God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

02/04/2014 • 9:04 am Comments Off on Philip Seymour Hoffman death is speaking volumes

Philip Seymour Hoffman death is speaking volumes

Another actor dead as a result of drug use; it seems that celebrities and public persons have more possibilities to entertain drug use, even confessing to it, getting clean only to start all over again. Fame seems not to translate into a happy life but into depression and yearning for more and the ultimate kick. All those stories tell us about a tragedy of being put on a pedestal and the assumption, that money and VIP treatment creates happiness in life. From Withney Houston, Amy Winehouse to Heath Ledger and Chris Kelly – they all tell the story of stars  at the end not able to connect to real life; and personalities, whose need for excitement, paired with unlimited finances and so-called VIP friends brought on a lifestyle that often breeds addiction.
It leaves the question what really carries us through life? Is it money, fame or at the end such simple things like love, good friends, a lover holding on to the person even in bad times?
For me such tragedies show how life can be wasted by slipping into an artificial life style often fostered by the need to have again and again a new story for all these celebrity magazines which live and strive of the curiosity of its readers.  So at the end it is the mixture of extreme personalities and perceived society demands which creates the need for drugs and prescribed medication leading to early death.
How far away is from this the daily struggle of those we cater for at HOPE Cape Town. It seems so far away, but at the end, it boils down to the same human experience: anxiety, yearning for love and acknowledgement, the feeling of loneliness and the cry for help in one or the other way. Celebrity person in Hollywood and a person in the townships of Cape Town:  when it comes to emotions, there is a certain similarity for sure.

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

01/30/2014 • 7:39 am Comments Off on PEPFAR and the Catholic Church

PEPFAR and the Catholic Church

A street in Hillbrow, Johannesburg.

A street in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am visiting Johannesburg and a Catholic institution asking for assistance in a difficult situation. The Catholic Church in South Africa has mainly relied on one big sponsor in the last years: PEPFAR, the US American President’s emergency fund. This was done for several reasons; one being that in the beginning it excluded any condom distribution or work with prostitution as a precondition for receiving these funds. There has been very much debate around it at World AIDS Conferences at times as this resulted in some countries showing a clear increase of infections again. Nevertheless, with the money lots of good was also done, amongst others instituting the distribution of antiretrovirals for thousands of South Africans.
The funds now drying up and so the Church is forced to transfer its patients to the governmental facilities with different results. As specially in Johannesburg also quite a big number of asylum seekers still without papers are among those catered for, these people would anyhow not be eligible for continuation of treatment in a primary health care facility.
So the need for special funding to at least get one doctor looking after those patients is needed and hopefully there is a way to support this for the new year.
From what I have seen and heard it seems that for many patients it is a bitter reality check: coming from church run clinics which really went the extra mile for a patient to ensure his or her health, governmental facilities are mostly overcrowded and not able to cope in this way with their patients. Experts fear, that people will be lost in transition or get lost in transition.This shows once again how important the support of the Catholic Church in providing medical services has been and it is to decry that lack of funding forces closure and that – at least in Johannesburg – the government now refuses to deliver antiretroviral medication as a matter of principle to NGO run medical facilities even if they could continue – forcing so the transfer in a way too often not beneficial for the patients.

With a generation of young people being born HIV positive and with the treat of resistance looming like we have seen it with TB, this country needs the continuation of support from all corners of society. Even if there is the growing impression that we have conquered and beaten the deadly pandemic, it might be too early to come to this conclusion. So it is really to hope that also the churches try their utmost to continue as many services as possible to give those infected and affected all necessary support.

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Filed under: Catholic Church, HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Networking, Reflection, Religion and Ethics, Society and living environment, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

01/24/2014 • 12:48 pm Comments Off on Politics can produce drug resistance

Politics can produce drug resistance

It will be a hot and contested election year in South Africa – and the heat is starting to be felt with all the manifestos and declarations but also toi-toi’s and service delivery protests. The DA want’s to march towards Luthuli House, Khayelitsha residence fight for better sanitation systems, AMCU is on strike again at the Platinum mines – people are going for their convictions onto the streets and politics one or the other way dictates for a lot of people how they spend their days. The question I would like to ask is whether with all those emotions boiling over are people still taking care of their health? Do people have time to go to the clinics to take their TB medication; do they think of appointments with doctors and nursing staff and do they take their anti-retroviral treatment as prescribed if they are in need of it?

