Fr Wim Lindeque, HOPE Goodwill Ambassador Katlego Maboe , Fr Stefan Hippler with Children of the Manenberg Afterschool Development Centre, a partner organization of HOPE Cape Town in Manenberg.

Preparing for my next trip starting in 2 days to Europe I also have to see to the talks I will give, the PowerPoint I will design to bolster the words spoken and to give color and pictures supporting the imagination of those listening and interested to know more about the work of HOPE Cape Town. The longer I am in this sort of business to connect different worlds I realize how difficult it has become to bring one world to another and to make sure, words are understood in the sense they are intended.

Yes, we speak the same language, we use the same words, but the framework of thinking, the weight of education and upbringing, the scenarios of real life experience seems sometimes so far away from the life presented in a talk or workshop.
How to bring the despair of a family living under the poverty line to somebody who has never experienced hunger?
How to bring the cold and the wet of a Cape Town winter day in Blikkiesdorp into the warm German homes?
How to explain the plight of not knowing what the day will bring in the Cape Flats and who will lie shot death in the crossfire of the gangs later that day in the dark morgue of Cape Town?
How to balance the hopelessness of so many South Africans against the possibilities and the beauty of a country rich on resources but suffering under a corruption so obvious that it hurts – with no European logic left to explain that people don’t rise up and stop allowing the abuse of those capturing the state entities.

Blikkiesdorp – semi-permanent housing close to the airport

Besides the difficulties to bring the world of Africa to Europe – or even the USA – there is also the way to fund-raise a complete different one. Perception how to assist and help is different in Europe compared with Africa – and once again completely different in the USA. So whatever you do, one has to reflect and think clearly who are the people one wants to address and how to creep in their minds and hearts and connect the dots so far away from each other.

Being a small organization in Africa, but connected with two other continents is a constant challenge – times of pure charity for those in far away Africa as I have known in in my childhood are gone – and I guess this is good like it is.
Solidarity, love of the neighbor and the stranger as requested by most religions need in our days strangely lots of translation work – the global village has quite some gaps to fill to make the connection a solid and understandable one.

But be it as it is – the challenge is on for me for the next 4 weeks to bring Blikkiesdorp, Tygerberg Children’s Hospital and it’s people, family and kids and also those of our partners in Manenberg and Delft to all those who are willing to listen, to learn and to connect – in different ways, with different possibilities – but at the end as a blessing for all being touched by the work of HOPE Cape Town.

Munich – Presentation to the Wirtschaftsbeirat of Bavaria

Filed under: Africa, HOPE Cape Town Association, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town Trust, HOPE Cape Town USA, Networking, Reflection, Society and living environment, South Africa, Africa, Aids, Blikkiesdorp, Cape Flats, cape town, continent, hiv, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Manenberg, poverty, south africa, tygerberg children's hospital