Postcript Without Pain no Gain

Rescue dog taking a well deserved rest

 "When you are kissed by a thief, don't forget to count your teeth."  "If a beard indicates intelligence, the goat would have been a genius."  "What the monkey sees the monkey does."  Ubuntu African Proverbs.                                  Happy to see more sunshine and nights getting a bit warmer, doesn't feel like freezing anymore early in the morning. In addition the water is no longer turned off to protect the non- isolated piping during low temperatures at night, but it may yet be turned off to flush the drains, in which case one receives milky coloured water for approx. 5- 10 minutes and can only be used  for cleaning purposes or the toilet. - Rescue dogs of several countries (Tunisia, Mexico, European countries, etc.) were successfully employed in Turkey and Syria saving adults and children burried under rubble following the earthquake. Turkey, the best country in the world as far as animal rights are concerned, amazed with their gratitude to 4 - legged heroes. They did not allow rescue dogs to be flown back to their country of origion in the luggage hold, instead Turkish Airlines treated them like 1. class passengers and offered 1. class seats. One must bear in mind that rescue dogs worked until exhaustion, some paid with their life for their incredible engagement. A Tunisian dog, named Husky, only slept after 56 hours of non-stop search and discovered 40 people under the rubble. In America 65 tasks trained dogs are employed to help traumatised and injured soldiers. Hopefully ignorant folks will start to understand that dogs are a present from heavens, not dirty and useless and they must not be abused and killed. Since Turkey is a moslim country there is hope other moslim countries might learn that animals can and should be treated with respect and empathy. - There is still less coffee and rice on offer than demanded, haven't seen sugar in shops for weeks and milk comes and goes quickly. From time to time customers are restricted to 2 bottles/packets only and when not, those who try to have a stock in the house unwittingly ensure that milk is quickly sold out again. Rising prices, high unemployment and inflation isn't easy to cope with but we are still better off than several other countries. At least most poor countries usually have lots of sunshine and that is after all for free. 

A Hero flying 1. class with Turkish Airlines

Without Pain no Gain

 "People are lonely because they built walls instead of bridges." "Dirty water does not stop plants from growing." "When you see a poor man eating chicken it is either the man is sick or the chicken is sick." Ubuntu African Proverbs.                                                                    Cats are great companions, but living with just 1 or 2 is quite different from living with nearly 3 " football teams", yet strange folks seem to think that while they themselves are overwhelmed by just 1 in the house, we could take on more and hereby leave them with a good conscience. Cold, stormy weather with heavy rain recently, 2 girls knocking at our door asking me to please take their cat as their mother doesn't like cats. I felt very sorry for them and the lovely cat, but I had to refuse. My cats don't want more adoptions and would try to make the cat leave and besides, I am getting exhausted, physically and financially. There are so many hungry mouths to feed and when they look at me with their beautiful trusting eyes..... I left the poor nice girls with my message for their mother: "What you do is Haram. You have a bad heart. You don't like cats and Allah doesn't like you." Not sure whether this was the right approach to make that woman change her mind. She should be proud that her girls like cats and know empathy. We need more kids like that. - Surprising news, the president of the butchers' chamber asked the Mufti of the republic to cancel Aid Al Adha this year in order to rescue and preserve the cattle. Tunisia no longer has enough sheep and presently doesn't produce for the traditional slaughtering required by this religious feast. Imports are extremely expensive and costs are generally rising a lot. Aid Al Adha certainly would put much pressure on religious families. While adults may understand that they haven't got the means to buy a sheep or perhaps just a piece of meat, children often don't. They enjoy the tradition, feeding a sheep in the house for a few days, proudly taking the animal for a walk and then finally big meals with the family, lots of meat...... Frankly I am glad I was never subjected to this custom, I could never, not even as a child, eate an animal that I have seen alive before, or even worse, in whose eyes I looked. Listening to crying sheep in various houses before the big slaughtering takes place always makes me sad. In Saudi Arabia an incredible number of sheep get slaughtered every year, paid for by religious moslems arriving in order to fulfill Quran requirements. For them it is a good deed in the eyes of Allah. But there is too much meat, even after feeding the pilgrims and donating to the local poor, so a tremendous amount of sheep are thrown away, buried in mass graves. Frankly I don't understand this practice in a holly moslem country. Why can't the Saudis donate this surplus meat to poor countries in the Far East and Africa? (In Jemen many are starving.) In view of the millions of Dollars they spend e. g. on bribing politicians of the European Parliament, surely financing the transport etc. of the surplus meat shouldn't be a problem. Besides, such a donation would serve more effectively to improve the public image of the Saudis than bribing corrupt law makers in foreign countries. - In Sousse a car hit a big motorcycle and just continued his journey without stopping. The rider of the motorcycle suffered several injuries including an obviously broken arm, his passenger seemed to be okay and the motorcycle got badly damaged. My husband witnessed the accident while sitting in a taxi. This driver stopped his vehicle and immediately rushed to help and take the injured man to a hospital. He prior asked my husband to look for another taxi to continue his journey. I often noted that Tunisians are quick to help, not looking the other way or thinking that others should react. In Syria and Turkey Tunsians were among the first rescue teams to arrive from an Arabic country. In Syria a Tunisian rescue dog (German Shepherd breed) was hailed as a hero. He detected a child under 3 m of rubble and thanks to him it was possible to pull out the alive kid under the directorate of civil protection. I hope this case and the others of life saving dogs will make folks in Tunisia think twice before demanding the shooting of dogs. 

