As I ate lunch, there was a knock on my door and Mama ny Riche came in. Riche, Richeal, Richard, and Nivo—4 of her 6 (?) kids—were already here, playing. After the usual “kabary� (formal greetings and small talk), Mama ny Riche leaned in and said something to me in a rapid, hushed, woman-to-woman tone. She talks so fast I always have trouble understanding her Malagasy. I asked her to repeat and she leaned in close, darted a guilty glance in the direction of her kids looking on. I caught one word “fonsy� and immediately understood what she was asking. “Fonsy� is Betsimisaraka [East Coast ethnic group] for “akondro� in officiale [Plateau Malagasy] which is “banana� in English. Mama ny six kiddies was asking me for “kapoty� [condoms]. I was thrilled and gladly went back into the other room and discretely gave her a few PSI (USAID and other partner-funded/subsidized) condoms.

The day before when she visited, I had taken her aside, as I’d done with a few other mothers from my village since my return from Tana, where I picked up info booklets with sample “kapoty� from PSI. I asked her if she had ever seen or used a condom for planned pregnancy and HIV prevention. She had never seen one, but told me wearily that she had tried taking a subsidized birth control pill but it hurt her stomach so badly that she had to stop taking it. She was very interested in learning about another solution. My attempts at explaining how to use a “kapoty� in Malagasy were not adequate; a demonstration was clarly required. I looked around and realized I had one “fonsy massaka� ( banana) left over from breakfast, so that’s what we used. Demonstration and talk about STIs HIV, and planned family size delivered in my baby-Malagasy, I put the banana down on my kitchen table. Richeal, her two-year-old, promptly eyed it hungrily, pointed, and said “omeo fonsy massaka� [give me the banana]! Before I thought about what the banana had just been through, I instinctively peeled and handed it to him.

I didn’t know if his mother would actually use the kapotys I gave her. She was timid about tearing open the neat little packet, much less the rest of the process. Her approach today was a little success marker for me. Hopefully, in future, she’ll buy the subsidized “protectors� herself.