09.02.2010 Over the years…

Sitting in todays HOPE Cape Town management meeting I do with interest following the discussions, comments, requests – it is amazing for me to see, how things, or should I better say, people develop, interactions develop, discussions arise – sometimes I think it would be nice to have filmed over the years some of the meetings to study the development of such a group of people like us from management. I guess, if one is sitting in such meetings for years, one develops a sort of relationship which includes to know and predict reactions but also has learned to cooperate and discuss in a way which is not hurting people. One knows each other – and still sometimes there is this moment of surprise.

I took time today to observe a lot and – and with no bad intention – after years of working together it is good once in a while to observe oneself and others and to sense the bond, but also some old behaviour patterns showing up again and again. But all has the feeling of belonging together and going for the same cause, even if ways sometimes differ and discussions are very intense.  And I still feel that tension between decampment and the longing to secure the achieved – and I guess, as long as I feel this two poles, we are on the right way.

Management meetings have become longer and intense as lots is to decide and consider and it is hoped, that with the new structuring process, more preparation work is done beforehand so that matters are easier to decide on the day. We introduced the so-called “champions” who look specifically after a portfolio and prepares facts necessary for decision-making.

I drove home with the feeling that after all the years we still have the right mix of people to tackle the challenges of the future. Good feeling.

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town, Reflection , HOPE Cape Town, interaction, management meeting

08.02.2010 Monday blues again…

Monday morning starts off with two doctors interested in the HOPE Cape Town project. Somehow an interesting dialogue between European and African thinking. For me amazing to see how people really try to get a grips on the HIV pandemic in Southern Africa and develop ideas how to minimise the transmission rate. Obviously also the stance of the Catholic Church is part of the discussion.

Thereafter a TV request and discussion with the producer what is possible on short notice. It is sometimes difficult to judge and see how we can get the legitimate request for information together with what we can render on possibilities to fulfill such requests. In the moment, lots of TV teams are searching for motives, interviews and stories around the soccer world cup 2010… People in South Africa are generally more sensitive about cameras in townships and I can understand it. For too long, townships have been used and sometimes abused to produce, what was requested, without really respecting the dignity of the people. Times have changed and I think it is good that they have changed.

CCMA next, the center for conciliation and arbitration has scheduled a meeting to discuss a case of dismissal, I have been involved with. Also here it is sometimes not easy to find a balance between the very different standpoints of view of the employee and the employer. But after an informal discussion a solution is found and the more legal ways avoided. I am quite relieved about it.

Then office work, emails – I think I did write about them a couple of days earlier – to answer takes time, a request for an interview tomorrow regarding Nelson Mandela and his release from prison has to be prepared, some phone calls and then it is time for a home visit with house mass. A good tradition to bring some families together to celebrate the Eucharist in their home and then to stay together for a decent meal and lots of chat and discussion. It is good to touch again the lives of people, talk about families, their joys and hard times, about any topic just coming up. I always find a house mass very intense as people are more participating, are more part of the celebration.

The evening ends with some preparation for tomorrow, some last emails to answer and reading the latest news on the internet.

Filed under: Church Matters, HIV and AIDS, HOPE Cape Town, Living environment, Reflection, medical , Africa, catholic church, conciliation, dismissal, eucharist, europe, hiv, HOPE Cape Town, house mass, soccer world cup, TV

07.02.2010 Sexual abuse …

Once again is the sexual abuse of minors by priests and religious a topic in Germany – and once again it seems that one case follows many and the responses are quite divers.  From condemning the church till accusing the church of cover up there is a lot to read in our days in the German press. The psychologist of criminology, Hans-Ludwig Kroeber points out that still the numbers of abuse compared with the general population is below average. Of course, the “status quo” of a priest and his delicate position of confidence in society are making every case a special one. There are quite a lot who blame celibacy as the reason behind sexual abuse. Others question the cover up of such incidence until the very moment that nobody can deny the fact anymore.

