God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

10/30/2009 • 3:27 pm Comments Off on 30.10.2009 Last dramas before a gala

30.10.2009 Last dramas before a gala

For the HOPE Dresden Gala, the organisers have donated an award, the so-called HOPE Award. The first award winner is Waris Dirie, former model and UN ambassador fighting against female circumcision. Her book and movie “Desert rose” has touched the lives of many people. She is a symbol for the beauty and the suffering of Africa in many ways reading her lifestory. XXX XXX XXX So I will do the “laudatio”.. and Waris Dirie is fine with it.Al Martino was due to sing – he died a fortnight ago – that is life pure and one cannot do anything to prevent it. But also here we are grateful that somebody else just agreed to come, no fees asked and herself being a world star. Great!!
So many big and small things are to be considered and prepared before such a big event – and I am grateful and humbled to see how people sacrifice their free time and energy to achieve a great event for the sake of their brothers and sisters in Africa. On http://www.hopegala.de, one can see the programme and also pics from the last three years. Have a look. And I salute all organisers, sponsors and the Dresdener for hosting such a great event. Viva Dresden!!

Filed under: General, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Networking, Reflection, Uncategorized, , , ,

10/29/2009 • 6:53 pm Comments Off on 29.10.2009 A day to remember…

29.10.2009 A day to remember…

The 29.10.2009 is a special day for me – it is the day, where HOPE Cape Town was launched officially in 2001.  It was a day I remember clearly: the drive to Tygerberg with a guest in my car who just had been given a positive test result. Clem Sunter giving a talk for the 150 man/women strong audience, a priest, a rabbi and an imam giving the blessings, the invited sangomas who were not that welcomed in the “academic environment” at that time, the buffet done by the Rotary ladies afterwards.

A day not to be forgotten – it changed my life forever and 8 years later, I can say that nothing is as it has been before that time. HIV and AIDS, these topics seems today to be my destiny – my life portfolio and I get more and more the sense, that I am – after 8 years – not be at the end of my way but only at the beginning. And this is sometimes scary to sense, to feel and to know. It is a topic, a red line in my life now, that I have never called for, but that without asking entered my life and took over in so many ways. AIDS activist, condom priest, rebel in the church – how many titles did I earn in the last years – and how many in my own church feel uncomfortable to get associated with me? On the other hand: How much love, how much support did I get from all ways of life in the last years. How many emails, letters did I receive as an answer on my book, the talks and workshops, the sermons and whatever way I was asked to give input in this field of the pandemic.

curse and blessing – and all the grey areas in between – but one is for sure: This topic has opened to me a world I don’t want to miss anymore – this topic has given me the chance to meet people in a way, which one can call indeed real encounters of hearts and minds and souls. I don’t want to miss one of them.

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Reflection, , , , , , , , ,

10/19/2009 • 5:13 am Comments Off on 19.10.2009 EIN or US 501c3 nonprofit

19.10.2009 EIN or US 501c3 nonprofit

In between – like an advert 🙂

HOPE Cape Town is searching for a serious partner which can promote the goals of HOPE Cape Town in the USA and/or Canada and has a EIN number which identifies the organisation an an nonprofit according to US tax law. HOPE Cape Town has a vast on knowledge on HIV and AIDS and is a regocnised NGO and NPO and PBO in South Africa. Such a partnership could benefit both parties to make the world a better place… – exchange of ideas, strategies, networking and extended fundraising  www.hopecapetown.com or stefan@hopecapetown.com

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, Networking, , , ,

10/09/2009 • 10:41 pm Comments Off on 09.09.2009 a new arrest in Germany

09.09.2009 a new arrest in Germany

A 49-year-old man is arrested in Germany for having sex without a condom with two women. It is alleged that the man did not disclose his status before having intercourse. I must say that the German tabloids are at their best when it comes to such stories. First the German singer, arrested with lots of publicity – and now the next case.

I must say that I don’t agree with the basics of such cases. If consent adults have a sexual relationship or a sexual affair both parties are responsible to negotiate safe or unsafe sex. It cannot be that only one of the two takes the full blame and consequently legal punishment while the others are portrait as pure victim. My sense of justice and fairness does not agree.

I do agree that there must be consequences when somebody lies in knowledge of his or her HIV infection when asked before having sex or he or she is not insisting on condom to prevent infection.

For the prevention work of HIV and the quest to de-stigmatise the infection, those cases are a nightmare – and they are handled in a fashion which basically adds to stigmatization and will produce at the end less testing and more infections. The criminal code is not a good tool to prevent infections or combat HIV and AIDS.

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, Politics and Society, , , , , , , , , ,

10/04/2009 • 10:47 pm Comments Off on 04.10.2009 Big plans and little plans..

04.10.2009 Big plans and little plans..

It was a good day, a marvellous service, brief speeches and I am at the end of the day very happy and grateful for this final accord in a life’s chapter.  Two friends who happened to be actors wrote me a message, saying that they are in thoughts and prayers with me, and then they added:  “Wenn Gott Grosses mit uns vorhat, dann muessen wir das Kleinere eben lassen” – translated it would mean: if God has big plans with us, we have to leave our little ones..  I am not sure why, but this sentence, which they took from Hildegard of Bingen, a saint of the Middle Age, accompanied me through the whole day and comforted me a great deal. As did the “Halleluja” from Haendel during the service, sung by a choir and accompanied by an orchestra. Music is an amazing tool, it can lift up the hearts in a way which leaves me very often speechless.

This evening I can say that I know amazing people,  I have amazing friends and I am blessed with so many good people around me. I am blessed in so many ways that I hope I can give back of all these blessings in the years to come. To feel blessed, to count his/her blessings and to be a blessing for others – what more can describe the way a Christian life should go? But not only a Christian life, I think everybody has the right and the duty to cherish his/her blessings and to be one for others. Enough now of blessings.. 🙂

After this day, I am prepared now for the new page in my life…

Filed under: General, Reflection, Uncategorized, , , , ,

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