Indeed, there is much joy in the hearts of those organizing the Ball of HOPE for the 20th time. After 2 years of cancellations due to Covid-19 it looks good for the 21st of May 2022 at the Westin Hotel by Marriott in Cape Town.
20 years Ball of HOPE, the end of the 20 years anniversary year of the organisation itself and the better late than never celebration of 20 years of the local office of the Southern African – German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The Ball of HOPE developed out of a dinner-dance established in 1998 at the Mount Nelson and organised by the German-speaking Catholic Community in Cape Town. The first guest of honour was Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He also introduced the culture of letting culinary chefs be in pain keeping the main course hot and tasty, while speeches are indeed longer than anticipated.
The first guest of honour: Archbishop Desmond Tutu
With the opening of the local office of the AHK in Cape Town, the dinner-dance became the “Ball of HOPE” in cooperation between the newly founded organisation HOPE Cape Town and the Chamber of Commerce. In 2003 the Westin was inaugurated, and the event moved from the Mount Nelson Hotel to the then newly established Arabella Hotel at the Foreshore in Cape Town, which today is the Westin by Marriott.
Opening and blessing of the new Westin Hotel
During the following years, the Ball of HOPE became a fixture in the social calendar of Cape Town, and attracted also visitors from Europe to come and join this prestigious event.
So, yes, we are full of joy to invite all of you to the 20th Ball of HOPE – please come, register and join us in this celebration of service, of commitment and of a partnership between business and development, which changes the lives of people for the better in the last more than 20 years.
A new and fresh year has started – and while the world as such is still in combat mood regarding Covid-19 admittedly in different stages and variations around the world, also other challenges have not changed because a new yearly chapter has been opened.
Building a holistic campus like “The Nex – Indawo Yethu” in such times was and is a challenge in itself; looking at how South Africa is perceived by many currently adds to the woes. Besides all praise for doing what HOPE Cape Town is doing in the various townships of Cape Town in the last 20 years, there are a lot of nagging questions we face on an ongoing base:
How can you build in a notorious violent township, a place nobody wants to go? How can you dare to think, that you can change a place riddled with desperation? And more general questions and statements:
South Africa is doomed – how can you invest time and energy in a lost cause? Are you not dreaming of a pie in the sky – believing in values while corruption, cadre deployment, empty promises and betrayal of “our people” governs daily life in South Africa?
Yes, maybe I am a dreamer; maybe HOPE Cape Town is taking on more than it can handle. Maybe I have too much confidence in our partners and their ability to walk the talk and to show the world, that change – positive change – is possible.
But in my view, this is the only way to get out of the doomsday vision and the self-fulfilling prophecies of decline and retrogression. Believing in people, in partnerships, and trusting in the ability of people to join and work together towards a better future is what creates positive development. And this is not only a humanistic or religious motion.
Africa will be soon to have the youngest population in the world and with it one of the biggest markets and opportunities. South Africa remains the gateway for quite a part of it. The whole environmental questions currently discussed are a challenge for African countries, but if done right, they will be on the forefront of a new reality which is not determined by Covid-19, but ambience needs bringing humanity in line and in tune with the preservation of environment simply for survival of human mankind.
South Africa is not doomed but deserves every effort for upliftment. The world, being currently in discussions and battles of all sorts and manners about the history of colonisation, racism, male dominance and asking critical questions about how the world economics is run and dominated warrants much more patience and determination to get it right. South Africa has still the possibility to become again a beacon of hope for the world, showing how diversity can be an asset and how the own history can be a teacher for future generations.
“The Nex – Indawo Yethu”, the holistic campus in Delft and the work of HOPE Cape Town in general will continue to contribute to this vision of a better world and a decent future for South Africa and the people living in it. It understands itself to be one little building block – offering to partner with whoever is walking the same talk – dreaming big and walking little realistic baby steps at the same time.
And coming back to the question of how to pull through with the project?
