Bananas

Wrapping a little banana in a condom could make even the most stoic health professional crack a smile. First off, it’s a bit tricky to hold the banana while pinching the condom tip and unrolling. Then there’s the fact that the bananas we get are miniature compared to the ones in Western grocery stores—they barely fill the palm of your hand. After a little wrangling and unavoidably coating my hands with lubricant, I successfully ended up with a slimy protected crescent with a dangling latex skirt. The group of adults and volunteers gathered at the Yossa village community center rightfully burst into laughter as we all followed along with Jaren, the Volunteer Coordinator, who tactfully taught proper condom use—then ate the contents of his well-protected package.

The demonstration was the first taste of the HIV/AIDS education program for us second session World Camp volunteers, who arrived and hit the ground running this weekend for volunteer orientation. The weekend was spent on policy discussion, curriculum practice runs, tours of the World Camp house and area markets, and a visit to Yossa.

A community center that provides a place for kids to play and stay out of trouble, Yossa is a place World Camp volunteers visit often. After spending Saturday running through our class plans, we set out on Sunday for the bumpy 30 minute drive. When we turned onto the dirt road in front of the center, we were instantly greeted by children who quietly gathered to stare at the Wazungu (white people).

Standing by the well-used playground in the courtyard of the center, we gathered up the children and headed to a field adjacent to the community center for song and dance. One of the shyest of the bunch, a small girl no more than 5 years old who continuously sucked on the sleeve of her red sweater, wouldn’t tell me her name but insisted on holding my hand down to the field. Before you could blink, Jaren, along with the other coordinators, Rachel and Karen, and our Chichewa field staff, Peter, quickly got the kids shouting, doing the funky chicken—generally going bananas. (My new friend didn’t shout, but she did giggle on multiple occasions.)

When we finished song and dance we sorted the kids who were old enough for our program and headed back up towards the classrooms. I said goodbye to my new friend and joined some of adults and other volunteers for an HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention discussion led by Rachel and Jaren. We went through a game that demonstrated how quickly HIV can be spread through a community using hand-shaking as an analogy. In a culture where sex isn’t discussed openly, there was definitely some giggling from the start. Then came the bananas. By the time everyone dangled their properly protected bananas at their desks and Jaren was half-way through eating his, the room was full of comfortable laughter.

Once we got back from Yossa, the rest of the evening was spent preparing for the next day; the first full course-load of second session camp. We decided as a group to designate who would sing the songs during our camp opening. Molly, Brittanny and I thought it only appropriate to sign up to sing the ‘banana’ song...

eat bananas, eat eat bananas. GO BANANAS GO GO BANANAS!

submitted by B. Mole