Wild and Gorgeous

Our new family members. 
Fleur with her babies

One poor stray

They are family, like to sleep cuddling together. 

Nikola and Melanie

 "Everyone's worried about terrorism. Well, there's really an easy way: Stop participating in it." Noam Chompsky.   "A stubborn fly will follow a corpe to the grave and be buried with it."  "It is not the stab at the back that hurts. It is when you turn back and see who's holding the knife." "Be careful when you always feed every dog that you see suffering... some need the strength to bite you. (Ungrateful people)" Ubuntu African Proverbs.              Approx. 10 of our cats are 5 or 6 years old and arrived at our door step as young kittens, either secretly abandoned or brought by folks requesting us to accept them as new pets. Seeing them now as beautiful fairly fit adults prooves that years ago cats' immune system was much stronger. I have seen and tried to help numerous kittens which sadly passed away before having a chance to more or less enjoy life for 2 or 3 months, poor babies, sudden feral babies' death has become very common. Following a lot of explainations that cat babies less than 10 days old (eyes still closed) have no chance to survive without the mother and less than 6 weeks only slim chances, at least neighbors arround here stopped abandoning extreme young feral babes. Sadly, though, kittens' life remains taff. One homeless, regular visitor to my Cats' Table, recently gave birth to 4 kittens, in a fairly secure place, near the house of an animal friendly lady. When I noted the mother carried a bit of cats' sausage in her mouth to feed her babies, I followed her. Now she comes to my door and we go together to feed her little ones. She doesn't want her breakfast before her kittens are fed, dedicated loving mum. Another 3 cute, long haired kittens arrived, than another one, missing their mother, calling her and looking for food. I worry they may get run over by a car or one of our meniac motorbike riders, but I am overwhelmed. I can only offer a bit of food and water. Occasionally someone brings something to eat for strays, a slight ray of light. Our eldest darling, gorgeous Tiger, reached this month an age of 11 years. His mother, 3 coloured Amira, allowed me to attend her when she gave birth to him and his 3 sisters, Bijou, Sandy and Soleil. All lived with us until they passed over the rainbow, extremely sad days when we lost our precious little treasures, everyone an original, Bijou daddy's girl while Sandy clearly preferred my company. She used to purr me to sleep. We hope and pray that at least Tiger will enjoy a long life. Cuddling with him is so great. Today I discovered Fleur gave birth to a cute black and one white baby. She did this without much ado and not even one drop of blood to be seen. The second time I viewed such a "perfect clean up" by a cat mum. Strange, in other cases there was lots of blood. Everything isn't always the way it seems at first sight. Apparently Fleur had 4 babies (the usual number here) , 2 unfortunately died soon after being born and later on I discovered a bit of blood on a blanket. The place where I first discovered the alive new borns, screaming for their mum, was not their original delivery site. Anyhow, I congratulated my husband on " becoming once more a gradfather ". He looked a bit surprised. So I told him, the babies are beautiful. Hopefully Fleur will look well after them. The little jewels are very quiet. I fear she may understand it as that they do not require much feeding of mummy milk. -  Heard a German say that she comes from South Africa. Asked why she says that she replied that she would like to be proud of her country. South Africa is a great country, very dedicated to human rights, achieved a lot, nontheless not yet a paradise, but which country is. When Ghandi visited U. K. journalists asked him: "What do you think about civilzation in the Western World?"  He replied: " I  think it would be a good idea." We live in a world of censorship, greed, corruption, public opinion manipulation, "Big brother watching" (1984, Gorge Orwell), enormous sums spend on weapons (enough to prevent poverty everywhere), a sad develpment for humanity's. But there will always be folks with admirable courage who stand in for their values. The internationally regonized American Associated Press (A. P.) used to report via videos from Gaza. This Netanyahu has stopped now. Even when caught in the act, gun still smoking, as long as there hasn't been a court sentence, in German media the person in question is always named the "suspected assassin". For several months, though, there is a big exception, whenever Netanyahu says something, it is treated like an in stone chiseled fact. Choise of words are revealing, one method to manipulate public opinion. Whom do you call a criminal, a terrorist, or a rebel, a freedom fighter, résistance member? Some condemned today, at a later date become members of a government. Peace negotiation usually don't take place among friends.  14,000 innocent children have already died in Gaza. Not only the families of those still held hostage by Hamas are missing their dear ones, so do also Palestinians, they too love their children, family members and friends. 

