Environmental Conscience

 DThe uneducated/illiterate (of course exemptions exist) neither care for their country nor their/their children's health and future. "Sonede" (Tunisia's water resources agency) send a message on mobile phones, advising folks that the available water is limited and should not be senselessly wasted. An important message, though those resistant to education will ignore it as usual. You may be surprised by viewing ever so many "burst pipes" flooding streets for 10 meters or more. Well, this is usually not due to burst pipes, but to women cleaning their floors, believing extreme water wastage, for everyone to watch, means they are very clean, respectable persons! In addition several houses have horizontal pipes projecting onto the pavement area for discharging water from the first floor onto the pavement/street. Sounds like heavy rain - free shower with dirty water, if you don't watch out. - Youngsters/ young men racing around this part of town on their motor bikes (amazing, no accidents as far as I know) have a large number painted on the side, proudly create extreme noise pollution and black stinking clouds. They just don't give a damn concerning the health effects on the folks here, feeling like kings, absolute freedom (the new cancer generation?) and are possibly training for a motor race at a later date. - Blind vandalism, no awareness of unlawful, dishonest doings, no social control, indifference and insensibility of neighbours, if you meet this and try to effect changes of behaviour - it's like fighting against windmills and the "normal" reaction will be insolent answer from cheeky young rascals and impudent fellows. This is why some have given up, raised their walls, exchanged their windows for double glazing ones, close the doors and pray for silence and peace. The costs are high, Tunisia deserves better than this! Reminds me of that old USA poster saying: "Don't ask what this country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Make Tunisia beautiful again! Don't accept bad manners, neither from  children nor adults, don't let the ignorant spoil this beautiful country. In Germany the police can in future confiscate cars/motorbikes as a punishment for dangerous driving, if this was done here, the police would have much needed additional vehicles available, besides, such a punishment would make many think twice before risking to loose their beloved motorbike or car. Some streets are very clean now, while other parts don't look as if a new law for the protection of the environment exists. I am sure not everything happens unnoticed, we need citizens who make clear that dropping garbage (wrappings, plastic water bottles, etc) just anywhere is not acceptable. It may appear easier to just ignore, but that way nothing will change. And yes, we need clean beaches, clean water, water treatment plants, much needs to be done, some only government authorities can tackle, but there is a lot we citizens can do  and hopefully we'll have more educated people willing to engage themselves for a better and healthier environment and future. Tunisia is worth it!

Postcript don't give up

Saneb, the female driver, who drove her car into my barrier, flower pots and metall door, put on a good show at the police, including tears. You can't just find good actors in Hollywood, some folks here are very talented. The policeman was impressed and considered her offer acceptable, 50% of the requested sum (after she realized she won't get away with zero), even though the state procecutor had stated she should pay the total, by instalments if short of money. Conclusion: Always calculate all costs, don't ask for less in the first instance, you'll get punished for your generousity! If you offer your little finger, folks take not just the whole hand, but the complete arm as well. The policeman pointed out, we should have left it to Saneb to employ tradesmen (locksmith, bricklayer, without my own work also painter and gardener), then she would have to pay the lot. Interesting, since it took her several days to even turn up, and it was not possible to open the iron door, without brute force and a couple of paring-chisels (behind the door panicing cats).

