Talking with the US Ambassador about condoms

Published on 2011-05-23 by Annet Neijmeijer

Yvonne Bogaarts, member of the International Steering Committee writes about her visit to Cameroon.

May 12, Yaoundé
The whole UAFC International Steering group was – neatly dressed – in the lobby of Djeuga Palace at 08.30. First on the program was the visit to the Prime-Minister, followed by the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and then the US Embassy. It was striking to see the difference: so easy to enter the offices of both Prime-Minister and Minister, not even these ordinary gates which you had to pass, while the American Embassy was really like a bunker. We weren’t even allowed to take our present from the Netherlands nor female condoms with us! The Ambassador himself though was really nice. For me it was the first time that I could speak so openly with a US Ambassador about sexuality issues and the need to provide women and girls with an option to protect themselves and be in control. Sometimes it is amazing that people still don’t understand: women bear the brunt of the HIV pandemic, there is so much unwanted pregnancy leading to maternal mortality, but what do we offer them? We come with male condoms, but women can’t use those. We bring male circumcision, but what does that bring for individual women on the ground? We wait for vaccines and microbicides, but they are still not on the market. We have female condoms so why for gods’ sake don’t we use those?! I hope he understood my plea.
In the afternoon, we went to the Minister of Health. The fact that they all wanted to receive us, really shows the commitment of the Cameroonian government. And they were all so willing to support us. At the same time though, they did not react towards the suggestion to include a separate budgetline for RH commodities. It would be so good if the Cameroonian government would do this, to show to the donors that they do take ownership of this issue, that they don’t shy away from their responsibility. But we’ve started the lobby, and the US Ambassador was willing to support it and also willing to involve the other donors in doing so. And after all those years in advocacy, I know change doesn’t come overnight, and the ACMS team will definitely follow up on this.
When all these meetings were held, we still had work to do: finish the agenda of the International steering Group itself.  The most important issue on the agenda being to discuss the future of UAFC. On the one hand it is fantastic to see what has happened in such a short time span, on the other so much remains to be done. It is fantastic to see the commitment of all steering group members : no one wants to let go, especially not at a moment when we slowly start to harvest our first seeds.

 

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