01/23/2013 • 7:48 am Comments Off on Another way of supporting HOPE Cape Town
more info: admin@hopecapetown.com
Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town Trust, SA-German Chamber of Commerce & Industry, cape town, Dennis, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town Trust, marathon, running, Ryan, south africa, Two Oceans Trail Marathon, western cape
12/31/2012 • 1:58 am Comments Off on Zest for life..
There are moments where you can feel it: the zest for life, the yearning for reaching out to the stars and grabbing the moon and the sun – touching the universe.
There are moments where you can feel it: that life has too many boundaries, too many rules, too many people telling you what to do and how to act and their reasoning seems so far away.
There are moments where you know that life has so much more to offer if you only would let it in, so much more love, so much more hope, so much more faith.
There are moments where you simply feel connected, carried, unconditional loved not even knowing where it comes from – it just comes over you in a split of a second.
Exactly then you are one with your birth and your death, your are one with your meaning, your calling in life – it is a most precious moment – keep it in your heart as it warms you when the cold slips in again in your daily life.
May 2013 be a year where many such moments keep you warm and carried and unconditional loved.
SH
Filed under: General, Uncategorized, 2013, birth, calling, cape town, death, faith, hope, HOPE Cape Town Association, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, HOPE Cape Town Trust, love, meaning, New Year, New Year wish, relationships, religion, south africa, spirituality, stefan hippler
12/29/2012 • 11:19 pm Comments Off on Lucky I
End of the year is always a time to look back on one’s life, achievements and failures and the big question is whether with age also some more wisdom came to the surface.
Everybody must do this review for himself – for me, looking back I can only say: Lucky I or better I was blessed.
It was a tough year but I am still alive, lots of failures during the year, but I am still standing on two feet and feel growth, lots of great moments and still hungry for life, lots of love and I am very grateful for this.
The small moments made this year so valuable, the intimate moments with friends sharing life in a way one normally would not trust to do. The duties and services done and being able to touch the lives of other people. The sermons being not a one way road but begin of a meaningful discussion. HOPE Cape Town with all the great people working for and with the organization – even if there were tough moments to find a way forward serving those infected and affected by the pandemic. My contacts with sponsors and donors in South Africa and Germany, the HOPE Gala in Dresden, the Ball of HOPE in Cape Town and the invite to join the German AIDS Foundation in Berlin for the Festliche AIDS Gala.
Being able to speak to students, address groups, NGO’s , church communities and other entities – be it on land or on a cruise ship – it all made my life much more lively and beautiful. Meeting delegations, politicians, students, tourists – all interested in the work we are doing here in Cape Town – how good it is always being challenged by good questions and the interest in knowing it all.
Well, so at the end of the year I feel blessed with all the family, friends, supporters and even those struggling with me as they are needed to keep the boat of life going in the right direction. Thanks for all the good and the challenges and I am looking forward to a great 2013 with lots of all shades life has to offer. Knowing that at the end all comes together in what we Christians are calling God and who is named differently depending on each believe system – I am not afraid of what lies ahead.
How about u?
Filed under: General, HOPE Cape Town Association, Networking, Reflection, Africa, Aids, berlin, cape town, dresden, Germany, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, south africa, stefan hippler
12/27/2012 • 5:36 pm Comments Off on Different worlds
Being on a cruise liner as a chaplain means also to be exposed to many different people and talking about God, the world, HOPE Cape Town and obviously HIV and AIDS. And suddenly one realizes again how different the worlds are we are living in. Standing casually last night watching the evening show I was chatting with the medical doctor on board. Naturally we are in close contact as our work portfolios touch each other and this time, we spend even more time together chatting and befriending each other besides the work. Speaking about my experience of HIV and AIDS in South Africa and my question, whether there are HIV rapid test on board the good doctor is not sure whether there are. In the ongoing conversation he admits never having treated a case of HIV and as the discussion goes along, he mentioned that in the case he would encounter such a case on board, he would advice the person to leave the ship. I was stunned. Not that he had any reservations or discriminatory thoughts about people living with HIV. It was simple, that for him, HIV was an unknown syndrome, not present while he was studying and never present to his knowledge in his rooms.
Knowing how he cares about patients I wondered till I was falling asleep that for me HIV was such a “normal” factor of life while for him it was something unknown in practice and even far away in theory. Indeed different worlds and a reminder, that often we think, our environment, our knowledge, our expertise is normal to all others – and it is not. I hope that my talk tomorrow about the work we are doing with HOPE Cape Town in South Africa will open up some minds and hearts and contribute to a better dealing with HIV and AIDS in an European environment.
Filed under: General, HIV and AIDS, HOPE Cape Town Association, Reflection, Society and living environment, Uncategorized, Aids, Conditions and Diseases, Cruise, cruise liner, health, hiv, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Immune Disorders, medical profession, south africa
12/08/2012 • 8:08 am Comments Off on Getting older in South Africa
Life expectancy has unexpectedly jumped from 54 to 60 in 3 years in South Africa. This great news was published end November in the prestigious “The Lancet” journal. Co-author Professor Salim Abdool Karim described the 10 percent increase in life expectancy from the age of 54 to 60 in three short years as “absolutely stunning”. The main reason for the dramatic increase in life expectancy has been the massive expansion of the country’s HIV treatment programme, now reaching around 1.8 million people. So there is indeed proof that antiretroviral treatment gives not only life back to those infected but also brings back quality, length and all the other changes a country needed to survive and prosper. To read the article from Kerry Cullinan click here.
Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HIV Prevention, HIV Treatment, Medical and Research, Politics and Society, Society and living environment, Africa, aging, health, hiv, Lancet, Life expectancy, Salim Abdool Karim, south africa
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