God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

09/07/2009 • 5:00 pm Comments Off on 07.09.2009 good deeds…

07.09.2009 good deeds…

Monday afternoon and a phone call from Germany. A company will be in Cape Town with 150 employees in the near future and wants to dedicate part of their time for social work. The request is whether HOPE Cape Town cannot provide for that kind of work, which should be adequate to the portfolio of the employees, last for a couple of hours and leave the people afterwards joyful about the work they have done.

It is amazing to see the amount of people wishing to do something good and meaningful – and how difficult it is indeed to satisfy this need. It should have a long term effect and make everybody instantly happy, the people providing the service, the people receiving the service and I guess also us, as the bridge between both.
I salute those who are willing to sacrifice time and money for a good cause; on the other hand I do acknowledge and know out of experience how difficult it is to provide such opportunities. Opportunities which can be so crucial to the understanding of the situation, we are facing here in South Africa but also in many other locations around the world.

We from HOPE Cape Town try our very best to accommodate all those wishes for helping a good cause for a limited time. And if we cannot help, we feel that we missed out an opportunity to help somebody understanding, feeling, tasting, experiencing a situation which is so normal for the majority of people living on this earth. An experience which makes a European or North American aware that life conditions in their respective areas are the exemption and not the rule.

And having people assisting people can also have a funny side, as we experienced getting some help from as far as I can remember the Canadian nay. Committed to help to create a vegetable garden they all arrived full of enthusiasm in the township. But none of the inhabitants showed up; it was even more silent on the street than usual. We only found out later that the uniforms of the navy and the SAPS are similar – so people, seeing so many “policemen” thought it would be best to stay away – one never knows…. 🙂  The misunderstanding was sorted out and a great vegetable garden is now in place..

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

09/05/2009 • 7:35 pm Comments Off on 05.09.2009 Spring is coming..

05.09.2009 Spring is coming..

Spring is coming to Cape Town – I can feel it as my hay-fever kicks in again and keeps me sneezing all the time. Despite that it is a marvellous time and simply to enjoy the warm sun today was magic.

It was a quiet Saturday so far – well, not that quiet as my godchild was on visit, together with Mama and sister. I can report that all Buddhas are still in one piece, all keys are back to the place they should be and all other furniture and items back to the known places… I admire parents who are so patient with their kids.. I guess I am too old for this kind of fun all day long… 🙂

It is the first day after a really hectic week – and even the promise to my doctor to work only half to give my body the chance to recover from H1N1 was in jeopardy all times. Yesterday I was informed that your secretary from HOPE Cape Town was hospitalized with severe H1N1 and our virologist @ HOPE Cape Town management is working day and night with the authorities to prevent the epidemic to spread – not really with a lot of success.

Used this afternoon to work on the “employee handbook and code of good conduct” and some other items to be used for the administration of HOPE Cape Town. It is amazing how one gets caught up in all this administrative things when the amount of employees is rising. You cannot avoid it. I believe that being good organised and clear on the rules and regulations it helps to keep admin problems at bay most times.

Tomorrow we will have our ecumenical encounter, visiting as the German speaking Catholics the German speaking Lutheran St. Martini community. I have to preach and hope that my sermon will at least enlighten one of the visitors.  Afterwards cake and coffee and some chats before heading to a Jazz concert and a reception by the German Consule General, who just arrived in Cape Town.

Yesterday evening I met with a fellow priest and friend and at the end of the supper I had to put on record that my first Sunday without the German speaking Catholic Community in October  is already filled with the celebration of 4 services in Milnerton and Brooklyn as a supply priest. It seems that my way to holiness does not allow for one weekend without mass here in Cape Town.

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

09/03/2009 • 10:44 pm Comments Off on 03.09.2009 imposed conditions?

03.09.2009 imposed conditions?

Controversial Priest Continues Working

Even though he is known for disagreeing with Catholic Church policies on AIDS and condoms, a German priest has been cleared to continue fighting the disease in Cape Town, South Africa. A spokesperson for Stefan Hippler’s home diocese in Trier, Germany, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, “Despite his critical statements, Hippler has earned great achievements with his work.” (HIVPLUS Magazine)

Quite a lot of people asking me after reading such notices more or less frank whether the permission to stay and work in South Africa is connected to any conditions..   And here is the answer: No, there are no secretly imposed conditions.

There is only the agreement between me and the Bishop of Trier that we want to foster the cooperation between Europe and Africa, between Germany and South Africa, between the dioceses on both continents and the desire to develop a good pastoral care and a good theology regarding the topic HIV and AIDS. To bring Africa more in focus for the department of World Church Affairs in my home diocese of Trier and to work together with Justice & Peace as I do it already here in Cape Town – these should be fruits of my future work with HOPE Cape Town and the Catholic AIDS Network of the Archdiocese of Cape Town.

We both see the immense needs in the field of HIV and AIDS and we both have the desire that the church  indeed serves the people living with the HI virus as much as possible.

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

08/28/2009 • 9:04 am Comments Off on 28.08.2009 Light at the end of the tunnel…

28.08.2009 Light at the end of the tunnel…

Friday morning, a new day and slowly but surely the clouds of uncertainty are fading away. As it looks in the moment, I will stay in Cape Town to continue my work in the fields of HIV and AIDS with HOPE Cape Town and the Catholic AIDS Network (CAN) of the Archdiocese of Cape Town. This would enable me to built on the last more than 8 years of work in this portfolio. I must admit that I would be very happy to dedicate my time and energy for this cause and to create, develop and foster relationships in this field between Europe and South Africa.

Regarding the German speaking Catholic Communities in Cape Town and Durban the future is now also decided. I accept the fact that there is a termination of contract and I will not take the matter for a juridical review within the church. It would damage the church, waste a lot of energies and I cannot see the need to fight those, who decided to get me out of this portfolio. I don’t feel any need to have a dependency of any kind to them. My farewell in Cape Town will be on the 4th of October 2009, in Durban on the 13.9.2009.
I feel sad about leaving the communities – I felt home with the people in the last 12 years, but I guess, for a priest it is normal to change positions – and in our days, it applies for a lot of professions. The good old times, where priests where sitting for ages in one little village are gone….

But I am also looking forward to the new challenge and I know that I can continue to build on a good foundation – life is good and at the end, the bible is right:  God can write straight on twisted lines. Light at the end of the tunnel…

Filed under: General, Reflection, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

08/26/2009 • 8:17 am Comments Off on 26.08.009 a new day…

26.08.009 a new day…

8 in the morning, a new day is beginning to blossom, the first sunshine is visible and promising a clear sunny Cape Town winter day. Lets hope that it stays like that.
Every day is like an empty sheet of paper and it is mainly up to me, what will be scribbled on this sheet during the day. I only can hope that one can recognise my handwriting at the end of the day.

Every day anew we have the change to live our own life, to change our perceptions, to live more fully, to take on opportunities, to better our lives and that of others. So many opportunities lying ahead. Which will I take, which will I not take up and maybe lose forever?

Every day is a new gift – and every day might be my last day, my last sunrise, my last meeting with people, my last casual chat… nobody knows when this day will break, but living every day as it would be the last is surely the best way of preparing for this very last day as a human on earth.

Filed under: Reflection, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

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