God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

02/20/2010 • 10:17 pm Comments Off on 20.02.2010 Time is flying

20.02.2010 Time is flying

Saturday again – time is indeed flying and who says, that time is passing quicker when one gets older: that is correct. The time, I have felt in the earlier time for days, are now easy covering a months.
Yesterday I had my first meeting with the new Archbishop of Cape Town and we discussed some matters, amongst others the initiative of pastoral work for HIV positive priests and religious in our church. I hope to see in the next three weeks the chairperson of the Southern African Bishops Conference on this issue to move forward and to be able to report back in May, when I am in Rome.
HOPE Cape Town needed this week also some attention, sometimes there are times of multiple decision-making processes at the same time which binds all energies and needs lots of focus. At the same time I had to finalize the first planing of my next travels, which will bring me to Gauteng end of the month for two weeks, then in May to Italy and Germany and in July to Austria and Germany. In between a short break in SE Asia.

And when I thought that I don’t have to work during Holy week and on Easter – since Thursday I know that I will be busy and helping out on all those holy days. That will be the first time to celebrate all these mysteries in English; well as long as I don’t have to sing in English, I will survive. 🙂

It was a busy week and today I digged me into reading the white paper of renewal energy of the Western Cape to get a grip also on this topic. All the acronyms are a bit strange to me, but the material itself is not that difficult as I thought. Tomorrow then 2 church services which I will now prepare.

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

02/16/2010 • 9:56 pm Comments Off on 16.02.2010 POZ and CAN

16.02.2010 POZ and CAN

A whole series of meetings today, amongst others one with our working group looking into the pastoral care for HIV positive priests and religious. We discuss the way forward and how important it is to back up our pastoral efforts with a proper theological and psychological consideration. Obviously it is compassion driving us, but is this enough? When we want to engage bishops and convince them to support us, it would be good for us to have done our homework. Obviously we also have to look at the scale of what we can do and how we approach it. A very constructive meeting and surely a big step forward.

Afterwards meeting with the Catholic Aids Network in Welcome Estate. We are still waiting for our constitution as requested by the National Catholic Aids office and we discussed in length the way forward. The topic HIV and AIDS has indeed changed in the last years and for many church groups and initiatives, it is one aspect of their work amongst others. This is different from when CAN started, where the support groups were partly marginalised and worked very isolated, thus needing much more networking and moral support. We also aim to have a service around World Aids Day, not only as a memorial service for those, who have died already, but also as a sign of encouragement for those, who are still working in this field. And I am convinced we have not reached yet the peak – the PEFPAR funding is going to get less, and we still have to catch up for quite some wasted years here in South Africa; the adherence will be a topic and a problem in the years to come. Whoever thinks, that HIV and AIDS is dealt with – I think the opposite. We still have a way to go – and if we not take care of this way, we will have to pay a costly price.  Between political declarations of intent and reality is here in South Africa still a big gap ( I guess not only in South Africa)…

HOPE Cape Town, Catholic AIDS Network, the poz initiative for HIV positive priests and clergy  and all the other local initiatives will be needed still for a long time…

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Medical and Research, Politics and Society, , , , , , , , , , , ,

02/12/2010 • 10:56 pm Comments Off on 12.02.2010 Chamber’s celebration

12.02.2010 Chamber’s celebration

A full day today, this morning first some phone calls to clarify outstanding issues, then driving to the lovely wine farm of Blaauwklippen where the Southern African – German Chamber of Commerce and Industry celebrates the 10th anniversary of the opening of its Cape Town Regional Office. At first a formal meeting with the Senior Council, the Directorate and the Regional Council and you can see the difference: The people from Johannesburg are dressed nicely all in black suits – not very common in Cape Town, but it makes me feel a bit under-dressed in my Cape Town outfit.. 🙂
Nevertheless, the meeting serves also the purposes to present the proposal to form a national task force on renewable energy/energy efficiency and it is my task to present this proposal to the senior council. After a short discussion the proposal is accepted and after 80 minutes the meeting done.

