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Basically our contribution is collecting toys, clothes and anything that
would be required in a normal home. Also when the babies and little toddlers
move to their adoptive home or are re-introduced back to their parents
they get given a Chas Bear to take with them. Some of the agents are also
doing volunteer work at the home.
Cotlands is a long-serving South African 'non-profit' agency that continues
to meet the ever-changing needs of children impacted by HIV/AIDS in our
country.
South Africa has been identified as the country with the greatest number
of HIV/AIDS-infected people in the world. Recent reports reveal that more
than five million South Africans are currently living with the impact
of HIV/AIDS, while some of Cotlands’ programme focus areas (e.g.
Cotlands' Hlabisa Home Base Care project) have estimated infection rates
of more than 40% of the total population.
While this information is not new, the impact of these figures is becoming
clearer to our communities, our government and the global community in
which we live.
'AIDS orphans' (children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS related death of their
parents), 'child-headed households' (homes managed by elder siblings often
as young as 11) and similar terms are now commonplace in South Africa,
yet support for these individuals is still lagging behind growing awareness
of the challenges we face.
Founded in 1936, Cotlands was originally created as a care centre for
unwed mothers and their infants, and over the years has evolved into a
shelter for abused, abandoned, HIV positive, orphaned and terminally ill
children from birth to fourteen years of age.
With headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, our activities have
reflected the changing needs of our society and we have increased both
the quality and quantity of services we provide. In the early 1990’s,
Cotlands identified an urgent need to care for children directly impacted
by HIV/AIDS. This focus included the establishment of a pediatric AIDS
hospice, the first of its kind in South Africa at that time (1996), offering
specialised paediatric palliative care 24 hours a day.
At present, Cotlands is servicing eight communities (Johannesburg South,
Soweto, Alexandra, and Thembisa in Gauteng, Hlabisa in KwaZulu/Natal,
East London in Eastern Cape, Helderberg in the Western Cape and Lydenburg
in Mpumalanga) ¾ impacting more than 2 000 families either directly
(through home based care and residential care) or indirectly (via outreach,
training, capacity building and counseling).
Care now extends through the whole continuum – from identifying
vulnerable children in the community to end stage hospice care for children
dying of AIDS. Expanded services include home based care, community development
and capacity-building services in the field of HIV/AIDS on a national
basis.
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