Nobody denies that it is a tragedy and that the church has long enough shrouded such cases in secrecy, trying to avoid the daylight. Whether in the USA or in Ireland and now in Germany, many admissions are coming too little too late. There is a clear procedure how to handle such cases in Germany and other countries and this is certainly the first step in the right direction. But still the church somehow seems to not acknowledge the problem until a media campaign has started and everybody tries to be on the safe side.

I believe that we owe the faithful as a church more than clear procedure. We owe them an honest debate on how we handle the topic sexuality in our church. We owe them to acknowledge that we have done much to far in these fields when it came to confession, but not enough when it comes to catching up with the modern science of sexuality. We have our heels digged deep when it comes to this special topic and we are losing more and more moral ground by not engaging ourselves in this honest debate. A debate which includes spirituality, the knowledge of sciences and the many stories of lives, wining or losing the battle to integrate sexual desire into the lives of priests and religious. We all as priests know the theory of integrating sexuality – but we also know the practise, ranging from to sublimate the own sexuality in gaining power in the church via abuse of alcohol till the topic to be discussed here: sexual abuse of minors. There are so many possibilities where integration of sexuality can go wrong.

I say it again: The Catholic Church is by far not above the average of any other group of the population when it comes to sexual abuse of minors. But we should be capable of learning from the lessons we receive since years now and tackle the topic of sexuality. Doing so, we also can escape that the clergy in general is put under general suspicion. Too much harm is done, to many people are hurt, too much trust is lost – and too many chances to engage with young people. It becomes for a normal priest to dangerous to work with young people because alone the suspicion can destroy a priestly life.

Filed under: Church Matters, Reflection, Uncategorized , catholic church, moral theology, priest, sexual abuse, sexuality, Theology

03.02.10 emails

Emails can be a blessing and a curse.  I spend half of my day answering them being behind it a bit through the travel last weekend. It is amazing how fast an email box can fill itself up – and it is amazing how fast people can answer emails once in a while. It seems to me that everybody is just sitting and waiting to press the “reply” button whenever I send one out.  That are the so-called sisyphos days where the box is as full as the end of the day as it has been earlier in the morning.
Luncheon with a friend of mine and once again it is good to chat and exchange ideas from person to person – no email can replace this personal word, this looking in each other eyes and reading the expression of body and face.
Surely, communicating via internet is easy because it seems so anonymous and chat rooms are full of people exchanging all sorts of secretes and personal details because not seeing a person means to them to be anonymous. But we all know meanwhile that this is not true and that all footsteps on the internet are recorded almost for eternity somewhere and somehow.

At the end of such an office day one looks back and asks oneself: “What have you done the whole day?”  Good question – next question….

Filed under: Reflection, Uncategorized , communication, email, office work

03.02.2010 Friends are there for…

…letting thoughts flow. A wonderful and more spontaneous luncheon with a friend where I was able to take a breath and to talk about personal things which really moved me in the moment. It feels like a blessing to be able to share when heart and mind creates a rollercoaster situation. 

Otherwise I spend the morning with young journalists from Germany – organised by the “Sueddeutsche Zeitung”. We went to visit a primary health care facility in Mfuleni, one of our patients at home and then went to Tygerberg Academic Children’s Hospital and HOPE Cape Town to discuss current issues. The journalists already had meetings with important people like the German Ambassador Dieter Haller and Premier Helen Zille. Their task is it to gather background information about South Africa before the Soccer World cup 2010 starts. And it is difficult. As I heard there is either painted a rosy picture of South Africa in anticipation of the sports event – and it seems that nobody is allowed to say a critical word about some areas of concern – or people condemn and warn of security failure and the horrendous crime rates. It seems in the moment, there is only black and white at our disposal – and I think, this is simply wrong. South Africa has, like all other nations a variety of gray – yes, we have crime and the statistics are shocking, but yes, hundred thousands of tourists are visiting South Africa every year  and most of them are going home with a positive impression and lots of good experience. Yes, there are concerns, also security concerns – but yes, there are also lots of efforts to make 2010 a success for South Africa and Africa. Yes, the price structure of some airlines and hotels are indeed rather reminding us of gangsterism, on the other hand – there will be enough good deals closer to the time. We have to be honest brokers of the realities of South Africa. I concede, the realities are not that easy to read and interpret often – but only if we see and communicate all the potential for success, but also not forget the pitfalls – South Africa is like any other nation made out of humans and human structures… Nothing wrong about it.

