God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

10/20/2009 • 12:30 am Comments Off on 20.10.2009 vatican meeting

20.10.2009 vatican meeting

A real experience. Joachim and myself arrived in time at the papal council’s seat close to St. Pieter’s. Last Friday we were told by email that Bishop Jose will be out for another meeting and that Monsignor Jean Marie, undersecretary will be available to discuss the matters with us. After 1 hour of waiting I enquire and find out, that the undersecretary has not arrived yet. When he arrived we quickly discover that we need somebody to translate from English into Italian as he is francophone. To organise that it takes another hour – at 11 we finally are sitting together to discuss matters, not a very good start into good business.

The first point is quickly resolved. The press text to be published in the council’s magazine about the cape2cape is in some points not completely adherent with the teaching of the magisterium, so we are told and I take the text to have a second look and promise to re-submit. I will spend one of the next evenings to do so…
Then we discuss a planed project where we wish the involvement of the Holy Sea, the council and the pope. We agree to submit a written proposal and meet again in May next year.

The last point is the question of HIV positive priests, religious, clergy and I explain our project, our pastoral aims. This is met with a serious discussion and the recognition that there is surely a tricky but important task ahead, which has not been started in the church yet. We discuss possible steps forward, which I will take to our project group and I promise to send a report back to Bishop Jose and again: May would be a good time to discuss this further, maybe even with other departments of the Vatican.

The two hours waiting was a difficult time, specially for Joachim, who is simply not used to be treated like this. In all fairness I must say that both representatives of the council apologised profoundly at the end for letting us wait so long. I attributed the wait rather in a not very good preparation and hand over for the meeting – and I make it very clear at the end of the meeting that my way from Cape Town to Rome is not just for fun but that I mean serious business and we are really interested in engaging in meaningful discussions and solutions which will be beneficial for all concerned.

I had the impression that at the end we might have a good starting point for a further engagement and possible cooperation in one matter and starting a process of serious consideration for the matter regarding HIV positive clergy. I don’t want to go into detail about the way forward regarding the POZ initiative as I think it should first concern the project group in Cape Town and I will report back to them. But I can tell without telling too much that our planed strategy seems to fit in very nicely to bring the process forward.

Back to Wolfsburg were I will stay the next two days discussing cooperation with Joachim Franz and his team – and after an almost sleepless night in Rome I will now sleep this evening very tight. The flights with Swiss Air have been rather nightmares than pleasures – but flying hasn’t been a pleasure for a long time…

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, Networking, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

10/19/2009 • 12:12 pm 1

19.10.2009 news in between: Condoms are not reliable in fight against HIV, says African cardinal

It just crossed my laptop screen while in Rome and I want to share it without further comment:

VATICAN CITY (CNS) : Condoms are not always effective in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa, said Cardinal Peter Turkson of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Abstinence, fidelity in marriage and universal access to antiretroviral drugs are the strategies the church continues to promote in the fight against AIDS, he said. The cardinal, who Cardinal Turkson copyright CNSwill turn 61 Oct. 11, made the comments during a Vatican press conference Oct. 5, presenting some of the issues to be discussed during the second special Synod of Bishops for Africa. Cardinal Turkson was asked about the AIDS epidemic in Africa and what position the synod will take, specifically concerning the use of condoms in HIV prevention. He said when “people propose the use of condoms it becomes effective only in families where they are going to be faithful.” However, condoms give “people a false sense of security, which rather facilitates the spread of HIV/AIDS,” he said.

Condoms cannot be relied upon to provide 100-percent protection against HIV transmission because “there are condoms which arrive in Ghana, which in the heat and whatever burst during sex,” he said. Because there is always a chance condoms might break during sexual intimacy, he is reluctant to recommend condom use even to married couples in which one partner is affected with HIV, he said. The priorities for African bishops at the synod will remain “abstinence and loyalty and fidelity” within marriage, he said. During pastoral counseling, he said he presents the issues and discusses them with the person seeking advice, which “allows the person to decide, to (make) his own decision.” He said he does not “undervalue the possibility that somebody who has AIDS recognizes his own Christian commitment (and) would simply just decide to refrain from sex,” even if he or she were in a faithful marriage, in order to prevent the spread of HIV. “Some would in such a situation have advised the use of condoms by a partner who has HIV so that it doesn’t spread, but again, in our part of the world, even the use of condoms is sometimes risky,” he said.

“If we have proper, top quality condoms, then one can probably with certainty speak about” the effectiveness of an infected partner using condoms, “but that is also not the case” in Ghana, he said. Cardinal Turkson said he would rather see the resources spent on manufacturing and providing prophylactics to Africa be earmarked for subsidizing antiretroviral drugs for the people there. “Let us use those resources to support the production of antiretroviral drugs so (they) would be more available to people,” he said. “That’s probably the big favor that we can do for the people suffering from HIV/AIDS.”

