God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

11/25/2009 • 11:41 pm Comments Off on 25.11.2009 on the road again…

25.11.2009 on the road again…

My job description requires in the moment a lot of travelling. Going to meetings  means passing the N1 and N2 again and again and being reminded all the time that we are close to the soccer world cup 2010. No, to be reminded there is no big advertising necessary, just experiencing the stop and go between all the road repairs and reconstructions gives you plenty of time to reflect on the coming event. We South Africans are happy about the repairs, especially not knowing whether this will happen again in the next twenty years ahead of us. So all is welcome what will make our lives easier after 2010…

Having seen the traffic tripling the last 10 years without any new lane of road has taught us that there is a limit to more cars on the same roads, going from the airport to town in the mornings have become a nightmare scenario.

It is also nice to see the squatter camps disappearing from the motorway, so that the visitors of 2010 do not see too much poverty along the way to town. Even if it is partly because of dressing up the country for the world cup, it without doubt helps people to better their living situation.

So, while driving there is much to reflect and to consider and I specially admire those cutting grass and hedges along the motorway – sometimes only protected through a lonely red flag waving person in the curve without doubt heaven must hold its hand here to protect the workers who sometimes seemingly not notice the danger they are in…

And there have been the meetings today too besides all the reflections: one to one meetings, but also a trustee meeting of IAM, an organisation looking into the ministries for GLBTI communities within the churches. Hosting good old friends this evening at home was a great chance just to catch up and to indulge in the good old times… yeah, even priests do have some… 🙂

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

11/24/2009 • 7:56 pm Comments Off on 24.11.2009 Nabucco…

24.11.2009 Nabucco…

I just listen to Nabucco – chorus of hebrew slaves.. and when music is indeed an indication for mood it might be the case: After being the whole day on the run coming home knowing that still one has not even touched the office work lying and waiting – one feels like one of those slaves yearning for a bit of relaxation and freedom. Meetings and a talk to our HOPE Cape Town staff was part of the days work. We published for the first time an internal employee’s handbook. After being so long in business as an NGO and having 27 employees it is time to bring together all the legal stuff and ethics for a work in this field. What are the do’s and don’ts? What means to be honest? How do I handle situation of danger? What means fraud? How do I handle donations?

There are so many challenges an NGO like HOPE Cape Town is facing up the question how we go about working place problems, what are the right channel of communications and so on and so on. HOPE Cape Town is meanwhile also a place for training. People are trained here, work for some years but then also moving on. So the “family structure” of HOPE Cape Town is also changing eventually with new people coming in. This makes it more important than ever to have a booklet to give guidance .
But todays talk was not only about the rules and regulations – we also talked about being proud to be part of such an organisation. What does it mean to identify with the organisation you are working for? How do we present ourselves to show our bond with the goals and achievements of HOPE Cape Town. Important topics and for me the possibility to touch base again with most HOPE Community Health Workers at the same time. I promised to get to all working places in the 17 township communities in the first half-year of 2010 again to visit them all in their daily environment. And I must say  I am looking forward to it. I guess, I learn a lot in doing so.

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

11/23/2009 • 10:31 pm 1

23.11.2009 Berlin calling

A group of mainly doctors from Berlin visited HOPE Cape Town today and it was very good to engage with them in a discussion about the situation here in South Africa and what it means to them in Germany. I hope once again to make it very clear that the HIV problem is not a charity matter but that it is in the interest of the people living in Europe  to avoid the building up of a resistant HIV strain here in South Africa or in East Europe.
The global village does not allow anymore for a kind of separation: with poverty it still is possible, with a virus it is getting more and more difficult and the panic with which people react to certain flu’s in the last year, be it the bird flu or now the swine flu could give an indication what would happen if a real resistant heterosexual HI virus would hit Europe and the rest of the so-called first world. Not sure about the “first” then anymore. And looking at TB with the multi- and extreme resistant TB strains, we have an idea how fast it can go in this direction.

