All my Perls and Diamonds

" Don't think money does everything or you end up doing everything for money. " " Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. " "Truely, whoever can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." "Cheerish those who seek the truth, but be aware of those who find it." Voltaire.  "Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes."  "A good friend will always stab you in front."  Oscar Wilde.                           Being accustomed to welcome 12 to 15 visitors to my Cats's Table I was shocked to only see two this morning, a little later another three turned up, one running from some distance, viewed him right at the end of a long road. What happened? Knowing that this here is not exactly a paradise for cats (and dogs), I worry and checked several times later whether some little treasures perhaps overslept. Did not look like it, only a lovely gentle puppy appeared. His chance to enjoy a bit of saved sausage. Minusa, Salvador, (more or less Siamese beauties) and heavy weight boy Ricardo had to pay an urgently needed visit to our veterinarian - dentist, discolored theeth and red gum. Happy to see them in a much better shape afterwards and to be advised that suddenly appearing black spots on the gum or even black gum is not a sign of any illness. Minusa and dainty Salvador are now receiving Antibiotics on account of an infection. Riccardo is feeling fine, thank heavens.  Black beauty, Masud, wants to "eat out" and thinks the croquettes fed in another room are more tasty, though actually taken from the same 20 kg bag. Not feeling well I went to bed after breakfast. When my husband wanted to check how I am, Malek joint him, sneaked into the bedroom and greeted me like a long lost friend. So much pure love!!! Those who don't like pets miss out on such a lot. Feral light orange-golden coloured gentleman, Nikola, never gets angry. He allows others to snatch his piece of sausage and when he gets attacked he just closes his eyes, when threatened just walks away. Unlike several kids in the neighborhood (plus some adults) he certainly doesn't require an anti-aggression training. While I was lying sick in bed young girls were calling me, "Madame, Madame, Madame.....". It sounded urgent and got me worried that they discovered a cat in stress. But then they demanded "Bonbon, Bonbon, Bonbon" (sweets). I remained quiet and of course did not attempt to get up. Next I heard stones thrown against the metal fencing of our house. My husband was shocked, he had thought stone throwing would be just be a specialty of not very bright boys. Looks like there is no longer a big difference between the behaviour of boys and girls here, at least as far as kids of families are concerned that tend to keep a distance from education (as little reading as possible, no books in the house apart from school books temporarily). For a short spell (too expensive in the long run) I bought fairytale books and presented those to the children here, hoping they would discover the beauty of books. In addition I hope to teach them respect for animals. They do watch me and occasionally comment on my special relationship with ferals, which is new to them. One women looked astonished at a guest to my Cats' Table and explained: "This is my cat. What is he doing here?" Then she picked up the little beauty and carried him to a house in the neighborhood. By the way, now 12 cats again attend my Cats' Table, so I needn't have worried about their well-being, though, of the regular 4 more or less completely white cats only 2 returned. I had offered shelter to pretty brown-black Fleur with blond streaks because she was pregnant. She mainly lived in one of the 2 wooden pet houses on the roof terrace. After she had her kittens and finished feeding them, I missed the appropriate time to get her spayed and neutered. So she decided one day spring is a good time to enjoy the freedom of the road, an opportunity to get as often "engaged" as she feels fit. Fleur now just returns for meals (she really loves her sausage, locals call it Salami) and if need be she can always make use of one of my outside shelters. Beautiful little darling, I respect her wish and I am always happy to see her being well. 

Postcript Not Always What You Expect

 "Be yourself everyone else is already taken."  "You can never be overdressed or overeducated." Oscar Wilde.  "Comman sense is not so common."  "Every man is guilty of the good he did not do."  "Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are missable."  "Think for yourself and let others enjoy the priviledge of doing so too."  Voltaire. "Don' t do to others what you don't want to be done to you." German Proverb    My lovely Malcom X loves the croquettes and in particular the sausage I provide for my little treasures in- doors and at my Cats' Table, being able to walk again approximately one week ago he disappeared after eating his food and did not re-appear when I called him. Did this several times in vain. Seemed he may have gone back to where he came from. Since he was not undernourished when kids brought him to me following his accident, I hoped the gentle boy may have a family, a garden, a house, more or less for himself, as he doesn't like the company of many cats. In any case, Malcom knows my house and feeding times. Well, this morning Malcolm returned, not in perfect shape, patches of tar and sticking pebbles on his back thigh and tail. I offered him his favourite food and manged to remove a lot with a brush and cats' shampoo. Not at all a pleasant procedure for the poor darling. He demonstrated this by biting my hand - without injuries to my skin. Not sure how he managed this, (done it before) my special honey. Malcolm was feeling tired, may be had to do a lot of walking, so he decided to rest in his box, like he did in the past. I was happy my lost son was okay and returned to his foster mum. - Strange, bananas sold in Tunisia are not an African product but come from the same middle/south American countries as those in Europe. Comparing prices makes you wonder why they are more expensive here. For a while actually quite expensive, up to 15 Dinar a kg. The government arranged that 200 tons are supplied by Morocco, to be sold at 5 Dinar during Ramadan, according to Internet. All we found were offered at 9 Dinar and 

for a couple of days none at all, then again sold at 9 Dinar per kg.

Found on the internet, don't let this be our Ramadan!!! 

Yesterday we enjoyed a lovely sunny day and so did 2 kids on a motorbike, naturally without a safety helmet (pretty rare item here) and even top-less, hopefuly their skin works well as an air bag...... Among the ignorant not just the environment but also road safety is not much of an issue. Kids are seldom advised not to overstep a certain line. A case of try and error, learning by doing? Adoption appears to be handed in the open, I know of some kids that have been adopted. Do I need to know? Don't think so, wonder how the concerned kids feel, inferior because their parents didn't want them, or wondering whether these were no good? One youngster is playing mad, his foster dad doesn't know how to handle him. If I had adopted a child I would say: "You are very special, chosen. Love at first sight." As a teenager I admired Josephine Baker. She adopted a large number of children from different nations and taught them tolerance, you are all equal, the colour of your skin is of no importance. Instead of adopting children I ended up as a foster mum for numerous beautiful homeless cats of all colours. -There was a time when it was of great importance to have many children. Not all lived long, all too often died at a very young age. The survivors  were a kind of old age aid and protection. Nowadays it is mainly the poor who have big families and the more educated tend to have just one or two kids. At the same time folks live longer. This resulted in several, mainly European countries, but also those like Japan, having a population of predominantly eldery citizens. With other words, their economy and social services require young immigrants to fill vacant posts. In Germany 60,000 foreign doctors are presently working and still not all doctors who wish to retire because of old age can hand over their practice to a successor, in particular in the countryside (less attractive place for academics). The Dean of Tunisian engineers declared: "Tunisia annually gifts about 650 Billion to economies of foreign countries."  "Brain drain, 6,500 engineers leave Tunisia annually after finishing their university education. Approximately 100,000 Dinars are spend on education." This means not just a big economic and financial loss, but also missed chances for local innovations. And it is not just engineers. So rich countries profit on a big scale, it allows them to quickly fill important, profitable posts, save time and investments. Shouldn't they in return compensate the often poor countries who shouldered the enormous costs? Sadly it is not just the educational expenditures that cause a big problem to poorer countries, the situation is even much worse concerning the exodus of e. g. Tunisian physicians. Khemaies Zeyed, the president of the Tunisian Union of Free Exercise Physicians stated that in 2023 there were 1,325 young doctors leaving the country while between 400 and 500 graduate each year. "Currently the majority of doctors operating in hospitals are 50 years old or older." One can easily work out when this drain of medical men will lead to a collapse of the health system if nothing is done quickly to make Tunisia more attractive and a good reason to stay. It is not mainly a question of low pay, but circumstances like badly equipped hospitals, the quality of infrastructure, the environment in general and security that make others countries like France, Germany more attractive. Those who leave and maybe decide to return one day are hopefully welcomed with open arms, which in my experience is often not what expats encounter, but rather a lot of envy,  little understanding and appreciation of  support given to Tunisia while abroad (e. g. money sent to relatives) and now on return. I don't want to grumble, not all is bad, we met some great folks and discovered gorgeous gentle cats who definitely appreciate our presence. 

Not Always What You Expect

Malcolm X

Discovered in town center

They love to cuddle together

 "The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifférent to them that's the essense of inhumanity." "I learned long ago never to wrestle with a pig." George Bernhard Shaw.  "It is not just children who are fobbed off with fairy tales."  Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (Nathan der Weise). "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will speak the truth." Oscar Wilde. "The more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it gets the appearance of wisdom." Voltaire.                       It is spring and we enjoy a kind of April weather thus often all 4 seasons in a day. The wind can be rather cold or warm, coming from the dessert. I prefer the warm version. Tomcat Carlo likes to jump on my husband's back (his taxi). Hubby complains about the sharp claws digging in. I advise him he's lucky, had he been born during the Middle Ages in the middle of Europe and folks saw this, they would believe he's a witch and burn him together with the poor cat. Witches appeared to be ideal scapegoats during those dark times but like nowadays history sooner or later brought the truth to the light. Anyhow, the price was high, killing many cats allowed an escalation of rats and the rats' fleas spread pestilence. Unaware of the source and not knowing how to treat this horrendous sickness millions of people died a terrible death. Yes, cats do a bit of pest control, e. g. they hunt and kill cockroaches, but they don't eat them. - Big surprise, butter appeared on sale again. A choice of either 50 g or 200 g, the latter at a price of 6,630 Dinar, and a notice that customers shouldn't take more than 2 packs  (at such a prize easy to accept). Milk and sugar appear from time for a few hours in some supermarkets. Otherwise one can find sugar (too much of it for my taste) in many products or on the black market. Rice is presently available. The price of bananas is more reasonable now, as promised by the government.  Milk and sugar are sold again in Kairouan. When you see a big que in or in front of a supermarket it will be because of those 2 items. - Cats are amazing. Lovely Malcolm X not long ago close to death, is doing fine. He walks, knows his name and comes when I call him. My blind boy Lulu has lost a bit of weight, being disadvantaged at feeding time, I must ensure he gets his share of food. Unlike blind humans Lulu doesn't require a walking stick or aid dog. In the beginning I worried that my house may not be suitable for him, too many obstacles. But nobody was willing to adopt a blind cat. Well, Lulu conquered my heart and I wouldn't dream of giving him away! No chance! Near my door I discovered this morning 2 large pieces of puff pastry filled with big chunks of chocolate. I guess an adult or child left this there for hungry cats, meaning well. But neither all medicine designed for humans nor all food is suitable for animals, but can be rather dangerous. Unfortunately consuming chocolate is even deadly for cats and dogs. I am glad I found the pastry in time and thus managed to put it in the bin. Cats wouldn't have necessarily touched it here, in particular as I offer them croquettes instead, but a little later a white puddle appeared looking for something to eat. I got him a larger piece of sausage. One of the cats I fed a few minutes earlier, tried to steal it of him. I managed to prevent it, " telling her not to be so greedy". -  Kids asked me whether I do Ramadan. I take it as a compliment that I look young and healthy as the elderly and sick are excempt from fastenings. Anyhow, Ramadan has started, this holly month is a very sad time this year. Of 1200 mosques in Gaza, many historic, only 200 are not damaged or destroyed. I hope and pray for an end to the fighting.  My prayer:  Oh Lord have mercy, silence the weapons of war, let there be food, clean water, medicine and shelters. Enlighten those in power. Punish those who commit war crimes. 

Mother Madona and daughter Lady Gaga

We need a lot of empathy and love to heal the wounds and traumatised children. -