At the Condom Café in Abidjan, customers don’t get after-dinner mints with their bill. Instead they leave with an Aids goodie bag, complete with red ribbon, a leaflet about the disease and a free condom.
The café, known by the locals as Kpote Kiosque, has been serving up snacks and safe sex for the past three years in Adjame, a run-down suburb of Côte d’Ivoire’s main city.
From the outside it looks like any of the open-air ”maquis” restaurants found on many a street corner in the city. Once inside, however, the décor starts to offer more clues.
Dotted between the regular adverts for Coca-Cola and Flag beer hanging from the ceiling, empty condom packets sway in the breeze. Stacked up in one corner of the counter are wooden penises. And painted across the bar is the slogan: ”Don’t have a condom? Keep your pants on.”
Kpote Kiosque is not just about free condoms. It aims to raise public awareness about HIV/Aids via its trained team of young waiters and waitresses, some of whom are HIV-positive themselves. It also provides an informal setting for young people to seek advice about testing and treatment.
”You don’t feel like its being forced in your face. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere,” said one customer. And even for those who know all there is to know about HIV/Aids, there is still a reason to come — to help raise funds for grassroots Aids projects.
”Everyone’s a winner. We eat the great food and they get much-needed cash,” said 27-year-old Koua. ”It’s not a case of making a one-off donation and that’s that. Each time you are hungry, you have the chance to help.”
The small café pulls in an average of 70 customers every lunchtime.
A group of builders has polished off the last of their food, oblivious to the theme of their chosen café. When the free condoms arrive with the bill, eyebrows are raised.
”People are always saying ‘Use condoms and you won’t get Aids’ but people are using them and the Aids problem is getting worse. I think it’s maybe got something to do with the condoms,” one of the men remarks to the waiter.
The waiter, cracking jokes as he goes, explains condoms do protect you against HIV, but problems can still arise if people fail to use them properly.
According to the café’s manager, Olivier Kouassi, it’s a scenario that is played out regularly.
”People are often surprised when we put the condom on the table. Some even get embarrassed and try to knock it on to the floor. But in the end, it usually arouses their curiosity and sparks a conversation.”
The café not only makes enough money to pay the rent, the bills and its staff’s wages to keep the interactive awareness campaign running. There is also a small profit at the end of each month.