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Friday, November 26, 2004
From: iafrica.com
(gratefully acknowledged) JOHANNESBURG Madiba a favourite among Africans 
Posted Fri, 26 Nov 2004 Former South African president Nelson Mandela is the most popular world player among the people of Africa, SABC radio news reported on Thursday... According to a BBC-SABC-Markinor poll, which surveyed more than 7500 people in 10 African countries, 90 percent of urban Africans interviewed said they liked Mandela the most… Fugitive al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and US President George W. Bush are the most disliked international figures among Africans. 
The poll also found that most Africans appeared to have a very different view of themselves, their countries and their continent compared to Western perceptions. Despite Western perceptions of Africa being plagued by fighting, famine and disease, most Africans are proud to be associated with the continent, and see themselves as peaceful, polite, kind and hard-working. 
I too love you, my beloved Africa! From: iafrica.com
(gratefully acknowledged) JOHANNESBURG Madiba a favourite among Africans
Posted Fri, 26 Nov 2004 Former South African president Nelson Mandela is the most popular world player among the people of Africa, SABC radio news reported on Thursday... According to a BBC-SABC-Markinor poll, which surveyed morepen. but for now i will take it one step at a time. step at a time. Sunday, November 14, 2004
Acquittal  In happier days
A little late, this news of the acquittal of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela A woman of the people, who loved much, suffered much, took part in the struggle against apartheid, made many mistakes, got through many humiliations, and in July 2004, was finally acquitted of a jail sentence for innumerable charges. Her political career is finished, though the "little people of Soweto" still grant her a political love. They understand what it meant to be a beautiful woman, a most attentive mother, the wife of a great and wonderful prisonner, and yet, to stand alone in the midst of untold apartheid pitfalls.
From CNN Johannesburg Bureau Monday, July 5, 2004 PRETORIA, South Africa Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela, has escaped a prison sentence after an appeal court judge overturned theft convictions.
The judge in Pretoria also on Monday suspended a three-and-a-half-year sentence on the former leader of the African National Congress women's league, for fraud.
In explaining his decision to throw out the theft convictions and set aside the jail term for fraud, Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann of the Pretoria high court said the "crimes were not committed for personal gain," but added that "dishonesty in high places cannot be tolerated" either.
"mother of the nation "discredited", in deep trouble Wrapped in a shawl on a cold, wet day, Madikizela-Mandela seemed calm at Monday's hearing and showed little reaction to the verdict. Outside the court though, scores of supporters cheered at the news.
Despite a string of legal troubles, Madikizela-Mandela remains popular among poor black South Africans who regard her as a defender of the downtrodden.
She was sacked from the ANC-dominated government in 1995. Madikizela-Mandela resigned from parliament and abandoned her political career after her conviction last year.
Yet she said to Desmond Tutu and the world, standing before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission:
Who are the superiors, the authorities, of any kind who ever said: "I made mistakes, I am sorry!?" You have to be great to acknowledge failures. Winnie did it.
November 11th St Martin of Tours He was born in what is now Hungary in 316 son of an officer in the Roman army. He soon felt called to the life of Christ and served a term of imprisonment as a conscientious objector who felt that military service and Christianity were incompatible After his release there occurred the famous incident, which took place near Amiens, when he gave half his cloak to a beggar who was shivering with cold. He realized that the poor beggar was no one else but Yeshua. He became a disciple of St Hilary at Poitiers and was baptised. From 360 onwards, Martin devoted himself to the monastic life; so he became a Monk . He was then chosen Bishop of Tours by popular acclaim at Marmoutier. 
Martin saw monasteries as a way of promoting rural evangelisation. He himself was a most assiduous Bishop, carrying out frequent visitations. Martin's followers panicked when he told them he knew he was near death, but the saint entrusted himself to the Lord's will in the words: "Lord if your people still need me I do not refuse the work; let your will be done". He died on November 8th., 397. 