The stadiums are ready – the people get more enthusiastic, upgrades of roads and transport systems are driving us South Africans crazy every day we commute to town, the soccer world cup 2010 will be a success – the African way and that is indeed good so…  Such events also help to highlight the shortcomings of a country – but which country has no shortcomings??

So I hope that the journalists went back to their hotel with the impression, that they got an honest assessment of the situation without politics or diplomacy tainting the picture. I think there is no need. Looking back to the last years there is surely more sun than shadow – and the way, South Africa will choose will anyhow only decided after the world cup circus will move on.

One is for sure: the soccer world cup 2010 prevented South Africa and its young democracy to  dip deeper into trouble during the developing times, when we have to learn how to organise us as such a democracy. The soccer world cup 2010 was and is the necessary nail to stop destructive development. My South African part tells me that nothing is decided yet when it comes to the future of South Africa, but one thing is for sure: the potential to create a home for all and a stable democracy is at hand, but in our times, all countries are interdependent as the global recession has again shown. So the future of South Africa also hangs in the balance with the other states and nations of this world. I will remain optimistic and realistic. A realistic optimist or an optimistic realist.. whatever is necessary in the next years to come…

Filed under: General, HOPE Cape Town, Living environment, Networking, Uncategorized , crime statistics, future, German Ambassador, Helen Zille, HOPE Cape Town, journalists, Mfuleni, premier, Soccer Worldcup 2010, south africa

Pope condemns gay equality laws ahead of first UK visit

Benedict XVI says legislation safeguarding rights of same-sex couples violates ‘natural law’

Orginal text: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/01/pope-condemns-british-equality-bill

Benedict XVI has called on Catholic priests in Britain to continue debating equality laws with officialdom.

Pope Benedict XVI has condemned British equality legislation for running contrary to “natural law” as he confirmed his first visit to the UK later this year. In a letter addressed to the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, the pope praised Britain’s “firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all”.However, he criticised UK legislation for creating “limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs”. It is thought his comments relate to laws that came in last year preventing adoption agencies from discriminating against gay couples and also Harriet Harman’s equality bill, currently going through parliament. The pope, whose visit is expected in September, made the comments after hearing representations from English and Welsh bishops on their concerns about the place of religion in an increasingly secular society. They told him sexual orientation legislation that came into effect on 1 January 2009 had forced the closure of half the Roman Catholic adoption agencies because the law making it illegal to discriminate against gay applicants went against their beliefs.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

Filed under: Church Matters, Reflection , Benedict XVI, equality, gay rights, Great Britain, natural law, pope, sexual orientationl, UK

01.02.2010 News which grabbed my attention this early morning

There are some news which grabbed my attention this morning:

The first is from Berlin where the rector of the Berlin  Canisius-Kolleg gave a press conference about the abuse of minors, which happened in the college in the seventies. Amongst his thoughtful assessment he also said: “The church is suffering of homophobie.” He elaborated that the church keeps quiet about homosexuality in its own rank and the clergy with this inclination is permanently unsure whether there are accepted within the church hierarchy when they deal honestly with their sexuality. I think this is right – we all have to deal with sexuality – and only when we can do it in an honest way, then my assessment is, that most cases of abuse of minors could be avoided. In my view we as a church are guilty of not confronting this topic in a reasonable way many times.

The second news this morning is also from the church and deals with a talk, Archbishop Marx from Munich gave in Davos,where he supported the idea of controlling the banks better after the disaster last year. I think he is right, but that is for still to little to late. Maybe the article I read gave not all he said, but I guess, we have to learn many more lessons from the last recession and as far as I can see, we do ignore most of these but instead touch up some spots and go ahead as usual – until the next crash. It seems that the politicians nor the churches are able really  and hard and honest to reflect on major changes in our economical and political system to avoid disaster and to come to a just system of an economic system, which also has a social component. The fact that every politicans is eager to be re-elected in a short time of office means that most of them have no guts to really go for reform.
The system of Hartz IV in Germany, the unbelievable ignorance of politicians in Germany when it comes to the reform of health care show as examples the impotence of current politics.

