God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

11/24/2009 • 7:56 pm Comments Off on 24.11.2009 Nabucco…

24.11.2009 Nabucco…

I just listen to Nabucco – chorus of hebrew slaves.. and when music is indeed an indication for mood it might be the case: After being the whole day on the run coming home knowing that still one has not even touched the office work lying and waiting – one feels like one of those slaves yearning for a bit of relaxation and freedom. Meetings and a talk to our HOPE Cape Town staff was part of the days work. We published for the first time an internal employee’s handbook. After being so long in business as an NGO and having 27 employees it is time to bring together all the legal stuff and ethics for a work in this field. What are the do’s and don’ts? What means to be honest? How do I handle situation of danger? What means fraud? How do I handle donations?

There are so many challenges an NGO like HOPE Cape Town is facing up the question how we go about working place problems, what are the right channel of communications and so on and so on. HOPE Cape Town is meanwhile also a place for training. People are trained here, work for some years but then also moving on. So the “family structure” of HOPE Cape Town is also changing eventually with new people coming in. This makes it more important than ever to have a booklet to give guidance .
But todays talk was not only about the rules and regulations – we also talked about being proud to be part of such an organisation. What does it mean to identify with the organisation you are working for? How do we present ourselves to show our bond with the goals and achievements of HOPE Cape Town. Important topics and for me the possibility to touch base again with most HOPE Community Health Workers at the same time. I promised to get to all working places in the 17 township communities in the first half-year of 2010 again to visit them all in their daily environment. And I must say  I am looking forward to it. I guess, I learn a lot in doing so.

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

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, , , , , , ,

11/23/2009 • 12:01 am Comments Off on 22.11.2009 4 weeks and already he is gone again

22.11.2009 4 weeks and already he is gone again

Exactly four weeks has my successor as the new chaplain to the German-speaking Catholic Community lived in Cape Town before leaving again. Living behind “burglar bars” was not his dream, a mugging added to the anxiety. It is a pity as once again it has been proven that the transfer of priests is not a chess game or goes according to files from the human resource department. For me it was sad to see that an obvious wrong transfer knows only losers: the person who was transferred, the community who was looking forward to have another priest and obviously also the Kath. Auslandssekretariat, which has shown that they ignored the realities of the persons and communities concerned.

I wish my successor, who is now back in Germany awaiting his new assignment, all the best. Thanks God the pastoral community council found a retired German priest who is able to supply for the rest of the year. And for me amazing to see how people now take more ownership and responsibility to maintain a certain level of service until a new chaplain will arrive somewhere next year. Nevertheless, after 12,5 years of building up a community, it is somehow frustrating to see how careless my previous headquarters puts at risk the work of many years.

As mentioned yesterday in my blog, my last “spiritual seminarian” will be ordained deacon on the 6.12. This is the first time that I will be at Nazareth House again and meet with the German-speaking Catholic Community. I have to attend this event after years of accompanying Dominik towards priesthood. His diaconate will be the first step of ordination, end of next year should then follow the ordination to the priesthood.

Finally a good start into the week also for HOPE Cape Town. We will get new offices at pharmacology in February next year. Then all senior staff will work in close proximity at the University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg Campus and also I will occupy an office there. But we still have to search for a new team secretary for the G7 Ithemba Ward. Also for February  next year – if you know a reliable person with secretarial knowledge and a lot of human values and a peoples person – let me know.

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

11/15/2009 • 2:46 pm 2

15.11.2009 Still confused

Coming back from a brief retreat I am still confused and frustrated to being threatened by a London law firm about the contents of  two of my blogs. It feels like money reigns over truth. Nevertheless, I will wait and see. At the end, so I always hear, will the truth prevail. It should not take too much of my energy in the moment. I am awaiting the content of the complaint from the law firm directly and then I will decide how to follow-up on it. I have altered the two blogs concerned until further notice and me seeing the essence of the complaint.

This all should not stop me from continue working for the cause of HOPE Cape Town and writing the blog to continue networking with all readers and interested people. I still hope to being able to do this with WordPress, but I am also aware that they cannot judge such matters and being themselves subject of a complaint, might react and suspend the blog. If this happens then please check: http://www.stefanhippler.com – there will for this eventuality  be a notice where to find the continuation of the blog.

 

Filed under: General, Reflection, , , , ,

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, , , , , , , , , , , ,

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