God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

07/26/2010 • 10:26 am 1

26.07.2010 Frankfurt Airport

Arriving at Frankfurt airport. A long and intensive weekend draws to an end. Udo Lindenberg and the Panic Orchestra in Tuebingen – an experience on its own – a different world for a priest, but I learned to know great people. Amongst others Claudius from the group “Karat”, Marit und Arno and many more… Also being on stage to launch the fundraising drive together with Udo is special – one can only imagine the kick, a rock star gets on stage in front of thousands of screaming and waving fans. Well, one would wish that reaction after a sermon…hehehehe 🙂

Lots of talks, planing and a night at home with Viola & Hermjo; it is good to have friends to relax with, discuss pressing issues and also get advice and guidance and share experience without having to watch every word and phrase. Protected areas and I really cherish this moments to let one’s mind speak – the best way to develop ideas to get things moving.

Later the day still meetings, amongst others with a new sponsor and I hope for a good chat and a productive meeting. Again it is amazing to see how many people what to give a hand to assist HOPE Cape Town in its daily work with those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.

All in all 10 intensive days with lots of new information, exchange of ideas – Vienna, Tuebingen, Frankfurt; I fly back with lots of new ideas and concepts, specially also to foster the HOPE Cape Town Trust and to assist in making the work of HOPE Cape Town stronger in the months and years to come.

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

07/15/2010 • 10:47 pm Comments Off on 15.07.2010 Catholic AIDS network

15.07.2010 Catholic AIDS network

Meeting with Fr Sean and Sr. Margaret from the Catholic AIDS network. I just realise that I have a double booking on the 28.11. – one in Cape Town and the other in Hannover… well, even blackberries do not prevent the human factor… 🙂
We discuss a questionnaire we want to send out to all the parishes to get more information about what is done in the fields of HIV and AIDS in the catholic churches of the Archdiocese of Cape Town.

The Catholic Aids Network (CAN) is the official body of the Archdiocese of Cape Town dealing with the issue of HIV and AIDS and is so to speak a collection of all entities working within this fields. We try to create a room for exchange of ideas and stimulation for the pastoral work.

In the evening I am giving a talk at the Cape Town Club about HOPE Cape Town and it ends after a very interesting chat with some attendees over dinner with me signing up for the club. Well, I have to wait now for 30 days before I am formally introduced into the club if there is nobody voicing any concerns regarding my membership. I meet some very interesting people and the networking already has started.

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

07/07/2010 • 11:35 pm Comments Off on 07.07.2010 Mid of the week…

07.07.2010 Mid of the week…

In the morning meeting with the Regional Council of the Southern African – German Chamber of Commerce and Industry – quite some topics to discuss and develop. In the middle of the day meeting with Fr Wim, my friend priest from Manenberg. As usual so many things to talk about, views to exchange, plans to make – a good time.

Afternoon some thoughts about the future structure of HOPE Cape Town – we have a planing meeting on the 16.7. and we have to discuss the medium and long-term vision of our organisation. HOPE Cape Town is growing – and times are changing – so there is always the need to look after our “state of affair” but also our vision for the next years.  It is important for every NGO to know where we want to head in the next years to come. Decisions have to be made influencing also the working structure of an organisation. But with the energy and dedication of our management I am sure we will come up with good ideas and a solid way into the future.

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

07/06/2010 • 5:45 pm Comments Off on 06.07.2010 A normal Tuesday…

06.07.2010 A normal Tuesday…

Meeting with the Amy Biehl Foundation – it is for me again and again interesting to meet inspiring people and organizations which do good in many ways and even after years of work they are full of energy and good spirit and new ideas. The first meeting with the director already brought multiple possibilities of connecting people and portfolios. Having a friend working as the parish priest in Manenberg, the “gangster land” and seeing the problems and hopelessness for the youngsters there (and consequently ending up with gangs, drugs and violence) I can’t get the thought out of my mind that there must be a way to assist in developing a perspective for those living there, especially the youth.  My meeting with Kevin brought maybe more substance to that thoughts which bangs around my mind a longer time. God works in mysteries ways I guess…

An interview with the museum for hygiene in Germany for an exhibition on “God and human mankind” brought again the question of the reconciliation of faith and scientific knowledge and I once again stressed that this reconciliation is not a one way street but a two ways highway.. And we as a church have to speed up to catch up with all the new developments of the last hundred years, especially when it comes to our understanding of sexuality. This is obviously direct connected with the topic of HIV and AIDS and the response we can give as humans, as Christians, yes, even as Catholics. Much still to do on this field…

Filed under: Networking, , , , ,

06/15/2010 • 10:28 pm Comments Off on 15.06.2010 HIV and sports

15.06.2010 HIV and sports

In the morning a workshop to HIV and sports – the framework for a cooperation between the Technical University in Munich – Sport sciences and the University of Stellenbosch, Health Sciencies and HOPE Cape Town is officially introduced at the Bavarian House. Three strong partners will join forced on the long term run to work in the fields of HIV and sports. In the later afternoon the Letter of Intent is signed by Prof. van der Merwe (University of Stellenbosch), Prof. Beckmann (TU Munich) and myself (for HOPE Cape Town).

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

Blog Categories

Follow God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE on WordPress.com

You can share this blog in many ways..

Bookmark and Share

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,711 other subscribers

Translation – Deutsch? Française? Espanol? …

The translation button is located on each single blog page, Copy the text, click the button and paste it for instant translation:
Website Translation Widget

or for the translation of the front page:

* Click for Translation

Copyright

© Rev Fr Stefan Hippler and HIV, AIDS and HOPE.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Rev Fr Stefan Hippler and HIV, AIDS and HOPE with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

This not withstanding the following applies:
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.