Condoms and Communication

Gretchen and Jason know what they're talking about when they note the importance of communication. Similar to Jason's fiasco with the sausage-looking-thing which was intended to be a kabob, I've also suffered from a few minor communication mishaps since being in Mozambique. In an effort to avoid fessing up to my own personal blunders, however, I'll instead do what any good employee does and tell about those of my boss. (Since this certain boss will most likely be reading this, I must also request that he not fire me for exposing this to the world.)

Four years ago when Nick, our director in Maxixe, was first learning Portuguese, he was dining at a local breakfast spot merrily eating his meal until he realized his toast was missing jam. He called the waitress over, said obrigado for the tastiness of the breakfast thus far, and asked if she had any preservativos, or preserves, on hand. With a mix of contained laughter and shock, the waitress asked Nick to repeat his request. “Preservativos,” he said again, “to put on my bread. Do you have any preservativos for me to use?” Overhearing this, other customers looked at Nick with the good-humored compassion I've come to know so well in these parts whenever an American puts his/her foot in his/her mouth. The waitress gave Nick a smile and let him know that what he was actually asking for was condoms to put on his bread. Preservativos is Portuguese for condoms.

As you can imagine, the word perservativos stands out after hearing this story. I read it in IRD's HIV/AIDS prevention documents, I hear it when staff are training community-based organizations in proper methodology, and I remind myself to avoid it each time I'm asking for jelly. In short, the word has really made its way into my limited vocabulary here in Mozambique. So, I must say that I'm incredibly interested when one of the few words I recognize becomes the subject of passionate conversation among every single community-based organization that I meet with here. According to all these folks, preservativos femininos, or female condoms, are part of the answer for HIV/AIDS prevention in their country. Female condoms are the elusive missing link.

The reasons for this, our focus groups say, are numerous: Many men and women in Mozambique report that they don't use male condoms because they feel that they are physically uncomfortable during sex. For these same groups, however, female condoms are said to go unnoticed with both males and females unable to distinguish a difference between the feeling of sex with a female condom and the feeling of sex without. Because of this, men and women are more likely to use female condoms when provided. Additionally, in some areas of Mozambique, male condoms are directly associated with evil spirits and are believed to be the cause of disease rather than the prevention of it. Female condoms, however, do not have this same stigma. Finally, both genders report that females are more likely to use condoms during sex than males. If a female can individually control the use of a condom during sex, more condoms will be used. In short, men and women alike agree that female condoms have the ability to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in Mozambique--and perhaps create results far more beneficial than any other method on the market.

The complication with this, however, is that access to female condoms is not widespread in this country--practically nonexistent in fact. And when female condoms are found, the cost is over 2,000% more than the price of male condoms.

Such information is startling, no? All of the folks we've talked to here are in agreement that female condoms are needed more than any other HIV/AIDS prevention tool in Mozambique, yet somehow, this need is yet to translate to the services being offered in these parts. For some reason, female condoms are nowhere to be found.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is one communication issue that needs a solution.

[In my next blog, I'll address just what type of solution may be in the works in Mozambique... and tell you how this corresponds with Aquarius' and my upcoming work in the northern part of the country.]

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