Sulpicius Severus first met Martin of Tours he was stunned. Not only did the bishop offer him hospitality at his residence -- a monk's cell in the wilderness instead of a palace -- but Martin washed Sulpicius' hands before dinner and his feet in the evening. From that visit, Sulpicius became Martin's disciple, friend, and biographer. Little is known of many of the saints who died in the early years of Christianity but thanks to Sulpicius, who wrote his first biography of Martin before the saint died and who talked to most of the people involved in his life, we have a priceless record of Martin's life. Martin is our model of sharing, of justice for everyone… the rich are a bit less rich and they feel better and the poor are a bit less poor and they, too, feel better! Friday, November 12, 2004
Arafat He may have made mistakes, we all do… Some will remember him by his errors of judgement Other, the majority, will remember the "old Man" by his life long commitment to the palestinian people 
Mandela speaks 
"Yasser Arafat was one of the outstanding freedom fighters of this generation, one who gave his entire life to the cause of the Palestinian people," Mandela said in a statement. "It is with great sadness that one notes that his and his people's dream of a Palestinian state had not yet been realised. "We trust that in these times of sadness and loss, the commitment to finding a just and lasting settlement will be redoubled on all sides," Mandela said. Thabo Mbeki speaks Describing Yasser Arafat as one of the giants of the twentieth century, SA president Thabo Mbeki said it was important for him to be at his memorial service in Cairo on Friday…. He said it was important that the Israelis and the Palestinians continued working together to solve the crisis in the Middle East. 
He said the legacy Arafat had bestowed on Palestinians was the hope he gave to "millions of downtrodden and despised, by instilling in them the knowledge and consciousness that despite current difficulties, they hold the gift of freedom in their hands". Mbeki then flew to Cairo with the South African delegation, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad and Rev Frank Chikane, director-general in the office of the presidency. African National Congress spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama remembered Arafat as a "long-standing comrade". Mbeki said the government and people of South Africa would continue to help find a lasting solution to the Middle East conflict. 
Monday, November 08, 2004
Bush comes back (04.11.04) He was always there, haunting, terrorizing all his ennemies: the terrorists. Amongst them the dark skinned people, arab looking people belonging mostly to what he calls the rogue states, that is Bush's judgement! But: "…the U.S. (and, sometimes, its allies) has ... behaved as the biggest rogue state, ignoring international laws and norms and acting only in the richest American's interests…" in Publishers Weekly by Noam Chomsky Isn't the american people aware of Washington's rogue bahaviour? No apparently not because Bush says he's a Christian. A religious man! He even said "God speaks through me!" (the Lancaster New Era, on July 16, 2004.) Who is God's only WORD? Yeshuah! That WORD means LOVE. Nothing else. "Bush uses religion to justify his penchant for violence, which is manifest in nothing so much as his glib use of the word "evil." Once an enemy is demonized, transcendent risks can be taken to destroy that enemy. We see this apocalyptic impulse being played out in Iraq today. If in order to obliterate "evil" it proves necessary to obliterate a whole society -- so be it." (Carlos Stouffer) 
Jesus had wept over Jerusalem (Luc 19:42) Jesus weeps over Washington, Irak, over our own beloved little planet and its people "born to be happy and to love as they pass by…" We can but weep with Jesus. And continue the struggle so that His spirit may live… Saturday, October 30, 2004
October-November 2004
Can you imagine the way time flies past us and we never ever can hold it! We fly away with time till we reach home at last. Spent!
October in our beloved South Africa is the month of the jacarandas in bloom and we forget, facing beauty, that we are angry, hungry, thirsty… for justice and a better world even under our new dispensation. The struggle continues. We have no choice, because it is a matter of preserving, promoting life, in people, on our tiny planet!
and "All Saints Day" is just around the corner. It means we have the strength given by the fact that we are "all bound together in love", at least we hope and belive so, it means also in action. So we rejoice.
 Sunday, September 26, 2004
I am an alien
So be careful little feet where you walk Be careful little ears what you hear Be careful little eyes what you see Be careful little little tongue what you say And oh! be careful little heart… 
In today's swiss votations results: "NO we won't make it easy for you to be an alien in this land where you fled thinking, may be you'd find a little milk and honey on you way to nowhere… we've decided it today: it won't be made easy for you ever to be swiss so…"
So be careful little heart not to break Be stout and strong and keep loving… Even though…  Thursday, August 26, 2004
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
On a train journey today, I marvelled at August nature's beauty and, suddenly grieved that, were I to die, I would be deprived of this quasi sensual ongoing marvel! Lo and behold, a friendly voice, nay, just a whispered thought from a departed brother of mine, Jean, or was it Mum, Dad, innumerable friends in heaven (?) clearly said: "When you die, your liberated soul will be plunged in beauty's very essence… what you enjoy now is but a shadow of the marvel to come: rejoice!" And I rejoyced! 
Back home, the 6 o'clock radio news bulletin announced: Elizabeth Kubler-Ross has died… strange "thought coïncidence" thought I on "death and dying" ?! (her book published in 1969) There still lingered a pain in my heart at the slow painful dying of a dear brother… six months long! Enough to die of sheer longing for LIFE at long last, with Jesus! What bliss! Time will vanish from consciousness. Farewell Elizabeth! You've reached Beauty's essence…with our loved ones… think of us still on the way there 
"Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding its cocoon. It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow".
