Inspire

An Aussie Angel

Thursday, 13 Sep 2007

Work hard, save money, see the world, come back, work hard, save money…

It was a cycle that 42-year-old public servant Despina Voudouris had happily followed for many years until a life-changing trip to South Africa in September 2003.

Determined to experience a kaleidoscope of experiences on her travels, Despina spent three days as a volunteer at Cotlands, an orphanage for children affected or infected by HIV/AIDS. The experience gave Despina a personal insight into the devastation of HIV/AIDS, which by 2003 had orphaned 780,000 South African children (as estimated by UNAIDS).

As much as she was overwhelmed by the AIDS epidemic, she was equally inspired by the work of Cotlands. “It just blew me away what I saw (in the orphanage),” recalls Despina. “I was expecting what you see in Romania, with kids strapped to the bed, malnourished and banging their heads. Instead, I saw happy, healthy kids, like you’d see in a childcare place in Australia. You wouldn’t know these kids were HIV positive.”

The work of Cotlands

Despina visited Cotland’s orphanage and headquarters in Johannesburg, where 60 HIV/AIDS children aged from 0 to 9 are cared for. Founded in 1936 to care for unwed mothers and their offspring, Cotlands has evolved with the growing AIDS problem and now provides a whole continuum of services, from identifying vulnerable children in the community to providing end stage hospice care for children dying of AIDS. In addition, Cotlands supports eight communities with services such as home based and residential care, outreach programmes and counselling.
“The staff were the most inspirational people that you could imagine,” says Despina. “If these children were in India, they’d be the untouchables. At Cotlands they were filled with nothing but love.”

In just three days, the children and the work of Cotlands had a profound impact on Despina. “I think it changes you. I felt I had to do something, because if I didn’t I would have allowed the situation to perpetuate and I couldn’t live with myself,” she said.

Joining the cause

Despina returned to Australia and set up OzCots, an organisation charged with raising funds for Cotlands and raising awareness of the HIV/AIDs problem in South Africa.
When you say it quickly it sounds easy, but Despina had never set up or even been involved in a project like OzCots before. She simply started by telling her friends, which led to forming a committee and “before I knew it, I had these fundraising events.”

Within a few months, Despina found that her ‘day job’ was inhibiting her commitment to OzCots, so she gave up paid employment in mid 2004 and spent all of her time (and her life savings) organising fundraising activities. There were dinners, exhibitions with artwork by Nelson Mandela and movie nights. Within four months, OzCots had raised $70,000 and Despina was set to return to South Africa for an extended stay, through sponsorship from South African Airways.

Getting involved with Grannies

From November 2004, she spent two months in the Cotlands orphanage and also in the townships where she experienced first hand Cotlands’ outreach programmes which support families living with HIV/AIDS.

One of these programmes is called the Sewing GoGo’s, a group of ‘Grannies’ in Soweto that are trained by Cotlands to support themselves through making and selling pyjamas and t-shirts at a local market. AIDS has wiped out a generation of parents in South Africa, leaving many grandparents to care for the children left behind. The toll on the Grannies is enormous. At an age when they need care themselves, they are forced to provide food, shelter and education and even administer complicated medications to a brood of children, often as many as ten or twelve.

Another angel flies in

Despina again returned to Australia and returned to work to pay the bills. While still passionate about the cause, she admits she was “burnt out”, so the arrival of Bec Bromhead on the OzCots scene was timed perfectly.

At only 25 years of age, Bec is already a veteran community worker, having been involved with the St Vincent de Paul Society for ten years. She met Despina at an OzCots movie night and was so inspired by Despina’s story that she scheduled a weeklong visit to Cotlands at the end of a six-month overseas adventure with her partner. Bec was also struck by the work of Cotlands and particularly moved by the outreach programmes “where there’s so much need. When you experience that kind of need you can’t turn and walk away,” she said.

Touring volunteers

Together Despina and Bec concocted the idea of taking a group of Australian self-funded volunteers to Cotlands. A simple email to Bec’s family and friends quickly returned several interested applicants and in April this year, Bec and six women aged between 22 and 35 spent two memorable weeks in South Africa. On their return, the girls have dedicated some time to fundraising, which has already paid dividends. Danusia, one of the volunteers, and Bec successfully persuaded the St Vincent de Paul Society, to donate $50,000. Despina says this money will allow Cotlands to support 75 families over three years. More trips are planned with Bec leading her third group within 18 months in November 2007 and Despina taking a group in January 2008.

Just $1.80 a day

For Despina, any sum of money is welcomed with enthusiasm. Out of the blue, Despina recently received an email from a women’s networking group with the promise of a $70 donation. The group had read about OzCots and opened their purses at a recent get-together. Any amount helps, with just $1.80 a day needed to keep one child fed, housed, clothed, educated and medicated.

A new cycle

While Despina may have moments when she’s overwhelmed by the enormity of her undertaking, she never questions why. OzCots has become an inseparable part of her life and now the cycle goes: work hard, fundraise, volunteer at Cotlands, work hard, fundraise, volunteer at Cotlands…

Facts about HIV/AIDS in South Africa:

By the end of 2005, there were five and a half million people living with HIV in South Africa, and almost 1,000 AIDS deaths occurring every day.
Statistics show that almost one in five adults are infected.
With antiretroviral drug treatment, HIV-positive people can maintain their health and often lead relatively normal lives, however the distribution of antiretroviral drugs has been relatively slow, with only around 33% of people in need receiving treatment at the end of 2006.
In 1990 the first national antenatal survey to test for HIV found that 0.8% of pregnant women were HIV-positive. In 2005, The HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women was 30.2%.
Information derived from: http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm

Make a difference, get involved!

Pictured top left: Despina Voudouris; Top right: The OzCots crew and kids; Bottom left: The OzCots kids and crew with a giant cheque; Bottom right: The April OzCots crew.