God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

08/18/2023 • 8:56 am Comments Off on Handouts and Charity

Handouts and Charity

Working in the NGO field in South Africa, one often meets a sort of demand for handouts and charity to attract people or fill programs with participants. Also, local politicians are tempted to have give-aways at hand – it seems to be the culture of work in the townships of South Africa.

The argument is frequently that people are too poor to pay – or that indeed as mentioned you don’t get people to come if there is nothing for free or to gain. And not even seldom, those invited to join programs ask for what goodies to expect when joining a program. Not to tell about competition within the NGO sector who is able to hand out more.

I get it – indeed, people are poor and times are tough. And yes, it is easier to attract people with food, gifts, and takeaways. But I doubt that this vouches for respect, dignity and development.

Free handouts make people dependent; handouts are charity and needed in absolute emergency situation to stabilize people and to giving them a perspective.

But to change the situation of people, and to foster a non-dependence relationship; to sustain a path to a better life, NGO’s need to walk with people in a giving / contributing relationship. And this does not always have to do with the exchange of lots of money. Small contributions chipped in. Offering talents and time as a contribution. The results:

The acknowledgement of self-worth and the value of what is being offered or jointly worked on. The feeling of being partners on eye-level and respectful towards each other. And the learning curve resulting from all of these aspects: more dignity, more self-respect and the knowledge: I can do it – we can do it together.

All this needs a shift in mindset in all sectors of engagement. It requires the courage to walk the talk of real development; a walk which can be rough and at times scary. But it is the only way to better the lives of people sustainably and to make everybody a real participant and less a dependent waiting for the next handout.

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

08/07/2023 • 9:09 am Comments Off on Sustainability and the ability to plan

Sustainability and the ability to plan

Promoting and deepening sustainability is certainly a priority after experiencing the lockdown during Covid-19 and now the ongoing war in Ukraine with all the consequences felt worldwide.
In the beginning of the lockdown we felt it: 42 staff members and their jobs, but also necessary programmes, were suddenly at risk.

Being not for gain or profit – it meant no support from government, but more expenses not budgeted for.

HOPE Cape Town has always been well managed and has taken care of every penny. This meant we came out of the crisis in pretty good shape. We had great support to provide children and families in Blikkiesdorp with food. But we also lost donors; companies ceased to exist, and many sponsors quite understandably wanted to wait and see before spending on charity or development.

The question remains:
How do we secure the future of our organisation in the long run? How do we guarantee the quality of the work and create reliability?
We have discussed this intensively in the Finance Committee and the Executive Committee of the South African HOPE Cape Town Trust. I would like to take you, the reader, with me on this journey in the coming posts and share thoughts and ideas with you.

Perhaps we can enter into a dialogue, and the blog is not a one-way street. I look forward to feedback, ideas, and dialogue. Your input is of great value for us as an organisation.

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town Trust, HOPE Cape Town USA, HOPE Gala Dresden, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

01/16/2023 • 7:01 am Comments Off on Create HOPE in the World

Create HOPE in the World

Rotary International revealed last week the motto for the Rotary Year 2023/2024.
Reflecting on this motto at the beginning of the new calendar year, indeed hope is needed. Looking around into the world in January 2023 one could be frightened.

The constant attacks of Russia trying to bring a neighboring country down by sheer bombing terror towards infrastructure and non-military aims has shown no letting down on ferocity.

Brazil and the USA, followed by Hungary and now Israel continue to show how democracy can be eroded on a continuous base, and it seems that a major part of the respective population supports the move into more anarchy and oligarchy.

China’s COVID-19 politics has shown how dictatorial states irrationally govern and at the end are bringing more suffering to the people solely through nonsensical decisions filtering down from top to bottom without being questioned.

And in the country I live, the blackouts give witness to the ongoing incompetence and corruption of the nationally governing parties; failing their very own people in basic matters.

So yeah, hope is needed, and fascinating is, that Rotary does not want to give hope, but indeed create hope. This sounds like a very active approach, and an approach which is the only way to go against the wave of hopelessness and despair, people experiencing on a daily basis.

And this despair brings lots of people to turn towards populists and conspiracy theories. Being told that there is only “black and white” and one is given a clear path to walk is often perceived as the most easy way to escape the amount of challenges the world is facing.

Creating hope means now to actively go against populism and all the other woes of modern society. It means to be on the ground and to work with the people concerned by developing alternatives, by voicing reason publicly and by simple leading and living by example.