(quote from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross) Sunday, August 22, 2004
Basil Saint Basil the Great Saint Basil was born in 1464 into a peasant family living in the village of Yelokhovoe near Moscow. When the child grew up, his parents sent him to learn shoemaking. The fool-for-Christ-sake was happy to help those in need Basil passed away at the age of 88 in 1552 Symbol: supernatural fire, Feast Day: January 2 Patron of Russia Fancy telling something about Basil tonight? Why? Just because somewhere on our planet yea in this very mountainous country: a child is born and Basil shall be his name! A tiny baby like the thousands born today out of a mother's womb and a burning heart an ongoing miracle of LOVE we bow in wonder before this birth before every birth… and we feel responsable 
"every child is my child" Jesus bless Baby Basil abundantly! You know the christmas carol don't you? Here are the last few lines of the one I love most "When a child is born!" Like Basil yesterday! the world is waiting…waiting for one child; Black-white-yellow, no one knows... but a child that will grow up and turn tears to laughter, hate to love, war to peace and everyone to everyone's neighbor, and misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten forever It's all a dream and illusion now it must come true sometime soon somehow all across the land dawns a brand new morn this comes to pass when a child is born Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Today is the feast of Saint Clare My name sake as a sister and I like it! Meaning of the name: bright, clear, brilliant. Patroness of: embroiderers, goldsmiths, eye disease, needle workers, television, good weather, gilders, and laundry workers Who is she, this great friend of the Poverello? Clare was born into the nobility of Assisi on July 16, 1193 As a little girl she was known by members of her household to be a sensitive child, gentle, prayerful and kind. She would sometimes hide food from her plate so as to later give it to the poor Clare Offreduccio was the daughter of a wealthy family in Assisi She was eighteen years old, when he heard a sermon by Francis and was moved by it, to follow the example of the Franciscan brothers and to live in poverty and insecurity Her family was horrified, and brought her back home by force; one night, in a gesture both tactical and symbolic, she slipped out of her house through "the door of the dead" (a small side door that was traditionally opened only to carry out a corpse) and returned to the house of the Franciscans. Francis cut off her hair, and led her in San Damiano, a house nearby. Later she was joined by two of her sisters, her widowed mother, and several members of the wealthy Ubaldini family of Florence. Clare's best friend, Pacifica, could not resist, and joined them, too. And many others even to this very day! So many beautiful women whose hearts were on fire for Yeshua just because he loved the "little people" the world over! Here is Clare's (Chiara) blessing to her sisters and I guess, today, to me too: What you hold may you always hold. What you do, may you always do and never abandon But with swift pace, light step and unswerving feet so that even your steps stir up no dust Go forward, the spirit of our God has called you Her last words were: "Blessed be thou, 0 God, for having created me." Have we ever thought of thanking God for bringing us into being? She died in 1253 in San Damiano Saturday, August 07, 2004
Wedding Bells Two beautiful young people had their wedding blessed in the prayerful reformed Temple, in Corsier Khalil Gibran, a wise man and a poet knowing life and people wrote what follows and this is what I offer to the happy couple as they launch forth into the unknown: "You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts." Friday, August 06, 2004
Mount Thabor: they went climbing, James, John and Peter and of course, Jesus. And behold, Jesus looked radiant, happy, his better self one would say. Transfigured says the Church today. The three friends were in awe. Happiness is contagious! Time stood still... yet Jesus said: let's go down where the little people live and are hungry, thirsty for justice that is: for BREAD, when their hunger and thirst shall be quenched we shall all be transfigured and we shall dance for joy! Thursday, July 29, 2004
Paul Simon and Garfunkel sing tonight in Basel and how good it would be to listen and sing along with them, as of old when we dared face the multiple systems and say: enough is enough! and go on signing "And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made and the sign flashed out its warning, in the words that it was forming. And the signs said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls." And whispered in the sounds of silence! I seek someone in the sounds of silence someone named Yeshuah Friday, July 02, 2004
June 30th Irak: Baghdad, False start 
"The Iraqi government has approved reinstating the death penalty, President Sheikh Ghazi al-Yawar said in an interview published on Wednesday, the day the interim authority is due to take legal custody of former president Saddam Hussein. "We held a meeting shortly after the transfer of power, during which we took some decisions including re-establishing the death penalty," Yawar told the Asharq al-Awsat Arabic daily. Agence France-Presse Death penalty was abolished by the US-led occupation's administrator, Paul Bremer, last year. Many Iraqi government members now want it back in time for Saddam Hussein’s trial. Is there nothing more urgent to wish, to celebrate, to work for in Irak today? For example security, food, water, medicaments for the wounded and the sick? so that a healthy body helps a healthy mind to think? Then: judge and, failing anything better, kill again! 
