God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

11/04/2009 • 9:30 pm Comments Off on 04.11.2009 Farewell thoughts

04.11.2009 Farewell thoughts

Sitting at Frankfurt airport I can feel the how tired I am and how much I am looking forward to sleep while flying back to Cape Town. I will be happy to be back home again.

For 16 days I toured through Germany with a detour to Rome, I have had meetings, planing workshop, planing meeting, one2one meetings, telephone meetings, talks – I saw round about a 1000 people in those days – statistics can be interesting. Plans are made until 2013 – I feel the manager syndrome arriving on my doorsteps, but I guess many people are telling me that since years. The Ecumenical church day, the world aids conference, the Bundespositivenkonferenz, the world awareness campaign part two, the exhibition at the Charite Museum, a film project, quite some invitations, amongst them to speak also about economy and ethics as well as how to achieve a value system for one’s own life, motivational talks – the visit of bishops to bring the idea of the pastoral care for positive clergy via bishops conferences to Rome – I am this evening indeed sure that there will be no dull moment in my life for the next years to come. And I thought it will take time to find enough work in my new working environment

HOPE Cape Town will be re-structured a bit – new offices, partly changed job descriptions – the Catholic Aids Networks registration as a NPO and PBO and I guess also there is some restructuring necessary – I still have to write a contribution to a book published by the University of Trier – writing down for me all the “still have to do” list is frightening and challenging at the same time. But I am in a good spirit that all can be done, seeing all the marvellous colleagues giving a hand and taking a lead with me.

Next week we will have our management and planing meeting from HOPE Cape Town and then I will report back in detail and we will plan for the new year ahead. Despite my tiredness I can feel the dynamics of networking – the possibilities lying ahead and I once again don’t understand the stand of many NGO’s which are so protective of their work and see most others as competition rather than a completion to their own work. This year I have seen some naughty incidents were other NGO’s were not afraid to try to lure away sponsors on our very own events. There are still so many feathers to earn in South Africa – and there are also so many willing sponsors if you have a good programme – there is no need to fight each other for anything.

 

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

10/05/2009 • 11:14 pm Comments Off on 05.10.2009 office too close to my home…

05.10.2009 office too close to my home…

Monday morning, and instead driving to town in the morning, I just have to open a door and I am in my new office.. It is tempting to do this before being ready for the outside world.. and I guess it needs quite some discipline not to jump with a cup of coffee just into it, from the bed to the desk so to speak.

I will try to keep it separate – office work is office work and home is home. I prefer the distance between both, but that might come in due course of the next months.
I had to prepare for a workshop of Catholic AIDS network this morning, I was asked to give an overview about new care and treatment options and new developments in research. So I will speak about the Berlin patient, about the Thailand vaccine trial and other remarkable stories and new developments on the medication sector. The chairperson of HOPE Cape Town will also be there and report on the situation in South Africa, which looks much more dark than people want to believe. We have massive problems in delivering services and bringing people on treatment.
I also had a meeting at Tygerberg with the Dean of the Sport Sciences Faculty from Munich and some management members – ways of cooperation were discussed and we learned about the sport sciences in Germany and they about HOPE Cape Town in South Africa. In the evening then the celebration of the German National Day – a good one this year with lots of people I haven’t seen in ages and a good speech of the Consul General Mr. Bussmann. So quite a day, in between SA Telkom and the post office .. a full day.

I just realised this evening that my diary is full till I leave for Germany – it is amazing how little time the 8 days have.. I wish, I could extend that timeframe to get all done, what is still waiting to be worked on and finalised. Well, some night sleep has to be sacrificed to get it all done.

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

10/01/2009 • 10:46 pm Comments Off on 01.09.2009 First day without my community

01.09.2009 First day without my community

The day started like all the days before with early being in my office @ the Mediterranean Villa. And it ends now with having packed all my stuff which will be transported to my new interim office at home.  But it was amazing for me how many people send email or phoned to say that they think of me having my first day in the new job description. I just hope that the description now gets clearer by the day. A lot of preparation has to be done now for my trip to Germany and  Italy in two weeks time – and on Tuesday is already the Catholic AIDS Network workshop for priests and religious where I should inform people about the newest developments in treatment and care. So the weekend will not only see my official farewell mass at Nazareth House but also some preparation work for the workshop.

There are so many ideas and visions in my head now, but first I have to settle down with my office and get it in working condition again. And to get used that my office is only some meters away from where I am living.

My new role with HOPE Cape Town is also starting to become clearer, this was a rather painful process but necessary. After having myself detached from the daily business and only participated via the management team, it has now newly to be defined. It is indeed like a sort of new beginning or should I better say: It is like knowing somebody very well and suddenly discovering a completely different site of him or her, watching from a totally different angle. I am sure it will become a somehow newly exciting journey.

