Welcome to Ozcots.org.au

About Us

OzCots was founded by Canberra based Despina Voudouris whilst on holiday in South Africa in September 2003.

Part of her trip was to volunteer for 3 days at an HIV/AIDs orphanage in Johannesburg. Her interest took her to Cotlands, an orphanage looking after 60 HIV/AIDS children aged 0 to 9. Despina was incredibly moved by the orphanage and particularly the dedication of the staff to provide the best of opportunities for the children with little resources. Upon her return to Australia she felt that it was imperative that she supports the Cotlands mission.

After sharing her experience with many people in Canberra and in consultation with Cotlands, she felt the best way to support Cotlands was to mobilise donations for the basic needs on their wish list. Hence, OzCots was launched.

Currently OzCots aims to support Cotlands by raising awareness of HIV/AIDS issues through fundraising activities where 90% of all funds raised go to Cotlands. There is the opportunity to go to South Africa and spend time at Cotlands and highlight your leadership capacity. The attached link provides further information to how to make a difference to yourself, your community and for the children of Cotlands, See the experiences of the first OzCotsApril 2007 Volunteer Group that spent 2 weeks at Cotlands.

Cotlands provides assistance where HIV/AIDS has reached crisis levels. South Africa has the highest number of HIV positive people in the world. As at the end of 2001, the estimated number of children aged 0-15 living with HIV/AIDS was 500,000 (UNAIDS, 2002:1). This is almost double the population of Canberra! This number will rise to 1.6 million by the year 2008 (CDC, 2004). The needs are REAL and identified at the grassroots. Cotlands has been on the forefront of supporting disadvantaged children in South Africa since 1936 and is fighting the AIDS epidemic among the poorest and most disadvantaged communities in South Africa.

The management and accountability structure of OzCots relies on unpaid volunteers to conduct its day-to-day affairs. Individuals and local businesses have donated their time and resources. A broad-based committee will be established to oversee the OzCots. Committee members consist of prominent ACT based people who have extensive interest and experience in this type of work to ensure that this OzCots is successful.