On the same earth, in the same Century South Africa Good Start 
"The death penalty, a weapon of terror used against thousands of working people in South Africa, has been abolished. In a unanimous decision June 6, 1995, South Africa's Constitutional Court voted to ban the use of capital punishment". A prison official at Pretoria Central penitentiary reported that the news was greeted with "shouting and clapping and general jubilation on death row." (from the media) The constitution 
The ANC hailed the ruling. The court's decision "represents a major victory for the democratic forces of our country who for years campaigned for the abolition of the death penalty. Never, Never, and Never again must citizens of our country be subjected to the barbaric practice of capital punishment." "We have sufficient cause to be cynical about humanity. We have seen enough injustice, strife, division, suffering, and pain, and our capacity to be massively inhuman. But this gathering counters despairing cynicism and reaffirms the nobility of the human spirit," Mandela said. This good will is, perhaps, just a beginning but, with profound pride, gratitude and love, we say: It's a jolly good start! Ten years and we count our blessings! Happy people! 
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
ROBBEN ISLAND, South Africa 
Nelson Mandela lit the Olympic torch on Robben Island where he was imprisoned for 18 of his 26 years imprisonment, for opposing apartheid. South Africa for the first time took part in the global relay of the flame. Mandela, who struggled a bit to light the torch, jokingly told photographers, "Don't worry about taking photos of the torch. Rather take a picture of me" before displaying a broad smile that triggered a barrage of shutter clicks. 
"I have been here for a very long time and to a very large extent Robben Island is a place with which I identify," Mandela told reporters. "I am very happy and honored that this honor has been given to Robben Island." Mandela, who turns 86 next month, was among the 120 South Africans who took part in the torch relay in Cape Town. The flame is expected to arrive at the Athens Olympic Stadium on August 13th shortly before the opening of the 2004 Olympic Games. 
"The flame unite us! This place of pain and injustice is becoming a symbol of friendship and justice." Thanks to Madiba and to the "little people", the South African miracle goes on! Thank God! Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Born free! You didn't ask to be born Nor wished it and yet Oh! the planet were all the poorer without you, dear friend of all, of mine! 
"O Thou the One from whom breath enters being in all radiant forms … in each new instant" I thank the creator who imagined you so as you are: unique amongst other "uniques" and Oh! so alone among so many who dwell in your heart like on an open market place… You play God's reed "…A reed that is empty until the Breath of God fills it with infinite music: And the breath of the Spirit of Love utters the Word of God through an empty reed". (C. Houslander) 
The word of God is infinite music in a little reed. YOU! Oh! what a beautiful day! "Blow, blow, blow till I be But the breath of the Spirit, blowing in me". "I live, nevertheless not I, but Christ lives in me." 
Saturday, June 26, 2004
Wedding bells They've met and they've fallen in love! Nothing more beautiful than that! From two different continents et cultures, butlove bridges deserts, and seas and gaps of any sort! This sunny afternoon, the little church bells rang raputurously, cascading from a green illtop right into the Leman blue waves down below! Singing for joy! So beautiful, so radiant, the groom, the bride and their old wise friend, the priest, who said: "do you intend to live together the best you can?" "Oh! yes", they said. 
Then put this blessed ring on your finger! They did so and their lips joined. 
A modest honey moon with a modest honey moon trip and they'll be home, giving it a go to live life in mutually respected freedoms. The work of creation goes on and on and on In my heart I prayed: burn on, little lights, till you burn out and make our planet what it is meant to be: a sweet, sweet home for all! 
Thursday, June 24, 2004
THE FLAME 
The connection that existed between religion and burial traditions is due to the belief of the ancient Greeks that the relationship between life and death is dialectic. From the lifeless ground, birth is given to a bud. The symbol that represents the idea that life and death are connected is the sacred Olympic Flame. In 1948, Lausanne and Geneva were on the Olympic Torch Relay route from Greece to London for the Olympic Games. Earlier that year, the Olympic flame was flown from Greece to the site of the Olympic Winter Games, in St. Moritz, Switzerland. 