The afternoon programme continues with the arrival of more guests on the wine farm, among them Helen Zille, the premier and the German Ambassador Dieter Haller as well as the German and Austrian Consul General.  The speeches are not too long and I am chuffed about the fact, that HOPE Cape Town is also mentioned from the premier as one of the outstanding German contributions towards South Africa in the Western Cape and Charles Scheltemacher from the Regional Council reminds the people that indeed I was the first customer of the newly opened office needing some donations in form of computers and routers. And I am amazed that out of this not only came the joined Ball of HOPE as the annual function of Chamber and church for HOPE Cape Town, but also a wonderful friendship with Anja, the representative here in the Cape. She is indeed the best girlfriend, a priest is allowed to have … 🙂 A wonderful afternoon, catching up with so many people, having to explain the concept of a Fidei Donum priest and my new role within the church – I really enjoyed the time and the chats and the food and the drinks and the weather – in one word: jolly good afternoon.

In the evening then home again and still some work to do, sitting in my little office and trying to get a bit of work done before chatting with friends in Germany via Skype for quiet a while. Also that so wonderful to be able to chat long without being bankrupt and seeing the persons on the other side. Technology can be a blessing.

So summa summarum a day with mostly positive energy and what I did not get finished this eve on work can also wait until tomorrow morning… 🙂

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

02/10/2010 • 10:49 pm Comments Off on 10.02.2010 traffic and township life

10.02.2010 traffic and township life

Rain in Cape Town this morning – and as usual the way the drivers of the various vehicles on the street try a great deal to proof, that they have never learned to drive a car in rain. It is one of these mornings where you ask yourself whether someone has a valid drivers licence. Crossings are blocked by cars which just took the dark yellow light to make sure that nobody else is able to cross when they have green light. And all that stop and go and change the lines and stop again… it would be amazing if one would have the time to observe it and is not due to be in time at a certain point.

Visiting of primary health care facilities was the major program point today and together with our compliance and trainings officer I visited 5 such so-called township clinics and spoke with our employee from HOPE Cape Town and with representatives of the clinic, assessing the work and trying to find out where we are with our outreach program. It is always an eye opener to be in these different communities, hearing the life stories of people, visiting also some sick people at home,  seeing the sometimes unbelievable circumstances, people have to live for years or even a lifetime.  I realise again how blessed my life is and how privileged I am.

And one comes home in the evening, full of impressions and with a whole bunch of requests and plea’s it takes time to digest the pictures in your head, but somehow I keep the people I met today in my heart for a while before it fades away to be refreshed the next time. I am grateful to touch township life. It helps me to re-define my life.

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

02/09/2010 • 11:44 pm Comments Off on 09.02.2010 Over the years…

09.02.2010 Over the years…

Sitting in todays HOPE Cape Town management meeting I do with interest following the discussions, comments, requests – it is amazing for me to see, how things, or should I better say, people develop, interactions develop, discussions arise – sometimes I think it would be nice to have filmed over the years some of the meetings to study the development of such a group of people like us from management. I guess, if one is sitting in such meetings for years, one develops a sort of relationship which includes to know and predict reactions but also has learned to cooperate and discuss in a way which is not hurting people. One knows each other – and still sometimes there is this moment of surprise.

I took time today to observe a lot and – and with no bad intention – after years of working together it is good once in a while to observe oneself and others and to sense the bond, but also some old behaviour patterns showing up again and again. But all has the feeling of belonging together and going for the same cause, even if ways sometimes differ and discussions are very intense.  And I still feel that tension between decampment and the longing to secure the achieved – and I guess, as long as I feel this two poles, we are on the right way.

Management meetings have become longer and intense as lots is to decide and consider and it is hoped, that with the new structuring process, more preparation work is done beforehand so that matters are easier to decide on the day. We introduced the so-called “champions” who look specifically after a portfolio and prepares facts necessary for decision-making.

I drove home with the feeling that after all the years we still have the right mix of people to tackle the challenges of the future. Good feeling.

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

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