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, Society and living environment, , , , , , , , , , ,

10/19/2009 • 12:14 am Comments Off on 19.10.2009 will they listen?

19.10.2009 will they listen?

At 9 am today we will have the meeting with the papal council for the health care workers, which also deals with the topic of HIV and AIDS.  Coming closer to the meeting I am really excited, thrilled and a bit anxious how they will receive our POZ proposal working with HIV positive clergy. Open support?? silent support?? No support?? More talks needed? Are they the right partners for such an endeavor?  We will see…

I am glad that Joachim is with me,  it also gives us the opportunity to discuss the topic “sports and church” in the field of HIV and AIDS.

Joachim Franz and Stefan Hippler

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, Networking, , , , , , , , , , ,

10/18/2009 • 10:03 am Comments Off on 18.10.2009 Rome ….

18.10.2009 Rome ….

Flying to Rome always sounds like a great trip, and indeed the city is amazing. History, past and present times are melting together in a way which triggers interest in the past history of human mankind. I surely could live in Rome for a while.

But only 16 hours will bring me to Rome, one meeting with the papal council of the health care workers – a council dealing also with HIV and AIDS. We, Joachim Franz and I will meet with the secretary, Bishop Jose and continue our discussion from last November. It is for me vital to introduce during the talk also our project dealing with HIV positive clergy – and it will be very interesting for me to see how they see the subject. Ideal would be to join forces on this tricky issue, but I am not sure they are really wanting to put such a topic on any official agenda. So I will see… but I hope for support and understanding,especially in the African context, but also internationally. There is no reason to put the head into the sand and to ignore an obvious problem within the church.

Bishop Jose, secretary of the papal council and Fr Stefan

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10/17/2009 • 11:07 pm Comments Off on 17.10.2009 Silent into the grave

17.10.2009 Silent into the grave

No, no, it’s fine. Everything’s okay. Whenever we ask Maggie how she is doing, she always gives the same answer. But we can see that she is getting thinner and weaker by the day. It’s obvious that she struggles to clean the rooms in our guesthouse, she visibly strains just shaking pillows or emptying the bins. And yet she insists: Don’t worry about me. Maggie has worked at the Mediterranean Villa for two years. She is 48 years old. Her husband died in 2004, and since then she has had to find her own way with three children. The two older daughters don’t work, the youngest smokes Tik – crystal methamphetamines – which is all the rage in Cape Town’s drug scene. It’s disastrous for the whole family. While the mother works, the daughter sells all the household’s possessions to buy more drugs. But the money is never enough to gratify her addiction. Maggie’s daughter enters a vicious cycle of crime: she steals, she is arrested, mother bails her out, she does not reform, is arrested again, etc. And Maggie works and earns the money needed to bail her out.
But soon Maggie won’t be able to do that any more, because there is a disorder about which she doesn’t want to talk. She also doesn’t want to see a doctor. All our efforts at persuading her are futile. She makes excuses: “Let it be, it’s fine, I have no time for doctors, it’s just the stress.” Both of us know that it isn’t stress, but the stigma. It’s the dread of being marked out and ostracised if her neighbours in the township should know what ails her. That disease: HIV/Aids. It’s always others who get infected – neighbours, strangers, outsiders. The stigma is remorseless. It draws on ignorance, rumours, credulity and moral failure. It leads to the exclusion of the affected. “Don’t touch me”. “Use another toilet.” One hears such phrases every day. And sometimes: “You’re not one of us any more.”
It’s like a social death penalty – and that happens in a culture which proclaims the principle of ubuntu. A keyword in Africa’s mutually supportive societies, it can be defined as one being human only through other people. Aids. Maggie won’t even say the word. Her husband’s death certificate also doesn’t say what exactly caused his death. He just was very ill. Nobody needs to know more. And that’s why so many people refuse to go to a doctor. “No problem; it’s not that bad.” Always the same excuses, the same pleading, the same silent complaints, and sometimes also tears – and it goes on like this for weeks. Finally, in November 2006, I prevail and take Maggie to the doctor for a blood test. She refuses to accept the result. No, she doesn’t have this sickness; she isn’t ill. The doctor puts her off work for six months. She gets weaker and weaker, her body is falling apart; it’s too late for the medications which could extend her life. Soon, on a sunny January morning, she dies. The fear of stigmatisation killed Maggie – a fate shared by many thousands of her fellow HIV-positive South Africans.

from the book: Gott,AIDS, Afrika – Kiepenheuer & Witch Verlag 2007

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, Society and living environment, , , , , ,

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