God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

07/18/2017 • 5:43 pm Comments Off on Every day is a Mandela Day for HOPE Cape Town

Every day is a Mandela Day for HOPE Cape Town

Every day is a Mandela Day for HOPE Cape Town, but this day where we commemorate in practical terms Madiba is indeed a special day. We do good and mourn at the same time that corruption and mismanagement has stopped many developments in South Africa, which would have brought even more positive developments into the lives of those living at the margin of our society. It was great to see a real picture of Rainbow Nation activities during this day – have a look at the pictures – and go to our webpage www.hopecapetown.com or our FB page https://www.facebook.com/HopeCapeTownAssociationTrust/ to learn more about the great work of the organization, but also learn about the marvelous people who helped to make this day a very special one.

But Blikkiesdorp is also a tough environment – you don’t watch out and things are mysteriously disappearing – and it remains unknown whether it is driven by pure poverty and need or a lack of understanding between the words “mine” and “yours”. But being reminded that 5 star hotels telling you that nowhere more is stolen than in upmarket hotels by wealthy people I guess on Mandela Day one shouldn’t worry too much if more is distributed than planned. South Africa is in a very difficult situation right now and politicians and political leaders as well as business people are not really always example of honesty and decency. So I have decided just to overlook it for today and take pride and joy in what HOPE Cape Town has done today under the leadership of Marlene Whitehead and with the help of so many great people – thanks for making a difference and putting a smile on the faces of so many people. And the promise is as said in the beginning that we from HOPE Cape Town will continue to make every day a Mandela Day for the time to come.

Garden equipment brought in
Delivery of goodies
Waiting for breakfast
Fresh fruits and vitamins
Marlene welcomes volunteers
Kids will love it…
How to brush your teeth after the meal
A precious moment…
Duke University also on side
A tree of HOPE…
Great work well done!
no, no veggies – take it out…
Fresh fruits…
Cleaning up …
chat in between …
wonderful helpers…
great donations and wo(men)power
looking over the fence…
Well, also posing is important…
a future HOPE Cape Town employee?
Donatoins from so many different spheres of society…
our playroom…
Yes, aunti gets her own working space…
food delivery…
planting …
HOPE Cape Towns new veggi garden take shape in Blikkiesdorp…

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town Trust, Reflection, Society and living environment, South Africa, Uncategorized, , , ,

07/15/2017 • 5:27 pm Comments Off on Decolonization

Decolonization

The word “decolonization” is in South Africa a buzz word – especially among students it seems to be the holy grail of changing and transforming universities and centers of study and learning. The suggestions how to achieve it are indeed very diverse – up to the point that students demand to abolish traditional sciences and start anew to discover that the world is not flat. Obviously such ideas are not helpful and mirror quite a limited understanding of the world for a student and even put into question if a person with such demands has the maturity to study. Also burning libraries or destroying paintings and university property does not help in reaching the goal of “decolonization”.
For me the word has a much deeper meaning – reflecting on the history of colonization and the madness of today’s political leadership as seen in a President Trump or President Zuma I see the word rather more broadly defining the transition of human civilization in this global village into a new area. The advent of social media and the consequences of instant information of today’s news and the readily available information about the past, the history and – if reflected and the dots joined – its dynamics shift us humans into a new understanding of who we are and how we can live and should live together. People like Trump and Zuma are representing history, representing a lost world – comfy for the ones who want to keep it desperately and painful for those who are trying to flee out of it by all means.
Decolonization is needed for both parties – because both draw their movements and ideas from a past gone and in fear of the unknown coming in the future. Decolonization is practical, economical, academical and mental – and I bid, that when the real South Africa gets a chance to decolonize without all the political pressure and violence and corruption, it could lead the way and Africa could be transformed from a lost continent into the beacon of hope for the world. We have to start a meaningful conversation without creating a battlefield.

Filed under: Africa, General, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, South Africa, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

06/13/2017 • 3:46 pm Comments Off on HOPE Cape Town USA

HOPE Cape Town USA

Since last year, HOPE Cape Town in South Africa has a sister organisation in the USA, registered and recognized as a non-profit entity. Last Saturday the board of HOPE Cape Town USA finalized the mission and vision statement which reads as follows:

 

HOPE Cape Town USA

Background

HCT USA understands that in a rapidly globalizing world a life-threatening health pandemic such as HIV/AIDS has no borders and can easily spread from one continent to another; and understands that root causes of vulnerability and marginalization are similar throughout the world, and connects people in both USA and South Africa. It also understands the danger of resistance to HIV/AIDS as well as related conditions such as tuberculosis, as experienced in southern Africa.

As a result, HCT USA believes there is tremendous value in linking with Hope Cape Town in South Africa as well as other national and international civil society organizations to learn and exchange best practice, expertise and create synergies in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment among marginalized segments of populations.

Also, HCT USA recognizes that behaviour change reducing risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS is in great part a result of change in social norms in which education plays a large role. Focusing on changing social norms and education will reduce the effects of misinformation and stigma and help create a more accepting environment, and result in an increase demand and supply for, as well as access to and use of available treatment among the most vulnerable and marginalized.

