Postscript Summertime and it ain't all easy.

 "What you don't want to be done to you, don't do to others." German Proverb  "The tree that bears good fruits receives more stones and trouble."  "The devil without a horn and tail is more dangerous than the one with a horn and tail."  "You are beautiful, but you can't eat your own beauty, learn to work."  Ubuntu African Proverbs  "How then is perfection to be sought? Wherein lies our hope? In education and nothing else. Rules for happiness: Something to do, someone to love, something to hope for." Emanuel Kant.        Our beautiful feral daughter, Minusa, stopped eating and in general seemed to be not well at all. Bad breath, red gum, brown teeth indicated the need for dental treatment. A blood test revealed more, apart from the already discovered fiever, her blood contains a much too high amount of the white blood corpuscle, thus anemia. The pharmacy advised to not give the medication together with food, while the include instruction leaflet stated the opposite. I noted  repeatedly that pharmacy staff doesn't appear to be as well trained as in the past. In view of many relying on their advise as they cannot pay a doctor's consulting fee (if you are lucky 40 Dinar, but more likely to be 70 Dinar at present) on top of paying for necessary medication, this is bad news. But on the other hand you may be lucky to find a qualified doctor running a Pharmacy. Anyhow, Minusa turned out to be a clever little cheater. She made a big show when I tried to make her swallow half a tablet. Then she walked over to the bowl of croquettes and eat some. To my surprise I afterwards discovered the tablet among the croquettes. I am not very popular with my feral children when I turn up with their medicine, they appear to think I better spend the money on something delicious. Well, such is life. For a short time eggs disappeared from the market. Meat being too expensive for many and then also no eggs available? There are of course alternatives, but not everybody sees it that way. Today eggs were on sale again, you never know for how long. Life is full of surprises. Still no rain and pretty high temperatures. Feel like melting. On top we had that hot wind from the dessert, called "Chili". We are longing for the normal refreshing wind and of course some rain. Within 6 months this year approx. 800 people died in Tunesians waters, trying to reach Europe. Very sad, worse than ever. In 2018 Tunisia was the first Arabic country in the world to crimilise racism, we can be proud of that! While quite a few folks in Europe think that North Africans have a dark colour of skin, this presently applies to only 10 - 15 %  of the Tunisian citizens. With raising temperatures we ought to find in future all over the world more folks of colour, in particular those kids out on the street all day. That will make life difficult for racists. For those who believe the light colour of skin indicates superiority, the British made a clever joke during the dark nazi years in Germany: "What does a member of the Master Race  look like? Well, blond and tall like Hitler, slim like Goering, perfect figure like Goebels." By the way, when you hear the extreme loud sound, see and smell the stinking black cloud of those motorbikes ridden by youngsters and even kids, and wonder why, well they manipulate the filter and don't care for environment protection. They think this is real freedom. In Europe police would confiscate the motorbike and possible also the driving license, if it exists. It won't be easy to achieve a different attitude among the ignorant. One must start with the kids and they hopefully will educate their parents, it may sound strange, but when kids start asking questions, there is a chance they make the adults think what they are doing. A woman who returned with her family from Germany told me their still very young children were shocked to see folks dropping their rubbish just anywhere. They asked why do they do this? In the end they decided not to live in Tunisia, it no longer felt like home. Very sad, Tunisia could be a beautiful country if more citizens would understand the need to protect the environment and be kind to animals. By the way, a plastic bottles collector with a poor young donkey that had to carry a heavy load during very high temperatures, told me his donkey shouldn't drink while working. I asked a veterinarian is that okay? He was shocked that I asked such a stupid question. His reply: "Sadly many don't understand that their " tool" is an animal with feelings and requires looking after, e. g. enough water to drink in order to survive. " - Several elderly neighbors died lately. Keep hearing the Quran from the loudspeaker of that special van used to transport the corpse. Behing the van a group of walking men, women don't attend according to a long tradition. We could do with more trees, there is not much shadow. Quite a few planted by the French during their occupation of Tunisia have been felt unfortunately. The avantage of trees, a group of one kind in particular that is  be like a green roof, protecting against too much sun, one can still experience, in particular near Mosques. There are often also benches, a place to relax. 