Postcript These Complicated Times

 "Being a friend of a scorpion doesn't mean that you cannot be stung by a honey bee." "Bad company corrupts good manners." "To a wise man a warning is a blessing. To a fool it is an insult." Ubuntu Proverbs.                                                                                            Thanks to Libya we just received food aid, 96 lorries filled with rice, flour, oil, sugar, etc, 74 more are expected. There has been a shortage of these and other basic foods for several months. For those folks who once lived in the East German Demoratic Republic (DDR, Russians joked the abriviation stands for: Dawei, Dawei, Raboti = work, work quickly) it must be like a Deja Vue. I haven't seen sugar on sale for some time and whenever a fair amount of milk appears, it quickly disappears again. I presume some folks are stock piling as they are worried that the stock in supermarkets will soon run out again, but they are themselves ensuring that precisely this happens. Coffee remains rare or expensive. By the way as predicted,  solely supermarkets are allowed now to sell milk and sugar. Only there customers are paying a 100 Milliem surcharge tax to support the government. It was mend to be due for all sales amounting to at least 50 Dinar. If you buy e. g. from Carrefour (not sure about others), though, you pay this amount each time you buy something there, independent of the total sum. The tax amount is very low, so we don't mind if it helps, a problem only for the very poor. To my surprise very few folks here know chives (the green part on spring onions) delicious on bred and butter, sandwiches, scrambled egg, etc., so they just throw it away. Most of my Christmas cards to Germany still haven't arrived, thus taking more than 2 months, or disappeared in the "Bemuda Triangle" for good. Difficult to say whether it's due to the bad Post Office service in Tunisia or Germany, where they have their problems too. Since several small parcels got lost, I had to ask my friends not to send anything and I also stopped doing so. By the way, mail to and from UK seems to work just as bad. Strange, before the revolution letters only took 7 to 10 days to arrive in Europe or from there. With constantly rising prices and high inflation citizens are of course very discontent and grumbling a lot, some from a higher level than others. Imports are getting more and more expensive and difficult. But this is the situation in many countries nowadays. When Saudi Arabia isolated Kuwait fairly successfully, the Kuwaiti people discovered that just about all their imports aren't necessary as those products can be produced in the country. Hopefully Tunisian citizens will discover their possibilities. Much can be done. Sadly in Kairouan a second bus was recently stolen. The quick police search was successful, some parts, though, dismantled and gone, no trace of the other bus so far. In the past when Tunisia was crowded with Tourists some Taxi drivers decided to transport only tourists. I recall my hsband and I being advised once that the driver only stopped for us as we were mistaken to be tourists and "sorry, please find another taxi." A Russian tourist thought he could travel by taxi for half an hour and pay just one Dinar. He stated that he had been told everything in Tunisia is very cheap. Anyhow, we were not amused and I frankly wished for such taxis a time when tourists are rare. I guess I have to be careful with what I wish......