I don’t know – HOPE Cape Town walking with the local people and not having all answers means the adventure of development, based on trust and the confidence, that doors will open at the right time, people will join at the right time and that together we will – despite all bumpers and rollercoasters on the way – succeed in creating a better future for all.
That does not mean that there are no plans and strategies, that there are no aspirations and wishes, but not prescribing a way but discerning a way together with those living in Delft – a participatory process – means no fixed road to walk but landmarks on the way. Agility would be the word in the business world used.
Despite what we read in the newspapers and on social media every day – the majority of people – also in a township of Delft and in South Africa – are prepared to work for the common good. And that willingness, together with all the partners joining, should be enough to pull it through.
I guess, most of us agree: this was a specific difficult year for societies and in politics. Looking around in our world, there seems to be little hope for 2022:
In the USA, we see a country struggling to keep democracy alive and fight off a sort of white male fascism driven by a Republican Party not ashamed to base politics on lies and deception. In Great Britain, the Brexit promises have failed in a big way and the current Premier seems to have difficulties with truth and honesty, let alone clear policies. In Russia old demons of power and might through military means aka Putin style becomes dominant and endangers world peace looking at Ukraine. China demonstrates its willingness to go the extra mile to kill everything which smells like civil rights; only look at Hong Kong. Europe throws part of its values into the Mediterranean Sea by letting people drown in exactly this sea and looking at Covid-19, the switching on and off of parts of Africa without common sense does not give the impression that values are universal.
The corruption in South Africa continues, and those fighting within the ANC for power are still pretty safe of prosecution. Even the admission of the President that state coffer money was used for party politics does not draw any consequences – business as usual.
Covid-19 and the vaccine story has divided families and societies – and the virus laid open the impossibility for the human race to act jointly and with common sense in a complex world.
Environmental questions remain to be answered with urgency if the human race wants to survive and have a future.
So 2022 starts with an exceptional package of “needs to be addressed” – and if we would only look at the big picture we could fall into depression. But there is always our small world within the big picture. There is always the magnitude of kind acts, of friendly and supportive smiles, of acts of goodwill, and if the late Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu is to believe – all those acts will at the end form the safety net rescuing and changing the world to the better.
There is hope, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but we can’t wait for any divine force to make it happen here on earth, we have to do it ourselves with our hands and our hearts. Let’s be honest: the world will exist even when the human race disappears – the world, our environment and the universe does not need us – we need to relate to all of them in a healthy way. And we only can do this, if we learn much more to understand each other as one human race only being able to thrive and survive if we limit ourselves not only in the amount of human beings living at the same time on earth with limited resources, but also much more share common values not only in theory but in practice.
We have to be much more attentive to this – and we have in church, politics and society to understand much more, that being a leader is not about a career and power play but service; we have to examine our systems of governing and our structure of living whether they serve life and well-being of all or only an elite. We have to understand ourselves as a part of nature, and our fellow brothers and sisters rather as a support system we depend on within our environment. Furthermore, we have to watch out, that our systems and AI are not so perfect, that they don’t allow any more for the diversity human mankind represents. Perfect systems, or rather almost perfect systems, are endangering individual lives and livelihoods.
There is light at the end of the tunnel; there is the prospect of a good future, there is the constant dream not only of a rainbow nation, but a rainbow world, a rainbow human race – a unity in diversity – a connectivity which can be felt when one is attentive and open to it. We can’t leave the world to the doomsday activists nor to the Querdenker or those using and abusing the world and humans for their own advantage only.
Let’s welcome 2022 with open arms and hearts but also knowing that the majority of people of goodwill have to connect more to advance humanity, decency and civil freedoms carried by joined values for all.
Ein frohes und gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest und einen guten Rutsch in das Neue Jahr 2022 verbunden mit Dank für alle Unterstützung in herausfordernden Zeiten. ***
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; thank you for all support in challenging times. ***
‘n Geseënde Kersfees en ‘n gelukkige nuwe jaar; dankie vir al die ondersteuning in uitdagende tye
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