God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

08/20/2010 • 7:17 am Comments Off on 20.08.2010 Duesseldorf…

20.08.2010 Duesseldorf…

A sunny morning promising a real summer day: I am on the way to Duesseldorf to visit the famous “Koenigsallee”. The GM of the Intercontinental, Mr. Joerg Boeckeler, organised a fundraising campaign for HOPE Cape Town and today, I am invited to join for a press conference midday, followed by the handing over of a cheque and then a luncheon with the co-organisators.

Yesterday evening I was given the “Paulinus” which is the official newspaper of the Diocese of Trier. They report in a major article again about HOPE Cape Town in connection with the “Ithemba” movie of Lutz van Dyk, who is also living and working close to Cape Town. At the same time I get a report back of a fair, the Catholic and other churches have held in Neuwied in lieu of HOPE Cape Town last Sunday.

People are dedicated and working hard to support HOPE Cape Town – and I feel again how blessed HOPE Cape Town is to have so many supporters. But it also means that we have to work very hard as HOPE Cape Town to transfer all this support into real life changers  for those, we are serving in the various communities of the Western Cape.

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

08/12/2010 • 10:00 pm Comments Off on 12.08.2010 Reflection

12.08.2010 Reflection

Today reflection of a different sort: I am presenting to my Rotary Club of Signal Hill a Powerpoint presentation highlighting the history and success of HOPE Cape Town. In 2001, Signal Hill was part of the launch and I remember well the ladies of the Rotary Club preparing the sandwiches and cool drinks after the official act.
For those present in those days in 2001 it was good to hear how the project developed and what has been achieved in the last years. Even if Rotary is sometimes very complicated in their way of donating and supporting in form of a matching grant there is no doubt that a lot of good comes out of the spirit of Rotary and all the activities of thousands of clubs around the world. I am glad to be part of such a great movement.

Also good news from Trier today. The book of Dr. Nebe of the University of Trier about Africa is in the final stages. I was glad to be able to contribute one chapter on HIV and AIDS in Africa. I personally like such contributions as they challenge me also to work in an academic way again.

Otherwise the day was a day of preparation for my next trip to Germany. The Lutheran Community in  Hamburg Blankenese and St. Gerold in the “Walzertal” in Austria will be two locations, where I will be able to talk about the work, HOPE Cape Town is doing. I am looking forward to meet people interested in our work and to exchange ideas and gain new ones as I always do when I engage with people through question and answers after such talks.

I am specially thrilled to participate – even only shortly- at the “Bundespositivenkonferenz 2010” in Bielefeld, the federal conference of people living with HIV in Germany and to contribute to a podiums discussions on the way, HIV is seen in the media and in the public eye.

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, , , , , , , , ,

08/11/2010 • 10:09 pm Comments Off on 11.08.2010 Time is flying again

11.08.2010 Time is flying again

Again and again I have the feeling that time is of no relevance as hours, days and weeks are floating at a breath-taking speed. Meetings coming and going in speedy way and sometimes one has the feeling to run behind oneself without being able to catch oneself.
Management meeting, senior management meeting, meetings with individuals, meeting with representative of the SOS Kinderdorf, meeting with staff, with HOPE community health workers – it is amazing how colourful life can be.
HOPE Cape Town will soon enter a phase of restructuring to  be able to live up in the usual professional way to all the demands of a developing portfolio. And of course it has consequences on the running of the HOPE Cape Town Trust.

This evening I also saw for the first time the video, the Romantic Hotel Group put together to advertise their safe house project. Very well and professional done – congratulations. Tomorrow morning I will meet with a representative of this hotel group, currently in Cape Town. I am looking forward to this exchange of ideas and news.

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

08/03/2010 • 12:19 am Comments Off on 03.08.2010 Monday blues again…

03.08.2010 Monday blues again…

Early morning drive to Tygerberg Campus to meet with the senior staff of HOPE Cape Town. From the report back from the Vienna conference till practical questions – time is flying when discussing a multitude on practical issues. Afterwards meeting together with Dr. Esser the new CEO of Tygerberg Academic Health Complex, Dr. Erasmus, for a brief into on HOPE Cape Town and discussing common grounds and joint goals.
Back to town to attend the luncheon of the Southern African – German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and interesting to learn amongst others that Germany invests more in the Western Cape than in the Gauteng area. I have to thank the speaker for an excellent presentation and overview about the investment climate after the  soccer world cup 2010.
A 5 minute contribution to the screening of the movie “Themba” in Trier, organised by the Trierer Aidshilfe and Broadway is filmed and send for pressing on CD to send off to Germany.
A brief visit at the office to answer emails before again out to a dinner with a colleague to discuss current matters of church and society.
The day ends with another check of the email box, containing the request to write a column for a German newspaper about the movie “Ithemba” and to translate some text for the World AIDS awareness campaign II.
But this has to wait until Wednesday, tomorrow I have to visit our employees in Grabouw and Hermanus before attending the AGM of the “choice of life” project in Lansdowne.

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Networking, , , , , ,

07/30/2010 • 10:16 pm Comments Off on 30.07.2010 A short week

30.07.2010 A short week

Two additional nights on the way back thanks to LH and its cancellations makes this week a very short one. Appointments have to be cancelled and re-scheduled. Emails are waiting for answer – and today, we had a guest of a major language school to see whether HOPE Cape Town is fitting the criteria of the school to be their social project. This was the second request for this week, where a company was looking for a reliable charity project for the long-term run. This is always good news and the principle of HOPE Cape Town is to invite the responsible person to come and have a look him/herself – then an informed decision can be made.

Also a step more done on the way to have the English version of our book “God, AIDS, Africa” as an e-book available to purchase through internet. It is the first time that I look into this possibility and it seems to be an exciting one. So watch the space..:-)

The weekend is full of meetings and a family mass with the German-speaking Catholic Community – and I am looking forward again to meet old friends and to engage with those for a while, I was entrusted to look after for almost 13 years.

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, , ,

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