Postscript Just the Normal Madness

" In wartime truth is so precious that it should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." Churchill. "It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." "Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil." Nicolo Machiavelli. "Prejudicies are what fools use for reason." "Let us read and let us dance, these 2 amusements will never do any harm in the world." "To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, one must also be polite."  "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: " Oh Lord make my enemies ridiculous. "  And God granted it." Jean  Voltaire.                                      We live in a land of a million possibilities, unfortunately not all are positive. While in Sousse supply of milk appears to be okay now, but sugar remains a rare commodity, it is the other way around in Kairouan. For a short time bananas were sold at a more reasonable price but it has gone up again. Wonder why they are much cheaper in Germany. After all Germany doesn't grow his own bananas but usually buys them from the same company, United Fruit, a company with an interesting - bad reputation, the source of the expression "Banana Republic", following the wars to protect their interests with US aid. The need to teach environmental protection is nicely demonstrated looking at school buildings usually surrounded by lots of rubbish (wrappings of various kind, papers, etc). In U. K. parents of children that don't attend school can be send to prison. I was surprised to learn that the same law exists in Tunisia. I am convinced not many are here aware of it either, unfortunately. It amazes me how several kids feel they don't need to finish school but at the same time dream of a good life in Europe. The new fashion among youngsters to ride tuned up motorbikes at high speed even in residential areas ("letting off steam") , plus numerous cars on the road, burning of rubish etc. in the open, create a lot of pollution and fine dust that effect eyes and respiration organs, the waiting rooms of the concerned specialists are crowed. The pollen dispersal has become more aggressive due to air pollution, which of course also leads to many deaths. The other day a minor accident with a motorcycle, one wheel up in the air. I heard a loud bang, a young man limbed with the aid of another man to a car, the motorcyclist had to push his vehicle. Hope he learned his lesson, but that may be just wishful thinking on my part. Next day I viewed another youngsters who nearly crashed with his motorbike, front wheel up in the air, into a parked lorry, of which the driver was kind of angry. - During the Vietnam war US at first allowed journalist to fly with army soldiers in a helicopter and watch their performance. This eventually led to "unwanted" reports and pictures reaching US citizens. Not surprisingly it effected a change in public opinion and demands to stop the war. Nowadays journalism is considered one of the most dangerous profession in the world. The British-Palestinian Dean of Glasgow university, chirurgien and plastique surgeon, Ghassan Abu Sitta, spend a few weeks working in a Gaza hospital and was invited to attend in Berlin a conference about Palestine. At the border to Germany he was barred entrance without explaination, seems "German Administration Act" doesn't require this. At the time he was told, though, this would be for one month, for the Schengen countries. When the aforementioned Glasgow University Dean was at a later date invited to give witness to the French Senate in Paris, he experienced again refusal to enter an European country. The French officials didn't know why, only that Germany listed him for one year as a person to be barred. Even though Mr. Ghassan Abu Sitta had employed a lawyer to gain information denied to him by the German government, he was taken by surprise that the period of one month was expented to one year and the French Senate was also not amused, at least Germany couldn't prevent him to speak via a video link. By the way, 30 German lawyers tried to sue German politians, including Scholz, "over complicity in Gaza." Haven't heard the outcome yet. Several high ranking US state officials (e. g. Josh Paul) resigned "over US violating its own laws" concerning arms delivery restrictions to conflict zones. Simular laws exist in Germany. People will loose trust in international laws if all are ignored. Joe Biden expressed that in his opinion the International Criminal Court's juristriction has to deal with "thugs like Pution and African leaders" not with Netanyahu. By the by, my information comes from established public news sources that are neutral and not one-sided. 

