Lotti Latrous - Centre L'Espoir, Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
18.03.2017
In 1999, the Swiss Lotti Latrous set up an outpatient clinic, an AIDS hospital and an orphanage in the West African Ivory Coast - the Centre L'Espoir. She makes regular visits to the people in the neighbourhood. The children in "Dörfli", as she calls it, are delighted to welcome Madame Lotti. Almost half of the population in the Ivory Coast is considered poor and earns less than 270 Swiss francs a year.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
21.03.2017
Mothers bring their newborns to the outpatient clinic. HIV-positive mothers can obtain milk powder at the Centre L'Espoir so that their children are not infected by the HIV virus while breastfeeding.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
18.03.2017
"Can I do something good for you?" Madame Lotti asks the patient. He looks up at her and replies that he hasn't seen his two brothers and sister for a long time, that their money is too short for trips to Grand-Bassam. "I miss my family." When Lotti Latrous promises to pay for the costs, he hugs her and starts crying.
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Ivory Coast, Abijan
20.03.2017
Single mother in front of her house in the Divo district, a slum of the capital Abijan. Thousands of people live under precarious hygienic conditions in extreme poverty.
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Ivory Coast, Abijan
20.03.2017
Single mother with four children in her house in the slum Vridi Canal. They get support from Centre L'Espoir to pay the rent. Soon they have to leave the barracks because the land is to be used for the expansion of Abidjan airport. They are afraid and do not know where to go.
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Ivory Coast, Abijan
20.03.2017
A cow is looking for food on a dump in the Divo quarter near Abijan. The hygienic conditions are precarious. During the rainy season the slum is regularly flooded.
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Ivory Coast, Abijan
20.03.2017
Lotti Latrous at her old place of work, the Centre L'Espoir in the slum Adjouffou. All usable things like windows, doors and electric cables were torn out by the slum inhabitants. The big tree was cut down to sell the wood. Within the walls live only the memories of children's laughter and cries of pain, of tears of happiness and tears of despair. "It is incredible what has happened here," says Lotti Latrous.
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Ivory Coast, Abijan
20.03.2017
Lotti Latrous visits a former patient at her place of residence in the Divo quarter. She has been lying drunk in her hut for days. Lotti Latrous tries to talk to her and offers to take her to the Center L'Espoir.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
19.03.2017
The Swiss Lotti Latrous founded the aid organisation Centre L'Espoir in 1999 in the slum of Abijan, in Bidonville Adjouffou. Due to the imminent clearance of Adjouffou in the course of the redesign of the airport, it has rebuilt the centre 20 km away in Grand Bassam. It is in operation since January 2017. It consists of an outpatient clinic, a hospice and an orphanage for 25 AIDS orphans who are themselves infected with the HIV virus. The Centre L'Espoir also provides emergency aid for poor families, pays for food, drinking water, school fees, rents and lends micro-credits to destitute women. The Lotti Latrous Foundation's projects are financed by donations.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
22.03.2017
Lotti Latrous working in the social office of the outpatient clinic. She has known some patients for many years. "You and all the other women deserved a better life".
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
21.03.2017
Registration and waiting room in the ambulatory of the Centre L'Espoir. Every day about 250 people seek help here. Some ask for money for their rent and something to eat, others have themselves X-rayed with one of the most modern equipment in the country. Some weigh their children, others get HIV medication. In total, Lotti Latrous' team looks after 5000 dossiers of AIDS patients and analyses 3000 blood samples per month. Every seat in the waiting room is occupied.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
18.03.2017
Lotti Latrous plays with the orphans who are not yet attending school in the garden under the large mango tree. Ivory Coast is the most AIDS-affected country in West Africa. According to UNAIDS surveys, more than 400,000 Ivorian children were orphaned because of the disease.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
21.03.2017
Dinner for the orphans. The Centre L'Espoir now has 80 employees. Doctors, nannies, nurses, biochemists, cooks.
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Elfenbeinküste, Grand Bassam
21.03.2017
Doctor's visit at the hospice. Those who are cared for here usually die within a few months. "Some people are grateful to be allowed to die. Others are afraid," says Lotti Latrous.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
21.03.2017
"My own mother died when I was three months old," says the patient Catherine. "Now Madame Lotti is there for us, massages us, gives us food, medicine, a shelter."
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
19.03.2017
The orphans play football in the garden of the Centre L'Espoir. It is hardly noticeable that almost everyone is infected with the HI virus and some are also suffering from cancer.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
21.03.2017
Abel, in school uniform. He is 21 years old and attends grammar school. The AIDS orphan would like to work in the aviation industry. He likes mathematics and literature and writes poems in his spare time. Only 62% of Ivorian children go to school. In the Ivory Coast there is a lack of both facilities and qualified staff.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
18.03.2017
Lotti Latrous reads to Sylvie from the Bible. The AIDS patient has been living in the Centre L'Espoir for eight years. The disease of multiple sclerosis has made her a quadriplegic. Paralyzed from the neck down, she shows her feelings with a blink and a laugh. When she is in pain or sad, she cries.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
20.03.2017
Relieve the pain: Lotti Latrous massages patient Catherine. Whether for the sick, orphans or employees, Lotti Latrous is like a mother to everyone.
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Ivory Coast, Grand Bassam
17.03.2017
Lotti Latrous prays in the church on the grounds of the Centre L'Espoir. Every day she asks God for protection for herself, her family and the centre, for the patients, the children, her employees. And sometimes she asks God why he does not put an end to all this suffering.
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Lotti Latrous - Centre L'Espoir, Ivory Coast
The Swiss Lotti Latrous, with her foundation, helps the people in the slums of Abijan and Grand Bassam. In the Centre L'Espoir, together with 80 employees, she offers medical help for AIDS patients, supports the poorest with money for food, accommodation and school and offers a home for orphans.
Report on behalf of the magazine "Schweizer Familie" about her work on site.
PDF Reportage Schweizer Familie
Stiftung Lotti Latrous
