God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

12/13/2009 • 12:07 pm Comments Off on 13.12.2009 25 years of Tafelsig Parish

13.12.2009 25 years of Tafelsig Parish

In half an hour I will got to attend the luncheon, given on the occasion of 25 years of the Catholic parish Tafelsig in Cape Town. A friend of mine is parish priest for this community and it is with pleasure that I will go and mingle with the people there. 25 years is not a long time – and one has to realise, that being a “Catholic” in South Africa is until today rather something suspicious. Invitation, where I am invited with wife show the grade of knowledge about Catholicism and from the “good old times” it was known, that Catholics are subversive: during the apartheid times it was mainly the Catholic church siding with the black communities; a lot of priests were driven out of the country. Only after the end of apartheid the Catholic church really starts to be much more visible. I remember the year 1998 where my application for permanent residence was put on hold. I had to appear in front of a committee, at that time in the Western Cape rather a “white affair, and the only question I had to answer was about my relationship with the Vatican. Amazing experience- you could still sense the anxiety of the apartheid system about possible Vatican spies on the wrong side of the battle of minds and for the security of a “white country”.
I think one can compare this a bit with the situation in the occupied territories of the Westbank and the Gaza Strip, where the state Israel also does everything to make it difficult for Catholic priests and social workers to do their bit to ease the situation.

Also at Tygerberg Hospital during the opening of the HOPE Cape Town project and the Ithemba Ward once again it showed that Catholicism was not “normal” in Afrikaans circles. According to some from the hospital, it was the first time in 2001, that a Catholic priest was doing the official blessing – in this case together with a Rabbi and an Imam.
And HOPE Cape Town remains a brainchild of a Catholic priest and the Chairperson of the German-speaking Catholic Community at that time – even when the organisation is since then working together with all denominations, religions and society groups.

So in celebrating 25 years of the Catholic parish in Tafelsig all this comes to my mind – and I am pleased to say, that the vast majority of work in the fields of HIV and AIDS is done by the Catholic church or initiated by our church.  A lot is said about the Catholic Church in these days, and not always that positive; therefore it is good to remind ourselves of all the good things the church is doing, most times through the people working at grass root level. Let’s celebrate these people also in Tafelsig.

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Reflection, Society and living environment, , , , , , , , , ,

11/23/2009 • 10:31 pm 1

23.11.2009 Berlin calling

A group of mainly doctors from Berlin visited HOPE Cape Town today and it was very good to engage with them in a discussion about the situation here in South Africa and what it means to them in Germany. I hope once again to make it very clear that the HIV problem is not a charity matter but that it is in the interest of the people living in Europe  to avoid the building up of a resistant HIV strain here in South Africa or in East Europe.
The global village does not allow anymore for a kind of separation: with poverty it still is possible, with a virus it is getting more and more difficult and the panic with which people react to certain flu’s in the last year, be it the bird flu or now the swine flu could give an indication what would happen if a real resistant heterosexual HI virus would hit Europe and the rest of the so-called first world. Not sure about the “first” then anymore. And looking at TB with the multi- and extreme resistant TB strains, we have an idea how fast it can go in this direction.

Once again it was obvious how different the situation is in Europe and in South Africa – and as with all group talks, we learned from each other. And I am sure they go back as good ambassadors for the situation here in Southern Africa while still enjoying the beauty of this fabulous continent.

A gathering with a service at a family home ended this day which also saw a lot of preparation for tomorrow and the coming days.

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Networking, Society and living environment, , , , , , ,

11/12/2009 • 6:39 am Comments Off on 12.11.2009 Maybe there is hope…

12.11.2009 Maybe there is hope…

I came across this article from IOL, which seems to provide proof that we move from showering away the virus getting into serious debate on the political front:

Zuma issues HIV wake-up call

By Carien du Plessis (copyright IOL 2009)

President Jacob Zuma yesterday call for national mobilisation against HIV/ Aids, saying South Africans had to come to terms with the reality that the country was “not yet winning” the battle against the pandemic. Speaking in the National Council of Provinces, he cited “chilling statistics” of the number of South Africans dying, warning there was “a real danger” that deaths would soon overtake the number of births.  In an emphatic departure from the Aids denialism that marked the era of his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, Zuma said “extraordinary measures” were needed “if we are to stop the progress of this disease through our society”. Recent statistics from the Department of Health, Human Sciences Research Council, Medical Research Council, Statistics SA and other sources “paint a disturbing picture of the health of our nation”, Zuma said:

  • Nearly six out of 10 deaths during 2006 were of people younger than 50.

  • The number of deaths registered in 2008 jumped to 756 000, up from 573 000 the previous year, when just more than a million births were registered (1 205 111).

  • The Independent Electoral Commission had to remove 396 336 names of deceased people from the voters roll in September 2008 and August this year.