Vision

HOPE Cape Town USA strives to improve the quality of life of vulnerable and marginalized children, youth and families affected by HIV/AIDS, and related illnesses, and help them to reach their own full potential.

Mission

HOPE Cape Town USA’s (HCT USA) mission is to assist people living with HIV, AIDS and related illnesses in the USA and South Africa.

HCT USA’s aim is to support the ongoing work of HOPE Cape Town in South Africa, reduce the spread of HIV among vulnerable and marginalized children and youth in USA and support those living with HIV.

This mission is realised by the following means

  • Advocate, fundraise and support HOPE Cape Town programs in South Africa
  • Build a body of data to understand needs, challenges and interconnections of children,
    youth and families living with HIV, AIDS or related illnesses in South Africa and USA
  • support vulnerable and marginalized children, youth and families in the USA, beginning in the Dallas/Fort Worth (Tx) area
  • Collaborate with other NGO’s in the fields to create synergies and expertise and
    interconnect globally with the aim to learn, share and optimize programs
  • Disseminate correct information, reduce misconceptions about the pandemic and so
    eliminate discrimination and create access to appropriate info on the syndrome, prevention and treatment options.
  • Change behaviour to reduce risk of exposure to HIV/AIDS by focusing on changing social
    norms and education, and reduce the effects of misinformation and stigma and help create a more accepting environment
  • Increase demand and supply for, as well as access to and use of available treatment among
    the most vulnerable and marginalized.

Filed under: Africa, HIV and AIDS, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town USA, Networking, Society and living environment, South Africa, , , , , , , , , , ,

05/19/2017 • 4:05 pm Comments Off on Corrective rape and murder

Corrective rape and murder

Lerato Moloi from Soweto / South Africa seems to be the latest victim of the so-called “corrective rape” , defined as a hate crime in which one or more people are raped because of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The word “murder” does not need any further explanation. An explanation is indeed needed why South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape in the world – including “corrective rape” used to “cure” lesbian women of their homosexuality.
It seems that in a country having lost the moral compass and moral leadership a longer time ago the ugly head of homophobia trends against one of the most advanced constitutions in recent history.
Added to this is surely also the message of religious institutions labeling same-sex love as not natural or intrinsic evil. Evangelical Christian Talibans from the USA adding the word “un-African” to this toxic mix and at the end people are hurt or die because they just live out their true identity.
It is time to stand up, as a society, as a church, as an individual and to get vocal against hate crimes, against violence specifically in connection with gender identity or sexual orientation.
A democratic society lives from the baseline that all its people have the rights stipulated in the constitution and that no ideology, no faith, no own opinion gives the right to violently “correct’ or “kill” the life, the lifestyle, the love, the commitment of the fellow neighbor. Where ever it happens we have collectively stand up, defend and at best prevent such incidents.
This is indeed also a call towards the police and courts in South Africa to act with decisiveness and not to delay or even shame those who fall victims to such horrendous crimes.
I am grateful to the Catholic Jesuit Institute – belonging to my church – that they are not silent on the crisis unfolding for our LGBTIQ brothers and sisters and all the vulnerable women and children falling victim to this crisis. Please read their statement here:

Press-statement: South Africas gender based violence-crisis/

Such topics need a presence in the media – here another recent article on the topic:

Corrective-rape-The-homophobic-fallout-of-post-apartheid-South-Africa

 

 

Filed under: Africa, Politics and Society, Reflection, Religion and Ethics, Society and living environment, South Africa, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

05/04/2017 • 9:39 am Comments Off on A plastic bag with blood

A plastic bag with blood

Driving up the West-coast Road and listening to the news my thoughts kept swirling around one of the news reporting of the murder of 4 year-old Iyapha Yamile from Khayelitsha, found in a plastic bag close to her home early Monday morning. The reporter covering the case reported further of four suspects aged between 20 and 30 years old being arrested under the suspicion of this murder. I try to imagine what a person or a group of people could drive to murder a 4-year-old child – somehow it seems to me that the young age of the victim symbolizes how  sick society has become where murder or attempted murder is part of the daily local news.

The four-year old is only one of so many babies and children being killed and murdered on a weekly base – and for me, this mirrors the state of affair this country is in in the moment. If all the failed politics does not wake us up on the seriousness of trouble South Africa is in, the amount of murder, killings for gain or political reasons, the thousand of rapes and the destitute of people trying to make a living through crime should give us the wake up call we need to listen to.

We are living in a sick and hurt society – and what is needed are not revolutions or leaders still in combat mode and struggle mood but those who are ethical and concerned to heal the divide, to acknowledge the hurt, to see the disadvantaged, to listen to those feeling left behind and therefore to shine as an example of moral and ethical leadership.
If there is need for a radical economic transformation then it is radical in love, compassion and attention to detail, economic in a way, resources are used and the result must be the transformation of hearts and minds with an adequate education system and real chances to achieve a decent life without the tools of bribes, corruption or bullying through the ranks.

Let’s add honesty and leading by example – South Africa could then shine again as an example in the global village that there is a way to learn from the past, tackle the presence and achieve a future for all in an honest and human way.

 

Filed under: Africa, General, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, South Africa, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

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