Just the Normal Madness

the late kitten, so sad

Loulou

 "To speak a language is to take on a world, a culture."  "In the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself."  "The oppressed will always believe the worst about themselves." Frantz Fanon.  "Even if it is hunger that killed a man, people still want to eat at his funeral." "If your own dog keeps barking at you, someone else is feeding it." Jabah Funniebo.  "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in a large crowd." " If a dog chases its own tail, it has a reason. "  Ubuntu African Proverb. "All are equal, some are more equal than others."  George Orwell (Animal Farm).                                                   The pretty young girl who had taken home the remaining kitten left in front of my door, returned and asked for a bit of food and a sweet. The third time she arrived she wanted just a sweet. So I asked her whether the kitten was okay. This she confirmed. I felt she didn't tell me the truth, therefore I inquired: No salami (sausage for pets)? The answer was no. Strange, I thus insisted, is the kitten dead? At the same time I imitated a sleeping/dead face. Sadly she said yes. I cannot judge what went wrong, sudden death is unfortunately quite common among cat babies, in particular if separated too young from the mother, ideally only after 12 weeks, but not less than 6 weeks. My brave Johnny, who already has to live with 2 in a complicate way broken bones (back thigh) of which one is pointing outwards, now suffers from cancer as well in the same area. One morning I discovered his big lump, sized like a small melon. The vet removered a lot of blood the lump was filled with. The poor darling amazingly accepts his fate, no screaming, no grumbling. I have been advised that it can not be operated, just like already his complicated bone injury. Meanwhile the bump is smaller, roughly orange sized. Johnny decided to ignore his handicap and try to be simply a normal cat. I admire my sweet black treasure who loves to cuddle in particular with his vice daddy (my husband). Myriam is another unfortunate cat. Years ago she lived on a Mosque compound, rised there her kittens successfully. Then one day she got hit by a car, lost one eye and ended up with a broken jaw. A neighbor took a photo and asked me to help her. The veterinarian did an excellent job and suggested that we keep her. At first Myriam was a bit shy and kept a distance to our other feral family members. But then we lived happily together until a few days ago when she fell off our staircase (presumably), couldn't walk, something was wrong with both her legs on her left side. I tested gently and they didn't seem to be broken. This the veterinarian confirmed, but under shock and possibly a nerve effected, pain near her backside. Presently there is an improvement with the prescribed medication. Unfortunately I cannot afford an x-ray which would provide a clearer picture. Anyhow, Myriam also suffers from constipation now, which can become a severe problem. Don't I know it from my own experience! (My tummy was killing me. ) The veterinarian managed with special movements of my little darling's lower body parts to make her do "her big business". A rapid solution for the moment. Back home Myriam drinks a lot and uses the toilet, but she just passes urine, in spite of her diet and medication. There is an improvement concerning her movement, but she's still not steady on her legs. A chance exists with another treatment and special (expensive) croquettes to overcome the constipation. All not easy, also financially. My blind boy, Loulou, in addition to his handicap, now also suffered from inwards growing eyelashes on both lids. So one more operation and pains. Slowly getting better, but presently I can't have him registered for a beauty competition. Better to choose others, perhapps black cats that suddenly changed colour from black to a beautiful warm reddish brown more or less starting at the height of their front legs, while others remained all black. - We repeatedly had to discover that some, (as far as we can judge) poor folks, whom we have helped, have a rather strange way to show their (not really expected) gratetude. They tried to trick us to spend even more. One woman who said she couldn't meet the costs for her sick/injured cat on 2 occasions (we then did), shamelessly told the next time she visited the recommended veterinarian that my husband would pay for her. This was not agreed and in addition came at a time when we were already kind of broke. Another example that really made me mad, neigbors with limited income, whom we helped (when we only had about 12 cats and less expenses) several times with various bills, also bought food, a nozzle, a necklace and a lead for their  dog, so he won't be mistaken for a stray dog, which can be dangerous around here, killed their Shepherd sized dog with rat poison when he fell ill. Unfortunately several supermarkets sell rat poison, thus available to every ignorant person, a very cruel way to kill. I have been called on 3 occasions when criminals gave this to a cat. I saw the terrible cramps, rushed the cat to our veterinarian and saved their lives.

Some where I read: "May life treat you the way you treat cats and dogs." By the way, the only son of the aforementioned neighbors decided after attending school for 3 years that he had enough education! This didn't induce his father to refrain from asking me for money for school books. My husband was shocked to have the son knocking at our door one day, holding a shopping list with 8 items, including a chicken and a bottle of oil. He said his mother wants us to buy these products for them. Strange folks. By the way, we were told at the time that they got the dog for their son as a companion. Wonder what will become of the boy as an adult. 

Myriam