  • The average life expectancy of South African men in 2006 was 51 years, while in Senegal it was 60 and in Algeria 70.

  • Some studies suggested that more than half – 57 percent – of deaths of children under five in 2007 were due to HIV.

    “More and more people are dying young, threatening even to outnumber in proportional terms those who die in old age,” Zuma said. “At this rate, there is a real danger that the number of deaths will soon overtake the number of births.” What was “even more disturbing” was the number of young women dying “in the prime of their life, in their child-bearing years”. The situation was made worse by high levels of tuberculosis infection, with the co-infection rate between HIV and TB now “a staggering 73 percent”, with 481 584 people ill with the disease. “These are some of the chilling statistics that demonstrate the devastating impact that HIV and Aids is having on our nation,” Zuma said. He called on political leaders to lead by example and have themselves tested.

    • After this wake up call suddenly other political entities are also declaring the need of a change in politics. Where have all these intelligent people been the last years?????

    Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Networking, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, , , ,

    11/10/2009 • 11:19 pm Comments Off on 10.11.2009 A long day…

    10.11.2009 A long day…

    … draws to an end. And a day which was defined by meetings, two major meetings. The first with the group which calls itself “working group POZ” and is driving the process of the pastoral care for priests and religious living with the virus. I reported back from my meeting with the Papal Council for Health Care Workers and other meetings related to this work. And we discussed the way forward trying to involve the level of bishops into our work  as proposed by the councils representative. So we will approach some bishops in the next time to get their support – the first I will see tomorrow is Archbishop Lawrence P Henry, who gave with his blessings the starting point for this joined work between the “Justice & Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Cape Town” and HOPE Cape Town. It is a further step on a long way to bring the topic to the top of the church.

    In the afternoon then first planing meeting and then management meeting of HOPE Cape Town. It is a productive time, a time to reflect and plan the necessary structures of HOPE Cape Town for the next time. What is running good, what has to be enhanced, what has to be corrected – how can we optimise the mechanism of work within HOPE Cape Town so that we deliver on our mission statement. But also the question where are our limits? What burden can we carry? Reports back, correspondence, requests – there is always so many things which waits for a decision or the next step ahead. At the end we all know that exciting times are lying ahead. Hopefully new and sufficient office space will be available still this year to accommodate the new working structures of HOPE Cape Town.  Kerstin, our future PA to chair and management has done her first 6 weeks and reports back. It is good to see how good she fits in and enjoys her work – and the HOPE Cape Town people enjoying working with her. It is always a blessing to see when people fit in nicely. Or our HOPE Cape Town doctor, who is with us already for 5 months, but it feels as she has been with us for some years.

    I leave the meetings with the feeling that we are moving forward and that we are all willing to bring HOPE Cape Town to a new level of professionalism without losing the heart of the project. I feel encouraged that after months of soul-searching and pondering the right way we are now on this right way into a good future – for the sake of the people we try to assist. Thanks to everybody who contributed to todays productive meetings.

     

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

    11/08/2009 • 2:17 am Comments Off on 08.11.2009 Peacekeeping yes – priest no

    08.11.2009 Peacekeeping yes – priest no

    The following story triggered in me a question:

    A first for soldiers living with HIV By Latoya Newman IOL

    A KwaZulu-Natal soldier has become the first known HIV-positive soldier to be deployed externally by the SA National Defence Force.  In a statement on Tuesday, the Aids Law Project said the sergeant, from 121 SAI Battalion, based in Mtubatuba, had made history on Friday when he was deployed on a peacekeeping mission to Sudan. This follows a May 2008 judgment declaring the SANDF’s HIV-testing policies – which were used to exclude people with HIV from recruitment, promotion or foreign deployment – unconstitutional.
    The SA Security Forces Union welcomed the man’s deployment, but union president Bhekinkosi Mvovo said that the union could not celebrate until the SANDF had completely changed its policy in this regard. Mvovo said the SANDF was dragging its feet in instructing its commanders that HIV-positive soldiers could no longer be held back because of their status. Project spokesperson S’khumbuzo Maphumulo said: “The sergeant was originally excluded when his unit was scheduled for deployment to Sudan. “It was only after the project intervened that the chief of the army issued an instruction on September 28, authorising his deployment to Sudan. “The project has been informed that the sergeant departed for Sudan on Friday,” he added.

    A soldier living with HIV can go and serve as a peacekeeper
    A diplomat living with HIV can go and serve his country,
    A priest living with HIV can serve his church and the faithful,

    well only if he was lucky to be already ordained before the infection was detected. Which seminary takes a man with vocation in, when he is HIV positive in our days? Please tell me since when God has mad HIV a criteria for vocations?

    Filed under: Politics and Society, Reflection, , , , , , , ,

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