Summertime and it ain't all Easy

It is too hot

 My blind boy Lulu

"Try and fail, but don't fail to try." Malawi Proverb  "There is no medicine to cure hatred." Ubuntu Proverb  "A hungry free man is better than a well fed slave." Liberian Proverb     "I think that hate is a feeling, a feeling that can only exist where there is no  understanding."  Tennessee Williams   "A chameleon will not change the dignified walking steps of his forefathers just because the bush is on fire." Ubuntu African Proverb.        -  Still no sugar available, even coffee is sold either quite expensive in supermarkets or in a low quantity (200 grams per customer) in specialist coffee shops. The price for tea has also gone up considerably. Folks in Arabic countries in particular love their coffee, tea and sugar. Never expected this to happen here. In view of many suffering from diabetics perhaps not such a bad thing the lack of sugar, but there are still lots of quite sugary products. An increasing number of imported medicines continue to disappear from the pharmacy shelves. If you are lucky a suitable substitute item is meanwhile produced in Tunisia. Wish folks here would learn from Cuba. For centuries they cooped quite well in spite of many restrictions imposed by various US governments. Cuban citizens are amazingly creative when it comes to finding solutions utilizing what little is available. In addition they in general remained cheerful, not always crumbling (like in other not well off/poor countries.) And they have very beautiful music that puts one in a good mood. - Most nights there is no water coming from the tap, at changing times, I think those in charge of the household water supply (Sonnet) are playing with us or is it to teach folks that they can't rely on water always being available? Anyhow, it doesn't seem to impress those who love to waste water in Sousse, not even at the much higher charge. But anyhow, it is advisable not to drink it but buy Mineral water, if you can afford this. We buy a lot, in particular in summer. Just as well these plastic bottles are collected by folks with little or no income. They smile when we handover our collection, much better than searching for the plastic among the rubbish, the usual procedure, very sad. It is getting really hot, at present 47 degree centigrade. My cats are flat on the floor, poor darlings. At least they don't have to look where they can find food and water in this heat. But they don't appear to be healthier in summer. There are various viruses, in particular the Calcivirus, effecting theeth and gum, causing fiever, loss of weight, hopefully not also bad kidneys, liver and blood values. In general cats immune system is not strong here, in particular concerning those poor darlings that are living on the street (often kicked out for convienence by hard - hearted guys). Eyes, nose and ears are the main problem zones. It keeps me on my toes, guess it is what I led myself into, when I decided to help as many so called "stray cats" as possible, not making beauty a reason to be accepted. Nonetheless really gorgeous ferals are also part of my big cat family. Lulu is the latest new member, he is lovely (beige and white soft fur), but unfortunately blind. I have cats with only one eye, managing perfectly well in my house, but completely blind is a problem, too many obstacles. A flat would be ideal and I may add that Lulu is a clean boy who uses his toilet. I hope I can find a solution for my sweet boy. When I dicovered him in front of my door, he seemed to be doing well, utilizing my offer of food and water for homeless cats. But a closer look at him revealed eyes that appeared to be popping out. I took him to my vet and Lulu is much better now, but it was too late to save his eyes, 1 looks almost okay, the other one may have to be removed as it can effect his brain, poor little treasure. Why do animals have to suffer so much? - An unfortunate and very sad development here is the discrimination and violance against folks from various African countries with darker skin. Some kids, youngsters and adults feeI encouraged to spit at or even attack these persons e. g. in Sfax. Strange in view of kids playing outside getting a lot  darker.  I always considered a brown colour of skin to be typical for hot countries, after all it provides a protection against skin cancer. Besides, is very white or pink really more beautiful? Doesn't gold, silver and other jewelery shine more on brown skin? Anyhow, it is scientifically proven that the craddle of mankind stood in West Africa. Until 8000 years ago all humans had dark skin. Should we be ashamed of our ancestors? I hear that Sub-Saharans are criminals, they steal, rob and abuse, sexually harrasse woman, want to destroy Tunisia.  All evil comes from them, they are to blame for all shortcomings, concerning basic foods, medicine, rising prices, lack of jobs, etc. So those who commit crimes here originate from sub-saharan countries and my handbag was robbed by 2 young men on a motorbike who used a lot of bleech on their skin, just like the burglar who tried to enter our house. Now that many dark coloured people, men, women and children are forced to or volantarily leaving Tunisia, we get a paradise here, no more stealing, save streets, no more rubbish dumping (in front of my house and many other places), no more animal abuse, stone throwing, disrespect, etc...... You wish!  The uneducated are happy to have a scapegoat and started a witch hunt. The murder of a man in Sfax in particular encouraged them, even after those responsible have been arrested (3 men from Kamerun). Don't they know that Tunisian too commit capital crimes in either countries? By the way, in Sfax certain shameless Tunisians charge approx. 3000 Dinar (970 Dollar) for a dangerous trip in a badly constructed tin boat with up to 38 persons, including occasionally watered down petrol and car tyres for lifeboats. This will hopefully be stopped soon. As our president declared: "We are also very proud Africans", I hope that our African brothers and sisters will in future be treated with lots of dignity and empathy and experience more solidarity. Africa is a much bigger continent than Europe, united we could achieve so much.