God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

Criminalization of HIV – AIDS

Bad criminal laws...Poisoning  –  terrorist attack  – bio-attack  –  murder  — attempted murder  –  assault

 

the labels of law are unbelievable – sometimes even if there is no knowledge of the infection or no transmission occurred

 

Did you know that giving birth, breastfeeding, spitting as a HIV positive person can bring you into jail in some countries?

 

In Sweden, even consent is declared invalid by law if transmission occurs

 

It is not those who know their status who drive the pandemic but those who don’t know. But would you go for a test when you know that a positive result might bring you in jail through your sexual activities, even if it is protected sex and no transmission occurs?

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

The burden of travelling

Most people like traveling and I have to admit, most times I also like traveling too. The airport controls can be unnerving – but having no cell and no internet for a couple of hours is relaxing – well it seems that it is all coming back into the cabin of new airplanes. Traveling brings you in touch with other traditions and cultures, simply with other realities which might sometimes be strange, sometimes funny, but always good to know. And here the burden starts: Who at home to share the new knowledge and experience with? How to implement it into daily life? Does really anybody in the closer vicinity wants to know how things have changed for you? Does it really fit into the settings you are living in? And when it comes to my church – it is even worse as the word “relativism” is very quick used to bring downfall to different perspectives and their approaches. How much do I wish sometimes that all people could share in the diversity of the world and yes, how relative the way is, we are living in our small little world and that there as so many alternatives which have the same value than our solutions and habits..  Sometimes it is a burden to think broad and diverse…

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

14.3.2010 Thailand or never peace?

Once again politics in Thailand brings the country on the brink to chaos, this time the so-called “red shirts” on the streets of Bangkok trying to bring down the government. Sometimes I wonder about a lot of things: About how people perceive their political view as the only valid once. About how people think their doing is so important for the development of this world. About how people perceive the  state of affairs as static. People murder for their political views, people die for their country, politicians negotiate in a way one could think the nation has exist since the beginning of the world.

I advise to go somewhere in the desert or in the bush where there is no artificial light and have a look at night at the stars, at the milky way and all its unlimited extensions… And then feel how small and tiny we are… A bit more being humble would help in most situations.

I also think that by the way when I observe religious leaders and gurus – how they insist to know the truth and only the truth. People of the cloth have killed for their conviction in the past, wars have been ignited by religious views, so-called witches burned, Jews hunted, crusaders send en mass to Jerusalem.

I advise to go somewhere in the desert or in the bush where there is no artificial light and have a look at night at the stars… and you suddenly realise how little you know about this world and its existence and where we are coming from and going to. We believe, but there are so many things we still have to learn about the meaning of life – even the holiest man is still far away from knowing it all. If he is wise, he knows that he doesn’t know – and he is humble. We need a lot of wise men in our days..

All this reflection does not prevent from preparing for the week. After 2 weeks with limited internet I spent this Sunday in answering emails and preparing for the coming week. A Bavarian delegation is arriving and visiting HOPE Cape Town, the Austrian TV wants to have an interview, there are several meetings with representatives of the health sector of the province and much more. Hope there is time to live in between.

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

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© Rev Fr Stefan Hippler and HIV, AIDS and HOPE.
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