The third news of this morning is about the Iraq war and its consequences. It is reported that the advisers to President Bush, who gave green light for the legal implementation of torture as an offical tool for the military and the CIA will not be prosecuted. It is a shame that the masterminds of the implementation of torture are going free while normal people face the full force of the law when convicted of minor things. We are not equal before the law. The same applies by the way for Georg W Bush and Tony Blair who, would they have lived and acted as an African head of states would face the Criminal Court in De Haag for war crimes – starting a war without legal grounds. As European or US American, they are standing above the international law. It is indeed a joke that we fail to implement our own ethical principals to ourselves while insisting they are applied to others.

Filed under: Church Matters, General, Living environment, Reflection , abuse of minors, banks, berlin, berlin canisius kolleg, blair, bush, Catholic, church, cia, clergy, davos, hartz IV, health care, homophobie, homosexuality, international law, iraq war, Marx, recession, torture

POZ.com – Treatment News : Long-Lasting HIV Nucleoside Analogue in Development

An interesting article and a promising one as well:

POZ – POZ Magazine – POZ.com – Treatment News : Long-Lasting HIV Nucleoside Analogue in Development.

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, medical, treatment , Aids, hiv, treatment

A small message…

….but a serious background: It shows how Chinese authorities still deal with the issue of HIV and AIDS:

The same weekend the Mr Gay China pageant was cancelled, a prominent AIDS activist said his NGO was forced to cancel its 16th anniversary celebrations while a state-sponsored and UN-supported radio talk show dealing with HIV issues slated to air last Saturday has been postponed. Less than 24 hours after the police shut down Mr Gay China pageant which was to be held at a Beijing club for not possessing relevant license, Aizhixing, a prominent Beijing-based AIDS non-government organisation (NGO), was reportedly forced to cancel a gathering to mark the 16th anniversary of its founding. “We don’t know exactly why, and we did not really ask,” Dr Wan Yanhai, founder of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute, and a leading HIV/AIDS and LGBT human rights advocate in China, was quoted as saying in a CNN report. “The government might not believe in what we are doing. We hoped we could operate more openly in society. But it seems that the government will not accept this.” Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post and CNN also reported that what was to be the debut of the mainland’s first state-sponsored radio programme dedicated to HIV issues last Saturday has been postphoned.  The CNN report also quoted Zhang Wei, a spokesperson for the UN Development Program, as saying that the program, “Positive Talks,” was scheduled to start airing weekly on China National Radio but so far has not received final approval from the government.

Source: http://www.fridae.com/newsfeatures/2010/01/19/9558.china-aids-ngo-forced-to-cancel-16th-anniversary-celebrations?n=sec

Filed under: Uncategorized

28.01.2010 Students from Chicago

After a days work and quite some meetings I am invited to give a talk for students of the University of Chicago, who are on a course in Cape Town. The students listen very attentive while I try to bring them closer the grim reality of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. Yes, we have made progress, yes, there are almost one million people on treatment – but also yes, there are problems with adherence and compliance, yes, it is a reality that still hundreds of South Africans die every day as a consequence of HIV and AIDS. And yes, there are logistical problems, and yes, they are instances, where treatment is not given – lack of money, resources, man power – you name it.

And yes, we haven’t reached the peak of the problem yet – the Soccer World Cup 2010 and all its tales cover nicely up for all the things not running well in our country. It is not the time to debate them now – now is the time for fun and joy and soccer. The world should see, what we have achieved so far – and yes, we have achieved a lot, but the reality starts again on the 12.07,2010 when the FIFA circus is moving on to the next country and South Africa is left alone…

Let’s see

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, Living environment, Reflection, politics , Aids, Chicago, FIFA, hiv, south africa, treatment