On June 22, 2012, a group of three Members of Parliament (MPs) chatted quietly among themselves as they waited to get circumcised outside a make shift clinic set up at the Parliament building. They were the first of the 35 Zimbabwean legislators who were circumcised as part of the “Parliamentarians making the Smart Choice” campaign implemented by PSI in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare (MOHCW) and The National AIDS Council (NAC) for the Zimbabwe Parliamentarians against HIV (ZIPAH), a voluntary organisation made up of Parliamentarians. A total of 120 MPs were also counselled and tested for HIV during the campaign.

The ZIPAH chairman, Blessing Chebundo was the first to be circumcised having worked closely with PSI to motivate other MPs to get circumcised.  Blessing grew up in the small village of Shurugwi, 330 kilometres from the capital city of Harare.  Growing up, Blessing always had the ability to lead others.  In high school, he was appointed the head boy, and later became leader of a labour union.   He admits that the leadership skills gained during his early years at school, in church and later as a politician helped him to inspire his fellow legislators to lead by example by getting circumcised.

“I remember first hearing about male circumcision during a workshop conducted by PSI for community leaders in 2009. PSI explained the effectiveness of male circumcision in preventing HIV and urged leaders to talk about the new prevention strategy in their communities.  Later, messages on male circumcision began appearing everywhere on various media channels so that it was quite difficult to ignore them.”