Let's talk about AIDS

I've starting doing some presentations at the health center on good nutrition, yet actually getting that rolling was a chore. Between the limits of resources and language, its like dragging your feet through mud. All I wanted to do was draw a picture of the different food groups, but in order to get my hands on some paper or markers, it involved a 2 hour trip to Kati. I returned from Kati with a new set of completely non-functional markers and had to resort to other ideas.
Pulling out some old magazines and newspapers, I gathered some children to help me look for pictures of food. Actually, we found quite a bit. Excited about my presentation, I began to cut the pictures out of the magazine. At the first claps of my scissors, the children gasped in horror. This magazine, with colored glossy pages and beautiful pictures, was more amazing than any book they had ever held before. And here I was, through their winces, cutting it up. "It's ok! It's ok! It comes every month, its not really a book." But still, they stopped telling me when they found pictures of food, they'd rather me leave it be.
When all was said and done, I was actually quite pleased with my poster on nutrition, and as I did my talks in the health center, was grateful when my homologue jumped in to decipher my speaking. I start of with my bumpy Bamabara and she jumps in with her enthusiastic bellowing, raspy voice, getting into the faces of the women to make them understand. They seem like they understand. They seem like they are listening. They seem like they have learned a little something about how to make themselves or their babies healthier. So we ask them- Ok, what are the three food groups?
They look toward each other.
No one seems to know.
Oh wait- this woman here knows. "Potatoes, rice, beans."
And my bubble is bursted. Nooooo. They are probably just amused that this Tubab girl is trying to speak their language, only to return to their homes that night to pound the millet and make plain To- again.
After the third day of nutrition talks, I showed up at my homolouge's home in the morning.
"So Aminata, are we going to do an animation today?"
"Yeah sure, what about?"
"Let's talk about AIDS."
Whoaaa there. What the heck? That totally came out of the blue. It was only the other day that I asked Irene about AIDS. She doesn't believe it is much of an issue in the village, and the health center doesn't even test for it. She gave me the go ahead to ask the sexual health questions when I do my household baseline survey around the village, but warned me that some people are embarrassed to talk about it. And now- she wants me to do a presentation. With no preparation, it wouldn't just be language I would screw up, I could totally misconstrue their cultural understanding, totally offend people, or offer information that isn't inline with Irene's. Not only did I ask Irene to hold off on this, I had to take a step back and ask myself- what is really the best use of my time here? Should I be breaking my back to try and do these animations, or do I need to just slow down, work on my language, get a little more comfortable and familiar with the place so that the work goes easier?
After talking to my Peace Corps supervisor today in Bamako, and seeing her gasp after telling her I was already doing animations, I'm starting to know the answer. But with all of the problems I'm discovering in Dombilia, I feel like I need to be doing something, even if it's just a little, to prove to myself and to my coworkers that I can. That's when I began my search for Sadi.