God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

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, , , , , , , ,

09/21/2010 • 11:26 pm Comments Off on 21.09.2010 Travel

21.09.2010 Travel

I traveled a lot this year, Europe and within South Africa – and I am just preparing for the next travels which will bring first to Durban and Johannesburg and in October/November to Europe before in December Johannesburg is again on the agenda.
I am always amazed to hear after my return: “How was your holiday”. It seems that many people connecting travel still only with holidays and it seems that being sometimes exhausted and feeling tired after arriving home is not an option. 🙂
I do enjoy traveling on one hand, but on the other hand it is meanwhile no fun anymore to spend so much time at airports with all the changing security measures. I love to meet new people but on the other hand it is indeed sometimes difficult to connect every day with new people in another city. Maybe one feels the “ying” and ‘yang” of traveling more when one grows older.
But what I still have maintained  is this curiosity to learn when on travel, to be curious about new situations and to draw conclusions for my own life when confronted with new traditions or habits. Travel makes life so much richer and that is worth every effort.

Filed under: General, Networking,

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, , , , , , , , ,

09/10/2010 • 4:11 pm Comments Off on 10.09.2010 Sometimes….

10.09.2010 Sometimes….

… a week is gone and you don’t know why and how it has happened. And even my addiction to internet comes to a hold, it must be serious.. 🙂 But also good to have friends beaming one out of stress for a couple of hours.. what a delight.. 🙂

Preparation for Management meeting of HOPE Cape Town Association, meetings with several interesting persons involved in the field of HIV and AIDS, meeting with a TOP (two ocean production) to discuss the possibility to update our HOPE Cape Town trailer as the old one is now 7 years old and outdated. I was amazed to learn what it means on time and effort to have a 3 min trailer done.
And of course not to forget: The HOPE Gala Dresden is on track: 30.10.2010.. not to be missed out. And for the Germans reading the block here an appetizer:

http://www.dresdeneins.tv/nachrichten/5_HOPE_Gala_Dresden-355.html

And to book go onto: http://www.hopegala.de

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Networking, ,

08/31/2010 • 7:58 pm Comments Off on 31.08.2010 Back..

31.08.2010 Back..

… again in Cape Town and I am welcomed by wind and rain – just the weather I left in Europe’s late summer. The last days were quite tough working days – Saturday the BuPo2010 in Bielefeld and Sunday then the next meeting regarding the WAAE II which translates into World AIDS Awareness Campaign II. A real challenge and after the day’s meeting a lot of thoughts are going around in my head about the requirements for such a challenge. But what would be life without a challenge?

Another meeting concerns the HOPE Cape Town Trust – and an intensive discussion about the way, the South African trust is presented in Germany and how to better the income, especially when it comes to additional capital for the trust. At the end the work of the association HOPE Cape Town can only be sustained if a trust provides for the basic work independent of currency rate and donation income. To secure the work in a jumpy economic environment is the key for further success.

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

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