Thursday 24 June 2004: The Olympic Flame passes by the Olympic Museum. For the first time, the Olympic Flame will pass through all the five continents. A journey covering 78,000km in 78 days. Pass on the flamme, unite the world. And Jesus said: "Walk while you have the light believe in the light and you will become children of light!" (Jn 12:36) Monday, June 21, 2004
Space tourism today! SpaceShipOne Makes History: First Manned Private Spaceflight (freely and gratefully adapted from Leonard David's report) MOJAVE, CALIFORNIA – The first non-governmental rocket ship flew to the edge of space today and was piloted to a safe landing on a desert airport runway here. Civilian test pilot, now turned astronaut, South African born, American Mike Melvill (62) brought SpaceShipOne down to the Mojave Airport tarmac after flying to 100 kilometers (62 miles) in altitude, leaving the Earth’s atmosphere during his history-making sub-orbital space ride. 
After touchdown, Mike Melvill rolled past thousands of spectators in the early morning Sun, flashing the thumbs up. Then he got out and spoke to the cheering crowd. "The flight was spectacular," Melvill said. Roaring to life 
Take-off occurred at about 9:45 a.m. ET, or 6:45 a.m. local time, with SpaceShipOne tucked under the White Knight carrier craft. Once set free an hour later, and after a few seconds of glide control at around 47,000 feet, Melvill ignited SpaceShipOne’s hybrid rocket motor. From the ground, flame and smoke could be seen as the rocket plane roared to life and shot upward through Mojave Desert skies. Slicing skyward and outside the Earth’s atmosphere, the vehicle and pilot spent about three minutes in freefall weightlessness. After the speed-reducing maneuver, SpaceShipOne’s tail piece was put back into glide mode. The vehicle circled overhead as onlookers who had filled up local motels and camped at the airport cheered. The craft landed at around 11:15 a.m. ET directly in front of a public viewing area on the same runway on which it took off roughly an hour and a half earlier. What do I think of it? Of course it is an achievement that goes together with big money! That being said: it needs tremendous courage just as it took great courage for Charles Lindberg and St Ex and many others to take off for the first time! And many times after! Congratulations Mike Melvill! Well done! We, the millions tiny centipedes (South African Songololos) are all moving ahead, flying or crawling, taking off and touching down as we pass on through our tiny planet looking up to the ONE who made it, who made us, who waits for us among the stars, where we shall meet Him, with or without a spaceship! Cheer! 
Sunday, 20th May 2004 World refugee day 
Along highways ans byways they flee from an unkind inhumane world of war and violence seeking a home a refuge a shelter Fleeing the war lords who bring money to arms dealers while the blood of innocents flows along dirt roads All over the world, refugees seek sanctuaries and seldom find it How is it that in Switzerland asylum seekers are feared and put aside to be put away on a plane for "home"? How is it that newspapers and TV and Radio blame Christopher Blocher fearing he and his own UDC will push forward new threatening measures and laws to keep Switzerland "swiss" and very clean? Blame Blocher? When I listen to fellow swiss people talking at home, in pubs, in the streets or even in churchyards I hear people say : "Blocher, you know, he's not wrong after all, let them go, those strangers, a danger indeed for our comfort and security!". So help us God! The struggle continues! 
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Spirit of the Founding Time Challenge for Today "John the Baptist sent two men to the Lord to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?' " Jésus replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor." (Luke 7: 19-22) 
That was the work of the Spirit in the man Jesus. The same Spirit is at work today in the movement Jesus got going throughout the earth But: who are the sick and who are the healers? The blind, the lame, the lepers, the deaf, the dead, the poor… are they a social, physical category only? I think not. Sometimes it's me sometimes it's you sometimes it's they and sometimes it's we Sometimes we need healing and sometimes we heal The Spirit of Love - today's pentecostal vibration - is actualised when we try to love each other and to show it. That is healing! 
Enjoy Pentecost's gentle wind! Let it blow warm and strong Saturday, May 29, 2004
Pentecost Flames and wind! 
This God experience called Pentecost, happens in our lives, I think, when, suddenly you know you just have got to roll up your sleeves and get things done. Without counting the cost! Whole heartedly. You have experienced the reality, social, political, cultural, economic and even religious, you have lived the reality together with others and you see and fathom the gap there is between God's idea of the "Kingdom" and this very reality. The highly educated look down on poor and ignorant the powerful reign over the powerless the well integrated push aside the foreigners the rich despise the poor and the hirarchical Church leaders fail to meet Jesus at grassroot! Jesus lived in such a social reality. He lives on today. He proclaimed the Good News that "another world is possible", 
that we are brothers and sisters, that we are equal in our Abba's eyes, that we have a common destiny, that, if we share whatever we can share He is with and in us! The system killed Jesus. He lives on this very day! His burning Spirit is the wind that blows in our hearts and soul and inflames us to continue his Mission. The Spirit blows over the world… a breath of tenderness in any relationship… and the world around and beyond us looks more human, that is more divine. 
Happy Pentecost |
