How to pronounce "ripe"

And we were amazed that the local people,

in such a fertile valley, would not have any agriculture.

But instead of asking them how come they were not

growing anything, we simply said, "Thank God we're here." (Laughter)

"Just in the nick of time to save the Zambian people from starvation."

And of course, everything in Africa grew beautifully.

We had these magnificent tomatoes. In Italy, a tomato

would grow to this size. In Zambia, to this size.

And we could not believe, and we were telling the Zambians,

"Look how easy agriculture is."

When the tomatoes were nice and ripe and red,

overnight, some 200 hippos came out from the river

and they ate everything. (Laughter)

And we said to the Zambians, "My God, the hippos!"

And the Zambians said, "Yes, that's why we have no agriculture here." (Laughter)

"Why didn't you tell us?""You never asked."

I thought it was only us Italians blundering around Africa,

but then I saw what the Americans were doing,

what the English were doing, what the French were doing,

and after seeing what they were doing,

I became quite proud of our project in Zambia.