But otherwise: a new chapter in my life starts rather uneventful. Good so.

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

09/03/2009 • 2:51 am Comments Off on 03.September 2009 feeling humbled

03.September 2009 feeling humbled

The last two days were amazing days – so many emails, phone calls, text messages – I even did not know that so many people are following my “case” and were waiting after the cancellation of contract through the German Bishops Conference what will happen to me. Most seemed to have bid, that I will go back to Germany – others thought I will leave the church. Well, both thoughts were quite  real – real threats to my life, but thanks heaven a somehow happy end has been found.
Receiving all this positive messages, I feel indeed humbled and realise once again, what expectations people have. I personally never felt that I am doing something extraordinary but simply what was waiting along my way I picked up – and I had from the start marvellous people assisting in creating HOPE Cape Town. Living in South Africa creates other possibilities as somebody would have in Germany. But I believe that everybody has a chance to pick up a challenge along his way on earth and in doing so, change the course of this world and to assist and help people in need.

I am also a bit scared seeing the expectations of the HOPE Cape Town “family”. HOPE Cape Town is in the phase of restructuring because our possibilities and opportunities have grown so fast and big, that we have to look how to cope with all the workload. So we will add myself and a PA, a personal assistant to join HOPE Cape Town. Grass root work and research are at the ends of our working spectrum, and in between is quite a range of portfolios in need to be covered. Thanks God for the recent addition of Saadeka Williams as a full time HOPE doctor.

Also the Catholic Aids Network is in development. We had a meeting this morning as CAN has now to be registered as a NPO and PBO in South Africa in its own rights. So we met with a lawyer who is willing to do “pro bono” work and assist in getting the constitution right and the applications on the way.

With POZ, the working arm of HOPE Cape Town together with the Justice & Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Cape Town, providing pastoral care for priests, religious and seminarians who are living with the HI virus, there is a whole new area where we have to gain expertise. Today we fixed also our meeting with the secretary of the Papal Council for health care worker in Rome; on the 18.10. we will have a meeting with the Bishop to discuss amongst other topics a possible working relationship in this field. I am very curious to see how they react in the Vatican for such a request of official support. But with or without the support, we have to face realities and we have to tackle them head on. Doing so we are also forced to look into our theology and develop our teaching accordingly. It is indeed a tricky field – but on the other hand: only tricky fields are a real challenge… 🙂

Well, it is time to go to bed – it is 2:46 am in the morning and at 6am a new working day is beginning.

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

08/31/2009 • 10:30 pm Comments Off on 31.08.2009… turns out to be a blessed Monday…

31.08.2009… turns out to be a blessed Monday…

It is Monday afternoon when I have a contact with my Bishop in Trier. And now it is official:

I will serve for the next 5 years here in Cape Town, working in the fields of HIV and AIDS, specially HOPE Cape Town and the Catholic AIDS Network and all, what comes with it.  After being a chaplain of two German speaking Catholic Communities the last year, I change to be a “Fidei Donum ” Priest – means a present of the faith. The expression comes from Paul VI and one of his documents (Encyclical Fidei Donum), asking the European churches to give priests to the developing world to assist in the development of the local churches. Admitted, meanwhile it seems that the European churches need assistance.. But nevertheless, it still is a working mechanism, specially for the church in Latin America.

I am grateful and relieved, that after a year of unpleasant experiences and disappointments a constructive talk was possible with my new Bishop in Trier and that this constructive meeting turned the situation into a solution which is beneficial to the church, the people and also takes into account my talents and charisma. It shows, that we are able within the church to find good solutions, if we only want to…

Living at the Cape of Good Hope, working with HOPE Cape Town – so nomen est omen… somehow it seems.

What does it mean now for me in practice?  I will start working on the 1.10.2009 for HOPE Cape Town and the Catholic Aids Network – leaving my offices at the Mediterranean Villa, the community center and occupying offices in Newlands and at Tygerberg Campus of the University of Stellenbosch. And I am invited to supply for the Archdiocese of Cape Town, whenever time permits and need arises. So I stay as a priest within my church and work in the fields I have gained some knowledge and expertise the last years.

It is indeed sad to leave the communities, but it is also exciting to know, what lies ahead and to be able – after one year of being tossed from one corner to the other – to plan ahead again in a systematic way. So it was more than an ordinary Monday, I came home blessed with a final decision, a perspective and lots of ideas how to pursue the new task. Indeed, miracles happen in our days…… 🙂

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

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