God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

09/16/2009 • 4:53 pm Comments Off on 16.09.2009 Soccer and HIV

16.09.2009 Soccer and HIV

It is an amazing time – not a year anymore to go until the Soccer World Cup 2010 and it seems that since a year the majority of NGO’s playing in the international field what to do something in South Africa – mainly connected with soccer. Countless are the requests for meetings in this regard and this morning I met again with a dear colleague of mine from HOPE Cape Town management an organisation dealing with HIV and soccer. To their credit I must say, that they are in the field a longer time and that they intend to stay beyond the point of the final of the World Cup.
But most requests deal with the question: How do I get the most exposure – it is cool to have photos with poor black kids playing soccer and XY from our NGO or organisation. Even big German trusts are not feeling ashamed to exploit the kids here for their advertising – and I say exploit because in most cases it is clear that the money will stop the day the soccer world cup is finished. The word sustainability seems not to be a known English word.

Some months ago I was sitting together with two representatives of a famous German soccer player, coming to Cape Town to investigate possibilities to do something good in this regard. Well, I made it very clear in the introductory phase of our meeting that sustainability is a major keyword for me  as we as a local entity have a responsibility towards the people concerned. And that HOPE Cape Town will not engage with people just wanting to have the shoot for 2010.  This was the end of the meeting – ” We are also such ass….” mumbled the manager of the soccer star, being one of the representatives, stood up and walked out. End of story. Good behaviour is sometimes not on the top priority list of such “important” people – and they don’t like to be unmasked or questioned. Quite an experience for me.

Todays meeting went differently and I am sure, they are full good intentions to stay longer than 2010 – young, enthusiastic and full of financial support from the American government – so they will not run dry in this regard. As we are open to networking from HOPE Cape Town we will keep in touch and see whether it is possible to create positive synergies between us with the work we are doing.

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

09/08/2009 • 10:22 pm Comments Off on 08.09.2009 Tuesday eve…

08.09.2009 Tuesday eve…

It seems that in the moment I am only able to write something is in the evening hours. Well, once again a day full of work and lots of thoughts are going still through my head. At the management meeting of HOPE Cape Town I once again realised how diverse we are in the moment. We contemplated about the participation in a project of the Fraunhofer institute in Germany. They are building a moveable container lab – and we should, together with the NHFS and the University – and who knows else – participate in the realisation of the project here in South Africa. The truck is impressive big and long, the figures are going into the couple of hundred thousands of Euros – and there we sit and contemplate – no, not the state of the art laboratories, not the possibilities what all to test, not the funding – no: one of the first concerns is: how can this long vehicle reach or get through a township. There we mostly don’t have streets like in Europe… The spontaneously solution: Rather ask the institute to build two mini versions…  Well, we will see,  decision is to get all stakeholders around one table soonest and to discuss it in detail…

The code of ethics for the employees – what kind of bonus, is somebody allowed to enjoy chewing gum during work, what kind of disciplinary measures are appropriate and in line with the South African labor law. The sangoma muti pharmacology research, who is doing the application for funds? The 150 people wanting to do something good in January 2010.. how? Debriefing matters…  the recent concerts in lieu of HOPE Cape Town in Germany, our H1N1 sick team secretary, questions of food supply for parents in the ward, the HOPE Cape Town car which is growing older and older and need a replacement – where to get the funding.  Preparation of the annual report and the AGM, the SETA approval for our training.. and… and… and..

So intensive and diverse – time is flying and one feels somehow exhausted after so much time of consideration and decision making. But we have wonderful senior staff and great HOPE Community Health Workers. They are our assets – representing HOPE Cape Town in 16 township communities – and soon, two more HOPE community health workers and a container will be the latest addition to the HOPE Cape Town family.

I am looking forward to have more time for HOPE Cape Town from October onwards. And I know I will enjoy what I am doing as much as I do enjoy what I am doing in the moment. What is more to say on such an eve?

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

09/07/2009 • 10:15 pm Comments Off on 07.09.2009 Monday eve…

07.09.2009 Monday eve…

Monday eve – a long day draws to an end – and still emails are coming in (thx blackberry – which sometimes is rather a curse than a blessing) – it seems never to stop. At least I got my preparations done for Durban, where I am due to fly on Friday for the farewell weekend and service. Since 2002 I had the pleasure to serve also in Durban for the German speaking Catholic Community and it was a real change being there four times a year to meet my fellow compatriots with their families. Durban is so much different than Cape Town, very Indian with the biggest Indian population outside India in one place.

