Sitting in Venice at the airport waiting on my flight to Cape Town via Frankfurt and Johannesburg I realize that in one weeks time we will have the Ball of HOPE . Being on a ship means also to be exposed to a different kind of crowd – often people who have never seen the realities of poverty and disease but on TV. It’s not their fault, it never came up and doing a cruise means often to pick all the beauty of every country and not being able to see behind the curtain of real life in the respective countries.
Being a bridge between worlds as a chaplain is one important task besides saying Holy Mass and attending to the needs and problems of those on such a cruise liner. It would be false to compare the needs in the township of Cape Town and those I hear about during such a journey. I have to realize that for problems and needs are very subjective and therefore to the person concerned equally important and to be taken serious. Maybe it is indeed a grace to be able to live in both of the worlds without comparing, but with the clear intent to bring those worlds closer together.
Bringing worlds together is also part of the mission when it comes to the Ball of HOPE. Yes, it is about charity, about raising money but also about bringing worlds together. May it be only a couple of kilometers – in Cape Town worlds are living very close together without having the chance, sometimes without wanting the chance to meet each other.
Let’s hope that the Ball of HOPE serves it purpose: to bring together people who realize, that we all have the right to live a decent and dignified life.
Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town Trust, Networking, Reflection, SA-German Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Society and living environment, Africa, ball of hope, bridging, cape town, capetown, chaplain, cruise liner, gap, holy mass, raising money, south africa, western cape, Westin
God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE 