely on banana art. Apart from those actually engaged in the production of art, Ras Hailu pays tribute to those who encouraged him to persevere or sponsored his work.