Don't give up, Nuheb na'ysh

Tunisia faces many problems, authorities are trying to tackle them; the progress is slow due to unconsciousness  and ignorance of citizens, non-compliance of standards as well as demotivation of various persons. Respect for the law and punishment for violators must be ensured, those concerned should learn that the police is not just a "paper tiger". Don't look away and simply close your door, pretend you don't see, don't hear - like those famous monkeys - if you don't want an elbow society. I know many are unhappy, the older ones remember a different Tunisia. Not rich, not so many, not so expensive, new cars on the road - reminds me of all those sudden house owners in the USA, in spite of their low income, until one day the bubble burst, the houses gone, many homeless, huge debts remaining. Yes, in the past folks seemed to be happier, big charming, really catching North African smiles common, respect, good manners normal, no extreme noise and black stinking clouds producing youngsters on motorbikes (often with one wheel in the air), no small kids constantly screaming and roaming the streets, knowing no respect, dropping their rubbish where ever they are (it hasn't stopped!), no teens/kids rowdily demonstrating their bad breeding, telling me right in front of my house to get lost, though they, sitting on the steps of the house next door (or standing on my pavement), actually live several streets away.      Environment protection laws are good , but people learnt they can ignore them and nothing will happen. Those who still got a job/are perhaps self-employed, get up fairly early in the morning and need their sleep; those who don't often ignore this. Going back in history, backwards Europeans learnt from advanced Oriental people ("Golden Age" in Spain e.g.) Can we now learn from Europe? The human body is designed to sleep when it's dark, thus at night. Night shifts should be reduced to a minimum, they are not good for your health - this is talking about adults! In most European countries children sleep at night, at set hours, why then don't children in North African countries need their sleep? Isn't the lack of sleep perhaps the reason why they are in my neighbourhood constantly running around like lunatics (bitten by a Tarantula?), always screaming, unable to concentrate on one thing, unless it's football? School holidays are too long, more than twice as long as in Europe (because of the heat? How then do they spend their days off?); are the kids that brilliant that they don't need much "studying", even after school hours homework is normal in Europe, not so much here, I'd say. It must be really taff to teach those children/teens, whose parents let them roam the streets day and night, believe they are untouchable, the streets belong to them (not the traffic). - Three weeks ago a car crashed into my house, did some damage, but no one got injured, thank heaven, in view of the "normal" situation here, up to 30 kids on the road, several usually on the steps right next door..... The female driver was under shock, shaking, helpful neighbours pushed her car to her house, a few minutes distance. Several days later she apologized and stated she'd meet all costs. Meanwhile she changed her mind, doesn't want to pay anything at all, even though we only asked for 220 TND, part of the actual costs. What is going on in her head? No consciousness of being in the wrong? The police will sort it out now. It is a minor case (nevertheless meant a lot of work and some stress for us), it makes me wonder, is this the new generation that I watch growing up in the neighbourhood? Thank heaven not all Tunisians are like that! A lot of folks are unhappy with inhabitants who came from the countryside, looking for easy money, buying expensive cars with the money they made by selling off their land, yet lacking the manners, chic, generosity, tolerance and respect one would expect to find among town people. Yes, it often came to my mind that several folks here look and act like Fellachen  (farm workers), little education, knowledge, poor manners and farm-like dress code. Do I sound arrogant? I am just very disappointed and so are many original town inhabitants (quite a few left). - Today I viewed a group of 6 young men (one could hear them from some distance, sounded like quarrelling of a large group), demonstrating lots of testerone and low I.Q., chasing with their Alsatian dog cats, even in neighbouring yards. This is fun for the brainless, those without dignity or basic civilised manners. I have a fair idea what will become of them, if no one stops them, young men like them are being returned from Germany "our new tourists" as a taxi driver joked. They are a disgrace to Tunisia and most certainly don't help to make Tunisia attractive for tourists again, in particular from Europe, where pets (mainly cats and dogs) are often treated like a family member, not like vermin! - I feel sorry for people whose houses are overlooking a place with two large garbage containers. They try to keep that place clean where uncivilised folks drop anything, including food leftovers, onto the ground - appears too much effort for them to actually make use of the containers!

Postsript Proverbs Upside Down

"Knowledge is power", are those with little knowledge then weak? Einstein said stress is the result of daily contact with idiots; this means idiots can cause a lot of stress for people with a high IQ, they have their "weapons", stress can be powerful and quite destructive, physical and mental. -Two men sitting on a bench. A stranger arrives asking them the way to the beech. As he doesn't get a reply, he enquires in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Dutch, no reaction. So he leaves and one of the two men says to the other one: "He speaks a lot of languages." Replies the other one: "Yes, but did it do him any good?" One advantage people with rather limited knowledge have, they don't see many possibilities and are dead sure while intelligent individuals are often full of doubt. If you are successful with one method (which may be crude) then you no reason to change it. And if there are more folks just like you, then you must be right, so why listen to reason? Besides, we all have two ears, this means no need to listen, you can (many do) let news/unwanted information pass straight through and happily remain in your cosy little world. According to the Bible: If you don't become like the children you won't enter Paradise - doesn't this mean that a lot of the folks here will be in heaven one day? Hopefully cats, dogs, etc. won't have to join them! - It would not be fair not to mention these Tunisians in Souse who showed outstanding spirit of sacrifice during the terrorist attack in El Kantoui, trying to and in several cases actually succeeding to save tourists' life. A witness reported he heard a Tunisian saying to the terrorist: Don't kill the tourists, shoot me. Those policemen who acted unprofessionally were quite rightfully sacked after the incident. Anyhow, if hotel, restaurant and other people in the tourist trade welcome you like an old friend, it can be genuine "Mahaban", you don't find anti-tourists demonstrations here like in Majorca!

Proverbs Upside Down

Mother: Doctor you must come quickly, my little son is very sick. Doctor: What's wrong with him, did he fall? Mother: Can't tell you, the crossroads, where he plays football, is 5 Min. walk from here. Doctor: How do you know then that he is sick? Mother: He stopped his normal yelling..... "Children should be seen not heard?" Seems to work perfectly well the other way around. Children of all ages, the youngest hardly 2 years old, roam the street, always running, screaming, playing football until Midnight, perfectly protected in a crowd of up to 30 kids. Parents don't worry something bad could happen to them, e.g. encounter an evil person, such things don't happen here! "Gold speech is silver, silence is golden." That's nothing for Africa, the other way around okay. You can hear a never ending flood of words, without any punctuation, coming from kids of all ages and of course adults. And anyhow, when you are in Africa, forget silence, it's a luxury. If you like extreme noise, you've come to the right place. "First come, first served." Nice thought. The folks are amazing. You may not only be pushed aside, Trump style, even while you are finally being served, someone may  suddenly appear, pretend you are not there and get the sales person to immediately serve him/her. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you." The people here (I am never talking about the whole population of Tunisia, in no country exists a unity of folks, all alike, no that would be very stupid, I mean just the amazing individuals I encounter in this part of Souse.) have problems with planning and maths and therefore don't think that far. Thus quite a few won't think twice if they feel the inclination to bite the hands that feed them. Besides, babies in Europe are born with a golden spoon in their mouth. This means they don't deserve to be better off then some folks here (strange, there are more new expensive cars on the road, more teens on a motorbike around then in European countries).  Since envy doesn't make you rich, only ugly, several youngsters use their surplus energy to damage or destroy the object of their grudge. "What little Hans doesn't learn Hans won't master as an adult." What ever kids get up to, climbing over walls, ignoring/damaging other people's property, throwing stones at objects, children, adults or animals, you usually hear: "They are only children". My reply (from experience): "Children can kill." It appears to be common believe that it is perfectly okay to act totally irresponsible until the age of 15 and then, overnight the teens will understand they will no longer get away "with murder" (?).  Otherwise the usual remedy for all (kids and adults) is beating, a good hiding - really? It certainly doesn't reduce aggression, as all experts know. I noticed little boys quickly start to cry and are ready to disclose the name of the evil-doer (no solidarity among them). School holidays are long (14  weeks in summer and several other short ones during the year) and most "students" don't know what to do during this time, they waste the time roaming the streets, getting up to no good, never opening a book, clearing their brains of whatever the teacher taught them. They won't agree with me as they are "born to play football", their purpose in life!