Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Aids, hiv, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust
10/14/2010 • 3:33 pm Comments Off on 14.10.2010 Days flying…
14.10.2010 Days flying…
This week, time is flying because days are somehow booked out and between morning and evening lies one meeting after the other. I sometimes wonder how much one can take on different faces, different approaches, different worries, different joys until one mixes all up and is oneself mixed up – somehow..
But there is also success: the new HOPE Cape Town feature is done and on the way to Dresden – at the HOPE Gala in Dresden the feature will meet for the first time an interested audience. HOPE Cape Town management meeting is gone and many issues solved, discussed, put onto the right track. The re-structuring of the organization to be more professional in its efforts to combine grass root and research is on the right path to realisation. My trip to Europe becomes more and more a detailed one with lots of interesting meetings and presentations, and in between two galas, one in Dresden (HOPE Gala Dresden) and one in Berlin (AIDS Gala Berlin). I will meet old friends and hopefully new future supporters of HOPE Cape Town. The expectations are always high and time will tell whether I am able to match my own ones.. 🙂
And a big birthday celebration is in waiting: Brother Joachim – Joachim Franz – is turning 50 years in November and I am looking forward to a great evening full of laughter and joy. And at the same time some serious discussion for the World AIDS Awareness Campaign 2011 – beginning in April next year. A real challenge, watch the space. This block will report on every detail of this indeed challenging campaign.
This week saw also discussions about the future of CAN, the Catholic AIDS Network of the Archdiocese of Cape Town as well as the future of POZ, the initiative of pastoral care for priests and religious living with the virus… Nothing is easy, nothing is set in stone, all developing and obviously at the end should stand nothing more than a meaningful service for fellow men.
Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Society and living environment, Aids, AIDS Gala Berlin, catholic aids network, europe, hiv, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Gala Dresden, POZ initiative for priests and religious living with the virus, travel
10/03/2010 • 4:41 pm Comments Off on 03.10.2010 Sunday afternoon
03.10.2010 Sunday afternoon
Sunday afternoon – and my last service as a supply priest for Belhar. I must admit that I have enjoyed going there the last Sundays and to experience one of the South African parishes – so different from the once in Germany. The question I have in mind is: how can the church remain relevant for the people in the next 20 years. Eying to Europe one can see how societies and with it churches develop and I am convinced that one can learn to prevent some of the “European developments’ for the local church.
Besides the church work, there will be also a decision on the future of the POZ initiative catering for priests and religious who are themselves HIV positive. After the Southern African Bishop’s Conference can in the moment not see any need to set up a special offer for those infected working in the church, there are consultations to see how one can overcome obstacles and offer a pastoral service, the members of the working group believe is necessary and essential. Turning stigma into a blessing is important and combined with a process of healing and self acceptance it would be an important service the church could offer their own employees. But of course it is a sensitive field and I feel that we have to do more convincing to get those responsible in the church hierarchy on board.
The coming week will see not only trips to Durban and Johannesburg, but also visitors connected to the Romantic Hotel Group in Europe, the farewell for Rainer, who will find his final resting place here in Cape Town, meetings for the HOPE Cape Town Trust and HOPE Cape Town Association and as usual lots for preparation work for all things lying ahead.
Filed under: General, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Reflection, Uncategorized, Belhar, durban, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, johannesburg
09/30/2010 • 1:00 pm Comments Off on 30.09.2010 Diversity
30.09.2010 Diversity
Diversity has always driven my life, and also this week it is not different:
The death of Fr Roland continues to give reason for many talks about life and death, but also normal life is going on: The new HOPE Cape Town feature is ready now for post production and tomorrow I will sit with the chairperson to see the footage and to decide on the “red line” for the feature.
Premier Seehofer from Bavaria together with Premier Zille and Mayor Plato plus a delegation met in Kalksteenfontain to hear from NGO’s connected with Bavaria what they are doing here in the Western Cape. It was an interesting gathering and it is always also good for the NGO’s to see that they have neighbours they could relate too. But I guess it is also important for the politicians to see what is happening on the ground.And it is good to see the partnership between the Western Cape and Bavaria so lively; it is good to meet the same people again and again to know that we are indeed on the same page in developing this partnership.
Senior staff meeting, a preparation meeting for a farewell next week, dinner with friends and a meeting with the Archbishop of Cape Town – never a dull moment and all is important – but I guess the most important part is really the meeting of hearts and minds, the exchange of ideas and the openness for a frank discussion, where everybody is listening to everybody. This human aspect of a business meeting becomes for me more and more important, because it is the base for good cooperation and a successful development in whatever stands on the agenda.
Next week will see me again in Johannesburg for 1,5 days and then directly afterward to Durban for the same amount of time. And then it is not far before I am leaving for Europe again with lots of meetings and talks – my last big travel for this year. Such travel needs lots of preparation, not only logistic but also the contents of what I want to bring over to my audiences and meeting partners must be well prepared. 3/4 of the year is gone – I am looking forward to the rest of the year and I know I will meet exciting people, new ideas and enough food for thoughts for the years to come.
Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Networking, Politics and Society, Reflection, Bavaria, durban, europe, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE feature, johannesburg, travel, western cape
09/15/2010 • 5:11 pm 1
15.09.2010 Talking about time
Talking about time as I did in the last blog – once again time is faster flying than I can keep up with it.
The weekend saw me serving the Catholic Community in Belhar with a very interesting family mass on the Sunday morning. Preparation for the HOPE Cape Town management meeting and a talk, given to readers of “Die Zeit” , a German weekly newspaper, who were on a trip through South Africa. It is always interesting for me to hear opinions and different perspectives to our situation here in South Africa and to learn a lot about how our country is perceived in the first world.
HOPE Cape Town Management meeting yesterday with lots to discuss at senior level. Such a project is developing also in a rapid way and we have to be creative to keep on going in a way serving the communities. From an afternoon with management then directly to Brooklyn Holy Cross Primary School where we celebrated the Feast of the Cross with the school community.
This morning POZ meeting: the working group trying to put up a pastoral care structure for HIV positive priests and religious is battling a bit with the concepts some people of the church hierarchy have. It is not easy to find a way to serve those infected and affected in a sensitive and meaningful way if there is so much fear and phobia within the church tackling the pandemic within our own ranks. Fr Wim and myself had meetings in Rome about the subject in May this year and we intended to be back with first positive steps in November this year, but unfortunately it will take more time. So I canceled yesterday the Rome leg of the trip end of next month in the hope, that next year sees more results.
Making progress in sensitive matters within our church can be quite an issue; and it is not that people would not see the urgency of matters, but the apprehensibility in some quarters of our church makes it at times very difficult. On the other hand: we know that we are as the church moving: slavery, human rights, democracy – the latter have been directly from hell some time ago but today we are the champions when it comes to advocate them for others.
I ask myself whether we are so much different from other organizations – and I guess: no.
Well: Never give up was one of the favorite songs of our first HOPE Community Health Workers and I think, that is a good motto for the days and weeks to come.
Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Networking, Society and living environment, Belhar, Church Matters, democracy, human rights, positive priests, POZ, Rome, slavery, time
God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE 