PostScript Much Needs Yet to be Done

Knowing is not enough, you must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.                 That lovely sand coloured puppy I discovered one early morning near my house, close to dying (bite wounds around his throat), recovered well, he is now four months old, remains frightened of other dogs and cars, gets on with most of my cats. But he tries to eat their food and they his, makes a happy  relationship difficult. Anyhow, we named him Djego, a good citizen, he likes to keep the town clean (I wish I could say this about more folks) and when he's taken for a walk doesn't pee or produce excrements on the road, holds it all back until he's in the house again. Well, my husband heard of a good family looking for a puppy and they were interested. So one morning he took Djego outside and see about an adoption. A little later there was a bit of knocking on my window. When I went outside, Djego was standing there, without a leash and without my husband. What happened? Did our puppy find a good family for my husband, do they want to adopt him rather than Djego? No need to worry, he also returned after a while, just wondered how the sweet puppy found our house. Such a good loyal boy, doesn't want to leave his home and foster parents. We actually love him too, I have been told his breed is called Atlas, very expensive in Europe, fairly rare, anyhow, he is unfortunately still traumatized, after all it is only six weeks ago that Djego was close to death.. Usually November and December are bad months for cats, viruses and week immune systems take their toll, in particular among the young and this year was no exception. Kidney problems are a common cause of death among the adults, we lost several approximately five year old very dear, great character cats. So depressing. Unfortunately the water here is of poor quality and can lead to stones in the body of humans and animals. Not everybody can afford to buy mineral water. One morning I got a shock, early in the morning, feeding time for my guests at the Cats' Table, only one cat waiting for me. Usually there are 17. What happened? Then slowly another one arrived, then another, two more and finally there were six, still a too low figure. Next day eight little beauties in front of my door and today, thank heavens, at least 12 darlings. I could be glad to require less food, less expenditures, now that several cats passed over the rainbow, but no

, they made me love them. Besides, I am not really saving money, regular visits to the veterinarians prevent this. As Erich Kaestner put it: " One can of course live without animals, but it is not worth it.       On the 16th of December my gorgeous Aisha, long beautiful hair, following an accident only one eye, suddenly disappeared. Looked for her everywhere in the neighborhood, called her name in vain, a gentle approximately five year old real treasure, spayed and neutered. Unfortunately three of my other cats liked to chase her and created problems. Not all cats like all cats, some even prefer human company. I wish I could have handled the situation better, she means a lot to me, sweet Aisha. I hope and pray that she is still alive and at least found a good family, maybe her outstanding beauty helped her for that. A small hope remains that my darling will yet return.  Times are getting harder, prices raise and many have less money available. This of course doesn't make life easier for stray cats and dogs who often had a home in the past. At least we manage to convince the owner of one of my guests to let him sleep in his previous home if he wants to, while I continue to feed him. He loves the croquettes. As we didn't know his name, we gave him that of that neighbor. Malcom X changed his name to X as he didn't want to be called by the name of the family that kept his ancestors as slaves, the custom at the time, horrible thought, original name of those unfortunate folks gone for ever. At first our neighbor didn't like it, then joked you better call be by the cat's name then. A good day is when all our little fur angels are well and contend. Their love is so pure and precious.

Much needs yet to be done

 "People are always going to find something wrong with people who are not the exact same as them. That's just what it is. Black, white, short, tall, religious, whatever. People are bad." Chris Rock.                                                                           The cradle of mankind stood in Africa. Racism dates back to the days of slave trade, the African continent would have developed quite differently without it. Millions died while being kidnapped and transported, altogether approximately 14 million Africans were enslaved, so many great persons were never born, thus allowing the African continent to be exploited and making Europe rich. When I was a child Josephine Baker was my role ideal, adoption of children from many different countries and letting them grow up together as equals. A great dream, but as I lack the means I finally ended up saving cats of different colours and breed from the streets. Anyhow, I was deeply shocked to find out that some teachers in Tunisia are practicing racisms. I wonder whether they bought their academic diploma and how they gained employment, after all many qualified teachers are unemployed..... In a documentary on German TV a beautiful young woman stated that her teacher never addressed her with her proper name, but called her "burned wood". In another documentary a lovely young lady said that she had no problems in school as she got a light colour of skin, but everything changed after her teacher discovered that her mother has darker skin. That teacher claimed the girl stinks and started to discriminate her in many ways. What are the values that racist teachers pass on to their students? If I had such a teacher for my (light coloured) child, I would move heaven and hell to get that disgraceful teacher removed from school! Such persons should never be allowed to educate anyone. Racism is primitive and doesn't belong to a civilized society. How can the colour of skin say anything about the value of a person, when it's a protection of nature against skin cancer? I did not expect this in North Africa, but I heard for some the colour of skin is more important than a good character, maybe this explains some incidents. I noted that one doesn't see many folks "of colour" in Sousse (the opposite are colourless people?), strange. The Chinese believe that when God made man the first sample was too dark, the second one too light and then he created man with that perfect golden colour.