Once again it was obvious how different the situation is in Europe and in South Africa – and as with all group talks, we learned from each other. And I am sure they go back as good ambassadors for the situation here in Southern Africa while still enjoying the beauty of this fabulous continent.

A gathering with a service at a family home ended this day which also saw a lot of preparation for tomorrow and the coming days.

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

11/23/2009 • 12:01 am Comments Off on 22.11.2009 4 weeks and already he is gone again

22.11.2009 4 weeks and already he is gone again

Exactly four weeks has my successor as the new chaplain to the German-speaking Catholic Community lived in Cape Town before leaving again. Living behind “burglar bars” was not his dream, a mugging added to the anxiety. It is a pity as once again it has been proven that the transfer of priests is not a chess game or goes according to files from the human resource department. For me it was sad to see that an obvious wrong transfer knows only losers: the person who was transferred, the community who was looking forward to have another priest and obviously also the Kath. Auslandssekretariat, which has shown that they ignored the realities of the persons and communities concerned.

I wish my successor, who is now back in Germany awaiting his new assignment, all the best. Thanks God the pastoral community council found a retired German priest who is able to supply for the rest of the year. And for me amazing to see how people now take more ownership and responsibility to maintain a certain level of service until a new chaplain will arrive somewhere next year. Nevertheless, after 12,5 years of building up a community, it is somehow frustrating to see how careless my previous headquarters puts at risk the work of many years.

As mentioned yesterday in my blog, my last “spiritual seminarian” will be ordained deacon on the 6.12. This is the first time that I will be at Nazareth House again and meet with the German-speaking Catholic Community. I have to attend this event after years of accompanying Dominik towards priesthood. His diaconate will be the first step of ordination, end of next year should then follow the ordination to the priesthood.

Finally a good start into the week also for HOPE Cape Town. We will get new offices at pharmacology in February next year. Then all senior staff will work in close proximity at the University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg Campus and also I will occupy an office there. But we still have to search for a new team secretary for the G7 Ithemba Ward. Also for February  next year – if you know a reliable person with secretarial knowledge and a lot of human values and a peoples person – let me know.

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

11/21/2009 • 11:39 pm Comments Off on 21.11.2009 A party, a future deacon and Konrad…

21.11.2009 A party, a future deacon and Konrad…

A long day draws to an end – ending with a party to celebrate the beginning of summer. Thanks to Monika & Bernd for a wonderful evening, even the wind and the clouds could not stop us drumming and eating and drinking and chatting a great eve long. It was good to see people again, catch up and simply make new friends. A perfect end of a day which began with meeting somebody who will be ordained to be a deacon in two weeks time. This will be a special occasion for me as it marks an end to a way I had the pleasure to accompany as a spiritual director for some years now. And amazingly, being a spiritual director does not mean a one-way-street; having done this now not only once it was and is always a sharing, which includes the spiritual director. I always learned in advising somebody in a big way myself  – giving is receiving; this is so true as I experienced again and again.

And then the email from Konrad, making me aware of a double negative I used in one sentence of  a one of my blogs and making so my sentence unknowingly to the opposite I really wanted to say. Thanks for that, you creme de la creme volunteer :-), and for all who will find the sentence with a “don’t” and a “not” in one sentence concerning my view on sexuality: please scrap the first “not” and the sentence is right!  🙂 Ach ja, Konrad, we are missing you also… very much so… 🙂

And there was another highlight today: I was invited to write about “Aids in Africa” for a publisher’s academic compilation (University of Trier) and today I could file the finished script after receiving confirmation that my writing was appropriate for the intention of the publisher. It feels good to file away what one has accomplished in the knowledge one has done well.. 🙂

So –  a good day, and a throughout the day working internet connection – what else does one need to go to bed as a happy chappy..:-) Good night

Filed under: Reflection, , , , , , ,

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