God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

03/23/2010 • 6:54 pm 1

23.03.2010 Blog and HOPE Cape Town

For the second time in one week I was asked about the link between HOPE Cape Town and my blog. Some people feel that it is not right to have a permanent link between the official HOPE Cape Town website and my blog. Of course if the majority of management is the same opinion I will make sure that the permanent link will disappear. I always believed that no project is self-sufficient and above the daily realities and that all work takes place in the midst of daily life and all what makes headlines around the world. The global village is meanwhile very much connected. Also linking increases the traffic and brings people to visit the virtual HOPE Cape Town via the blog page. So I personally like to see the full picture and I myself love to know more around subjects or projects I am interested in. At the end the development of a project always depends also on the living experience of people guiding and driving the project.

But I have to accept that others find this unacceptable or even disturbing to link personal experience and the professional stand in the world-wide web.

Reflecting on that I also contemplate sometimes the role I play for HOPE Cape Town. Being in parts of Germany “the face” of the organization is as much pleasure as it can be burden. But only when you personalize and let people identify a project with a face and a person, then trust can be build up which leads to support of all kinds. I sometimes have the impression that being a figure-head can be overwhelming for others who would like to promote more the work and cut down on personal limelight. I would be glad if it would be that easy – I think the world does not tick like it. What interesting studies could be done on such a subject.

Well, I definitely will remove the link on the HOPE Cape Town website if need be, even if I am convinced that this cuts off a lot of traffic HOPE Cape Town needs – and the obviously also the other way around the blog receives visitors from the HOPE Cape Town website. A dynamic of web traffic as it should be the case when linking websites. But only, if people want it… For me life goes on with or without linking and I will continue the blog as a way of communicating with many people hopefully continuing to show interest in the work of HOPE Cape Town.

Filed under: Networking, Reflection, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, , ,

03/20/2010 • 9:33 am Comments Off on 20.03.2010 What has child abuse…

20.03.2010 What has child abuse…

… to do with a blog on HIV and AIDS? This is one of the question I was asked yesterday reflecting on the internet presence of HOPE Cape Town. Should such a blog be linked to a NGO website? I am not sure what you think, but I guess, my answer is a clear yes:

First of all, all work is done in a certain environment, and even HOPE Cape Town is no purely Catholic entity, we are founded in the Catholic and Christian spirit and the German-speaking Catholic Community Cape Town takes pride in this fact and supports the project in many ways. I am as the co-founder and chair for the first 6 years – I am a Catholic priest and of course my environment contributes to my way of working with HOPE Cape Town.

And there is more to it – when I have groups from overseas, they are all shocked by the high number of rapes happening here in South Africa – especially with under aged and within families. If you look into the child abuse case scenario of Germany, you will find that 95% of child abuse takes place within a family and closed friends environment. What does this tell us?

I think, the complexity of life and living it deserves a view beyond the tea-cup I am having in front of me – we have to see major trends, we have to look into the working environment and we have to consider factors which may put to rest a lot of  prejudices. Only if we look at the full picture we can judge a situation.
That is the reason why I once in a while strain into other territories – commenting on development besides HIV and AIDS.

A last example: I commented on the economic crisis. Why? Because the economic crises, as also the war in Afghanistan in Iraq by the way, contributes to the fact, that money especially from the USA for research and development of new drugs combatting the pandemic is fading. Once again, we have to look onto the greater picture, otherwise we are losing it. Nobody is living on an island anymore, and what happens in USA or Thailand or Israel or Iraq has an impact on our work here in South Africa. Like it or not – it is a matter of fact.

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

03/18/2010 • 10:46 pm Comments Off on 18.03.2010 Why has a day only 24 hours..?

18.03.2010 Why has a day only 24 hours..?

This is a question, I often ask me, but then again, maybe I am the workaholic some people see in me. Be it as it may be, very often one wishes for more time to finalize matters, get the email box empty and all those nice things letting one feel satisfied in the evening when at home.

On the other hand one has to learn to limit oneself – life is more than just work. Only the balance between work and recreation makes life worth living. I guess sometimes my ying and yang are not in balance in this matter. 🙂

Today was filled with an interview, looking for a team secretary for our Ithemba ward and a meeting with the person responsible for the PR work of Tygerberg Academic Health Complex. It is important to keep in touch with her and also to discuss how we want to strive a balance now during the world cup year between the interest of visitors and journalists to learn first hand about the situation and the smooth running of a hospital ward. But I am confident that we are able to find the right balance. We also discussed the promotion of the  hospital itself – the fundraising efforts are – compared with other hospitals – still quite in the beginning of full blossoming and I offered my expertise to the lady if need be.