A talk, a farewell mass, a baptism, a welcome to our church, confirmation and a braai as well as a dinner are on the programme for the weekend – a priest never sleeps when the parish sister is called Sr. Agnes coming from “Oberoesterreich”… 🙂 Always busy, never a dull moment. I will miss the people, their friendliness and their openess.

But until Friday is still some work to do.. tomorrow is management meeting of HOPE Cape Town and amongst others we will discuss our “code of good conduct” for all our employees. A very important topic – as one grows as an organisation, there is a need for some rules and ethic behaviour codes.

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

09/07/2009 • 5:00 pm Comments Off on 07.09.2009 good deeds…

07.09.2009 good deeds…

Monday afternoon and a phone call from Germany. A company will be in Cape Town with 150 employees in the near future and wants to dedicate part of their time for social work. The request is whether HOPE Cape Town cannot provide for that kind of work, which should be adequate to the portfolio of the employees, last for a couple of hours and leave the people afterwards joyful about the work they have done.

It is amazing to see the amount of people wishing to do something good and meaningful – and how difficult it is indeed to satisfy this need. It should have a long term effect and make everybody instantly happy, the people providing the service, the people receiving the service and I guess also us, as the bridge between both.
I salute those who are willing to sacrifice time and money for a good cause; on the other hand I do acknowledge and know out of experience how difficult it is to provide such opportunities. Opportunities which can be so crucial to the understanding of the situation, we are facing here in South Africa but also in many other locations around the world.

We from HOPE Cape Town try our very best to accommodate all those wishes for helping a good cause for a limited time. And if we cannot help, we feel that we missed out an opportunity to help somebody understanding, feeling, tasting, experiencing a situation which is so normal for the majority of people living on this earth. An experience which makes a European or North American aware that life conditions in their respective areas are the exemption and not the rule.

And having people assisting people can also have a funny side, as we experienced getting some help from as far as I can remember the Canadian nay. Committed to help to create a vegetable garden they all arrived full of enthusiasm in the township. But none of the inhabitants showed up; it was even more silent on the street than usual. We only found out later that the uniforms of the navy and the SAPS are similar – so people, seeing so many “policemen” thought it would be best to stay away – one never knows…. 🙂  The misunderstanding was sorted out and a great vegetable garden is now in place..

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

09/05/2009 • 7:35 pm Comments Off on 05.09.2009 Spring is coming..

05.09.2009 Spring is coming..

Spring is coming to Cape Town – I can feel it as my hay-fever kicks in again and keeps me sneezing all the time. Despite that it is a marvellous time and simply to enjoy the warm sun today was magic.

It was a quiet Saturday so far – well, not that quiet as my godchild was on visit, together with Mama and sister. I can report that all Buddhas are still in one piece, all keys are back to the place they should be and all other furniture and items back to the known places… I admire parents who are so patient with their kids.. I guess I am too old for this kind of fun all day long… 🙂

It is the first day after a really hectic week – and even the promise to my doctor to work only half to give my body the chance to recover from H1N1 was in jeopardy all times. Yesterday I was informed that your secretary from HOPE Cape Town was hospitalized with severe H1N1 and our virologist @ HOPE Cape Town management is working day and night with the authorities to prevent the epidemic to spread – not really with a lot of success.

Used this afternoon to work on the “employee handbook and code of good conduct” and some other items to be used for the administration of HOPE Cape Town. It is amazing how one gets caught up in all this administrative things when the amount of employees is rising. You cannot avoid it. I believe that being good organised and clear on the rules and regulations it helps to keep admin problems at bay most times.

Tomorrow we will have our ecumenical encounter, visiting as the German speaking Catholics the German speaking Lutheran St. Martini community. I have to preach and hope that my sermon will at least enlighten one of the visitors.  Afterwards cake and coffee and some chats before heading to a Jazz concert and a reception by the German Consule General, who just arrived in Cape Town.

Yesterday evening I met with a fellow priest and friend and at the end of the supper I had to put on record that my first Sunday without the German speaking Catholic Community in October  is already filled with the celebration of 4 services in Milnerton and Brooklyn as a supply priest. It seems that my way to holiness does not allow for one weekend without mass here in Cape Town.

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

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