We often hear that in times of unrest, civil war health issues are on the back-burner when it comes to people’s minds – often they don’t have the opportunity to organize their health related obligations to keep fit. But I believe even on the low-level of service delivery protests and strikes and marches we can see the problem arising of not adherence to life saving medication. We pride ourselves to put more and more people on those medication but we seem not to be able to ensure the proper compliance when politics takes over. With 2 million and still counting for example on anti-retroviral treatment, there must be a concern about their well-being in those heated days.
When we saw the poo-protesters on the N2 motorway many times last year – those questions of adherence and compliance were always on my mind. Knowing how big the restrains are already on the health system we can’t effort more resistant bugs. And reading this morning about the thoughts of government officials to let people pay if they self-inflict their health problems – non-compliance because of toi-toi might be also falling soon under that label. It might sound far-fetched – but country and society are in such a crazy mood in many quarters – let’s work together that we care about compliance and adherence, be it TB or HIV or any other of those disease bringing down a person if not treated in a proper way.

Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HIV Treatment, Politics and Society, Reflection, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

01/18/2014 • 7:58 am 2

German theologians and the family synode

Two groups of noted German theologians have bluntly outlined how church teaching does not align with the concerns or lifestyles of most European Catholics in response to a Vatican questionnaire on Catholics’ attitudes on issues like contraception and same-sex marriage.
Published by the Department of Theology in Fulda / Germany the theologian are trying to give their view on the situation as asked for by the questionnaire from the Vatican. After some Catholic Diocese already published their findings which showed that the teaching of the church and the realities of the people in Europe are disconnected in many instances, the outline of the academics for moral theology and pastoral theology underlines the gaps, but also shows up ways to develop Catholic teaching.

In Germany, the publication of new ways to engage with divorced persons who want to get remarried by the Diocese of Freiburg and the followed exchange of opinions by the head of the German Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Zollitsch and the Cardinal elect Mueller from Rome as well as Cardinal Marx from Munich show clearly that the standpoints are very diverse. Let’s hope that not fundamentalism but the unconditional love of God prevails. With the ancient practice regarding divorce as still in existence in the Orthodox Church (oiconomia) there are clear living signs that we as a church can do better than wanting people to live an ideal under all circumstances – no failure allowed.

Here you find the translated statement of the academics: 199623709-German-theologians-respond-to-Vatican-s-synod-questionnaire

Filed under: Catholic Church, General, Reflection, Religion and Ethics, , , , , , , , , , ,

01/11/2014 • 12:58 pm Comments Off on Every struggle hero a good politician?

Every struggle hero a good politician?

The ANC manifesto will tell South Africans exactly who to vote for, says President Jacob Zuma and I guess he means it. He means it differently as I or others will understand it. And I have to admit that elections in South Africa posses tough choices. The problem of the ANC is a problem also churches face: Glorifying the past and telling people how good one has been at times does not qualify for office in these times. Or to phrase it differently: Not every struggle veteran is a good politician – what wisdom could the ANC gain if they would acknowledge and honor those having been in the struggle but also being honest that most of them not qualify to run a country or a province. This assessment is does not lack respect – the opposite is the case: one respects the achievements while acknowledging the limitations. Every period of time needs people up to tasks of the specific time. It’s up to an organization to acknowledge that and up to the wisdom of people concerned to step aside as “honored elderly”. Because this is not happening in South Africa and only people in line with any statement made by the senior officials and struggle heroes can climb up the carer ladder we are in the predicament as it unfolds today. Exactly because of that, “Malemas” can rise and try to destroy even more the future of South Africa.
The ANC will rule forever says the president and shows very bluntly, that he has not understood what democracy means. It is not about a party – it is about honoring those who brought freedom and give this generation the chance to develop a country by democratic means and with the eduction and freedom attached which is needed to develop into a healed and healthy society.

The South African society needs healing more than anything else – and even for that we need people able to heal instead of singing struggle songs and showing clearly that they are not willing to see this as their proud history with no prominent role in our days. And no, I am not anti ANC at all – I really hope that this party, like also others by the way, can meet that transformation for the better good of the people. Because only then the state will function without corruption; only then health services and fundamental service deliveries will take place in a fashion suitable and acceptable for the masses. Only then politicians will understand that they serve the people and not themselves and their families – only then people in power don’t have the urge to compensate for lost gains in the times of struggle.

History comes in chapters – it’s time that we allow for a new chapter, memorizing the past without letting ourselves and our action been poised by the blame game. Only reconciliation and healing will bring the future. So once again: let’s honor the heroes of the struggle and let’s form a new generation of politicians able to overcome the divide plaguing our country years into democracy.

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

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