Women Aids Support Network works to mobilise, lobby and advocate for women and girls to enjoy their full sexual, reproductive health and rights in an environment of HIV, AIDS and violence.

"WASN is an organisation committed to creating an atmosphere where women and girls enjoy their full sexual, reproductive health and rights. It goes without mentioning that WASN is an advocacy organisation and that its core business is information dissemination and mobilisation.

WASN since its inception has been mobilising women and girls on their issues with the coming of HIV and AIDS. It mobilised communities on the availability of the female condom and successfully petitioned parliament.

In 2002 WASN went to understudy Treatment Action Campaign on its activities on access to treatment. Amongst the key activities WASN identified as a mobilisation strategy was Treatment Literacy. WASN would provide information on what treatment options are available and engage communities and service providers in this debate.

WASN realised the need to educate people on their rights such as the right to information to enable them to get around draconian legislation such as AIPPA and POSA which banned meetings. Armed with these rights,WASN would seek permission from the police to run the public meetings and provide information. Almost all public meetings were given permission save for one march that had been the result of a public meeting with people on treatment who now were experiencing shortages. While these shortages were experienced in the whole country, people in Plumtree were the first to open up at the public meeting there. That prompted WASN to investigate that shortage and support groups in Bulawayo confirmed it. WASN made a decision to move a public meeting that was due to take place in Churumanzu to Harare to inform the public and garner support from other organisations.

The public meeting was held on Wednesday 23 November 2005 at the Anglican Church. The meeting strategised on the way forward after the testimonials by people on treatment. The Government was supposed to work swiftly to normalise the issue of availability of ARVs to people who had started treatment. It also came to WASN’s knowledge that Parliament was going to be opening on December 1 which is globally known to be World AIDS Day. Again the Minister of Finance was going to announce his national budget on that day. This meant that all members of Parliament were going to be in Parliament on that day.

This made us question the Political commitment to HIV and AIDS.

We wondered whether people living with HIV and AIDS were not part of the constituency these legislators came from? We then decided to write letters of concern to the President of Zimbabwe, His Excellency Cde R. G. Mugabe, to the Speaker of Parliament Honorable John Nkomo, to the Minster of Finance, Honorable Herbert Murerwa and to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. One thing that changed because of the letters was that the Minister of Health was to be flown to Churumanzu in the morning to launch the World AIDS Day and came back to Parliament in the afternoon.

Because Parliament was still going to be opened on 1 December, we organised a march to protest. WASN mobilised people living with HIV and AIDS, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, National Constitutional Assembly, Women’s Organisations and other interested people and children affected by AIDS and marched.

On 1 December people marched unescorted by the police until they got to the park near Parliament. When the people settled down to be addressed that is when a plain clothes police approached the Advocacy Manager to show him the clearance letter. The letter was given to him and then he ordered her and the Women’s Program Manager into his car. Three men from other organisations walked up to the police to join WASN staff. These people were remanded in police custody for twenty-nine (29) hours and were only released after Lawyers for Human Rights intervened.

The police kept harassing us and we decided to make t/shirts to educate them. The message on the t/shirts read: “I am HIV positive and on treatment” on the front and at the back it was written “a thousand others are not, you too can get on board”."