For me, as the chairperson of HOPE Cape Town Trust, the new motto is also an encouragement to do more in this regard. It seems to me one of the best wishes for 2023. Not only because it is so desperately needed. But also because I know that millions of Rotarians around the world can make a difference, joining forces with all the NGO’s and civil society institutions already hart at work.

We need a coalition of the willing, a term we know from the Iraq war, but now meant in a very positive way of goodwill and enthusiasm. We need people who put their ideologies aside and first and foremost see the person and his/her needs. And we need people who understand human rights, human dignity and the portion of freedom and self-determination to be afforded to everybody.

Looking at the challenges the world is facing, creating hope means a hands-on approach. It means practicality at work and a mixture of grass-roots approach and policies giving reason and direction.

With this motto Rotary has set a scene giving hope – now lets see how the creation of this hope looks like in real life. As a Rotarian myself I am thrilled to be part of this creation.

Filed under: General, Networking, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

11/14/2022 • 11:37 am Comments Off on In between – NGOs in the times of war and pandemic

In between – NGOs in the times of war and pandemic

I guess nobody would argue against the statement, that NGOs are living through a difficult time. During the pandemic, those in the sector of health, nutrition and social support spend considerably more money than the agreed budgets provided. And those who had not put away some money for difficult times stood quickly at the brink of inability to pay due to overspending.

And no, neither in South Africa nor in Germany the state would consider support in the times of Covid – only companies, only economic entities were able to claim support from the state coffers. Looking at South Africa and seeing what NGO’s had achieved in supporting those left alone and in some instances still waiting for the state sponsored food support, it is clear: the situation would have been much dire without their work. In Germany, the food banks called “Tafeln” also were under strain because of the higher demand versus less support.

Generally, supporters and sponsors worldwide are more cautious in spending and granting support. Nobody really knows what is next and how to survive the possible next economic onslaught. It is understandable, but it hurts the ability of NGO’s to function.

Now the war in Ukraine rages on and as a result everything is getting more expensive while budgets, especially those fixed for some years via a grant, remain the same. Again: trouble is looming when not planned and forward-looking kept house.

The way forward? Not sure, but it is important to point out the in-between position of non-governmental organisations and their value for society and economy. Social interventions and economic development are going hand-in-hand. Development aid has always something to do with economical relationships. Both are important for the good and well-being of countries and societies.

Maybe after Covid and while the war is raging it is time to put those relationships but also the development agencies of countries on the test bench to have a sharper look what serves the purpose. The world is changing, and so the ways we do business – not only in the economical world.

Filed under: Africa, Politics and Society, Reflection, Society and living environment, South Africa, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

09/03/2021 • 7:34 am Comments Off on The SA time bomb of 46.3%

The SA time bomb of 46.3%

“According to Stats SA, the unemployment rate as per the expanded definition of unemployment increased by 0.6 of a percentage points to 43.2% in the first quarter of 2021. The official unemployment rate among youth aged 15 to 34 was 46.3% in first quarter of the year”, so the City Press on 14th of June 2021.

This is a result of an education system failing since years the learners and students and creating applicants not fit for the job market. Add a BEE system which is open to abuse by those enriching themselves anyhow while not really assisting those in the mainstream, then you have the toxic mix which was amplified by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It becomes a sense of urgency to tackle this; especially after the recent riots have shown how quick violence and looting can become the order of the day while the state is not capable to protect its citizen or even has at times and in parts not the willingness to do so.

It also does not help to sugar coat the current situation in a country, where more people live on state sponsored grants then are in employment and the portion of substantial taxpayers is rather shrinking.

But there is also no reason to call it a doomsday and put the heads in the sand. The solution is to tackle it head’s on – leaving behind the political Sunday sermons and the put-up-to-failure ideology of parts of this nation’s ruling party. It entails to seriously engage in give and take between government, industry and the NGO sector, focusing solely on the task ahead and not the feathers to win or the political vision prone to override common sense. It also entails to have a sharp look at the educational sector, cut down on union’s power in this sector and put money into the uplifting of teachers and other educational staff.

Nothing is lost, but the clock is ticking; we already lost one born free generation to the inability to master the task – it is questionable whether society will allow that another generation will be sacrificed by political ideology and cadre deployment which translates in incompetence on levels which matter.

South Africa had always shown the ability to stand on the edge of the abyss and not to jump but to turn around and make it to safety. I am convinced this is also possible in current times. The amount of goodwill and preparedness to work together and to create positive synergies is palpable. Leadership is needed to harvest these synergies and to create a situation of excellence in the education sector and in the job market for our young and aspiring people.

Filed under: Africa, Politics and Society, Reflection, SA-German Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Society and living environment, South Africa, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , ,

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