Rotary in the middle of the day – I needed some signatures to get a matching grant into motion. HOPE Cape Town needs urgently a second vehicle and we are grateful that some Rotary Clubs under the guidance of Michael Eisenmenger from the St. Wendel Club is taking it into their hands to organise the funding of such a vehicle. Rotary is a wonderful organisation, not only because of this, but after 13 years of being a Rotarian I am convinced that this big organisation is able to change a lot of the face of this earth.

Office work in the afternoon is part of almost every days life – sometimes I feel that emails are a curse rather than a blessing. But on the other hand quick communication is of essence in our days and so I try to keep up with it. Besides all the work in the fields of HIV and AIDS I am getting also more and more involved in the fields of renewable energy. Beginning of April we will constitute in Johannesburg a national working task force on renewable energy / energy efficiency under the umbrella of the Southern African – German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and I will be part of it as vice chair of the Regional Council of the Chamber. A lot new stuff to learn for me, but an exciting field and very much necessary in our days and specially also in South Africa. To learn new things also keeps an old mind going again.. good for my brain cells… 🙂

Evening – dinner with friends on a lighter note and with lots of laughter and chatter. Good so. A nice end to another 24 hours…

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

03/14/2010 • 9:56 pm 1

14.3.2010 Thailand or never peace?

Once again politics in Thailand brings the country on the brink to chaos, this time the so-called “red shirts” on the streets of Bangkok trying to bring down the government. Sometimes I wonder about a lot of things: About how people perceive their political view as the only valid once. About how people think their doing is so important for the development of this world. About how people perceive the  state of affairs as static. People murder for their political views, people die for their country, politicians negotiate in a way one could think the nation has exist since the beginning of the world.

I advise to go somewhere in the desert or in the bush where there is no artificial light and have a look at night at the stars, at the milky way and all its unlimited extensions… And then feel how small and tiny we are… A bit more being humble would help in most situations.

I also think that by the way when I observe religious leaders and gurus – how they insist to know the truth and only the truth. People of the cloth have killed for their conviction in the past, wars have been ignited by religious views, so-called witches burned, Jews hunted, crusaders send en mass to Jerusalem.

I advise to go somewhere in the desert or in the bush where there is no artificial light and have a look at night at the stars… and you suddenly realise how little you know about this world and its existence and where we are coming from and going to. We believe, but there are so many things we still have to learn about the meaning of life – even the holiest man is still far away from knowing it all. If he is wise, he knows that he doesn’t know – and he is humble. We need a lot of wise men in our days..

All this reflection does not prevent from preparing for the week. After 2 weeks with limited internet I spent this Sunday in answering emails and preparing for the coming week. A Bavarian delegation is arriving and visiting HOPE Cape Town, the Austrian TV wants to have an interview, there are several meetings with representatives of the health sector of the province and much more. Hope there is time to live in between.

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

03/14/2010 • 12:28 am Comments Off on 14.03.2010 Back in Cape Town

14.03.2010 Back in Cape Town

After 2 weeks of enjoying the sun of Johannesburg and Brits back in Cape Town. Two weeks of close encounter with the problem of accusations of indecent behaviour of a priest and the consequences of court proceedings. Even if I cannot comment on the actual case because it is still running in court, I bring with and want to express a very deep feeling of sadness. The climate regarding child abuse in the church in the moment seems to be carried away by a mixture of hysteria, factual happenings, projections and the fight of the church to end the stigma endured by so many cases all over the world. Yes, abuse has happened, but also yes, most abuse has not happened in any church but in the families. Looking only into Germany I can add some no’s – no, it has nothing to do with homosexuality, 9 out of 10 cases in Germany involve girls. And no, it is not always the priest, in 3 out of 4 cases the culprit is a member of the family.

All this does not take away the pain of our church for all what has indeed happened, but this pain should include rather the impotence of the responsible bishops and clergy not taking out the person in question. Yes, there was a cover up, surely not in the way some would like to see that from a standpoint of today – times have been different 30-40 years ago. We don’t have to ignore that. And yes, we as a church have to discuss our dealing with sexuality – without an honest review of this topic we are doomed for the next round of disasters. It is not enough to bring such cases to the state authorities – we have to reflect how we deal with one of the strongest forces of mankind, sexuality, and only when we do this honestly we will be able to prevent further abuse.

A few bishops and high-ranking office bearer have taken their responsibility serious and stepped down from their pulpit as the consequence of their dealing with such cases in the past – I would have hoped for more taken their responsibility seriously.

Filed under: Reflection, Uncategorized, , , ,

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