God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

10/06/2009 • 11:51 pm Comments Off on 06.10.2009 event note 2…

06.10.2009 event note 2…

Sometimes one is looking forward to something and then suddenly all is different. I was looking forward to the event I posted yesterday, giving a talk and then a discussion about HIV and AIDS as signs of the time with representatives of some church entities dealing with development issues like misereor, misso etc…. But I just got the note, that all of them don’t want to participate. So it will only be me and the audience on that very day and even if I don’t know any official reason for the non participation, I was given a hint I am still not the guy one is sitting with at the same table.

It is amazing to discover again and again that even the simple rule of engagement = talking with each other, finding common ground, being engaged with each other seems to be so difficult in my church. I must say that I do my work with great enthusiasm and –  obviously being touched by the all the pain and suffering and reality –  I am searching for ways, even theological ways to work through my experience and to find a theological answer assisting the people infected. And the main word is “searching”. I don’t have the answers, but I know that we only can find them in brainstorming together, all involved in this field.

Maybe I ask too much, maybe it is not normal to talk even to somebody not sharing his or her own conviction – I always learn from talking to such people. But maybe I am an exception and the rule is different. I must admit that it sometimes frustrates me when there is no dialogue because it is refused one sided. It is a pity and chance has been not used to understand each other. Some years ago I would have been frustrated about such a behavior but that phase in my life is gone. I cannot change other people, I only can change myself. So whomever I will talk to in Aachen, it will be good and meaningful. Therefore:

I am still  looking forward to engage with the students in Aachen and hope that we can produces new thoughts, exciting visions for a topic so serious like HIV and AIDS.

Filed under: Networking, Reflection, , , , , , , , ,

10/05/2009 • 11:14 pm Comments Off on 05.10.2009 office too close to my home…

05.10.2009 office too close to my home…

Monday morning, and instead driving to town in the morning, I just have to open a door and I am in my new office.. It is tempting to do this before being ready for the outside world.. and I guess it needs quite some discipline not to jump with a cup of coffee just into it, from the bed to the desk so to speak.

I will try to keep it separate – office work is office work and home is home. I prefer the distance between both, but that might come in due course of the next months.
I had to prepare for a workshop of Catholic AIDS network this morning, I was asked to give an overview about new care and treatment options and new developments in research. So I will speak about the Berlin patient, about the Thailand vaccine trial and other remarkable stories and new developments on the medication sector. The chairperson of HOPE Cape Town will also be there and report on the situation in South Africa, which looks much more dark than people want to believe. We have massive problems in delivering services and bringing people on treatment.
I also had a meeting at Tygerberg with the Dean of the Sport Sciences Faculty from Munich and some management members – ways of cooperation were discussed and we learned about the sport sciences in Germany and they about HOPE Cape Town in South Africa. In the evening then the celebration of the German National Day – a good one this year with lots of people I haven’t seen in ages and a good speech of the Consul General Mr. Bussmann. So quite a day, in between SA Telkom and the post office .. a full day.

I just realised this evening that my diary is full till I leave for Germany – it is amazing how little time the 8 days have.. I wish, I could extend that timeframe to get all done, what is still waiting to be worked on and finalised. Well, some night sleep has to be sacrificed to get it all done.

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

10/04/2009 • 10:47 pm Comments Off on 04.10.2009 Big plans and little plans..

04.10.2009 Big plans and little plans..

It was a good day, a marvellous service, brief speeches and I am at the end of the day very happy and grateful for this final accord in a life’s chapter.  Two friends who happened to be actors wrote me a message, saying that they are in thoughts and prayers with me, and then they added:  “Wenn Gott Grosses mit uns vorhat, dann muessen wir das Kleinere eben lassen” – translated it would mean: if God has big plans with us, we have to leave our little ones..  I am not sure why, but this sentence, which they took from Hildegard of Bingen, a saint of the Middle Age, accompanied me through the whole day and comforted me a great deal. As did the “Halleluja” from Haendel during the service, sung by a choir and accompanied by an orchestra. Music is an amazing tool, it can lift up the hearts in a way which leaves me very often speechless.

This evening I can say that I know amazing people,  I have amazing friends and I am blessed with so many good people around me. I am blessed in so many ways that I hope I can give back of all these blessings in the years to come. To feel blessed, to count his/her blessings and to be a blessing for others – what more can describe the way a Christian life should go? But not only a Christian life, I think everybody has the right and the duty to cherish his/her blessings and to be one for others. Enough now of blessings.. 🙂

After this day, I am prepared now for the new page in my life…

Filed under: General, Reflection, Uncategorized, , , , ,

10/04/2009 • 8:36 am Comments Off on 04.10.2009 Farewell Sunday..

04.10.2009 Farewell Sunday..

It is Sunday morning and in a couple of hours the farewell will take place. A 12,5 year long chapter of my life will come to a formal end. The move of my office on Friday already signaled the radical change in my life. And my thoughts wander a bit around, first to those, who wanted me out of office and will today look satisfied and content, because they removed what was in their eyes a constant tread to the church and the German Bishops Conference. I am sure Mr. P. will be satisfied of his victory. His strategy of coercion and harassment hs worked in that sense.

But I feel in the moment rather far distanced from those people who changed surely my path of life. But I strongly believe that it will all come to a good end. And I am delighted to read all the mementos from sympathetic  people reaching me via email, amongst them one from Hans Kueng, whom I admire a lot. That is indeed balsam for my soul.

Filed under: General, Reflection, Uncategorized, , , , ,

10/03/2009 • 12:03 am 1

02.10.2009 moving office

Moving office is always a nightmare, some broken glass, quite some still to be opened boxes and lots of chaos at the end of this day. But I hope that over the weekend I will be able to get all in its place and at the same time start already with serious work. My trip to Europe is coming more close and talks have to be prepared and meetings as well. I always like to travel well prepared and most things done before leaving.

But tomorrow first gym again, it is time to bring the body in shape, also priests can be vain and cocky a bit… 🙂 And it is good to have a balance with all that meetings and sitting behind a computer desk. As I am very lazy when it comes to gym, I have chosen a personal trainer. He is from Kenya, a former boxer and I can tell that he does not know the word “break” when it comes to work out. But I guess this is the only way to get me going and I want to achieve more strength and fitness. A body is God given and as we have only one to use for a lifetime it makes sense to care in many ways for him.

On the preparatory side, I still have to do the concept for a talk about “HIV as a sign of time for the church” – and I am somehow thinking of the question, whether HIV and AIDS needs a sort of enculturation of theological thoughts and concepts. I am myself not sure what it means in detail, but somehow I feel that a sort of liberation theology is also necessary for this topic. Well, brainstorming continues….

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, Reflection, , , , , , ,

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