heading across the border into neighboring Tanzania to buy goods to sell in their shops.

But this trip is different. They are about to learn how to protect themselves, and their

families, from HIV.

Sellah Chikoya Chiume is an entrepreneur and a member of Malawi’s National Association

of Business Women called “Nab-We”. She’s also a peer educator, trained to share vital

knowledge that many of these women are hearing for the first time; that they have the power

to protect themselves.

Having arrived in Tanzania, the women waste no time buying their goods in order to return

to the border post. There’s usually a long wait to return to the Malawi side.

Sellah Chiume keeps herself busy spreading the word about HIV prevention. She and other

“Nab-We” members were trained to be peer educators at workshops facilitated by the

International Labour Organization.

Peer education becomes an important tool at the workplace because people talk on equal

terms and they are able to express themselves better.

The approach is one of the key components of Malawi’s draft national workplace HIV/AIDS

policy, which is being developed in collaboration with Malawi’s government, workers, and employers

organizations.

ILO has helped build the capacity of the Ministry of Labour in terms of how they can look at

HIV & AIDS as a workplace issue, but also how they can look at HIV&AIDS as a labour

issue.

It’s night-time before the border officer inspects businesswoman Cecilia Mambo’s purchases.

It can take hours to get across the border, sometimes overnight. That’s when some of

the business women can put themselves at risk, or be put at risk for HIV.

When going to buy our goods we don’t face any problems but often when coming back we

are treated unkindly at the customs post. They even delay us unnecessarily. The other

problem is that the places we spend our night are not safe.

Thanks to the peer education, business women like Cecilia Mambo and Sellah Chiume are better

equipped to face these situations.

When it comes to protecting themselves against HIV, the message is clear: women can make

the decision, not just the men.