Postscript Anyway and Anyhow

 "A bird who wakes up early just to sing, besides the river bank, will soon discover that crocodiles do not admire the sound."  "The relatives of a poor man are mostly known during his funeral."  "A blind man and a deaf woman are the happiest couple ever." "The history of African Ancestors is written in blood and cannot be unwritten by lies in ink." "Money can't talk, yet it can make lies look like the truth."   Ubuntu African Proverbs.       Sweet Kaja was recently close to death. She was breathing rapidly, a worrying sign I only know too well. Our veterinarian said she is in such a poor state of health that he can't guarantee she will survive. We both agreed not to give up Kaja, even when chances are so slim. So for four days I took our little treasure daily to the veterinarian, every morning my first worry, is she still alive? Happy about every little progress. Now she's perfectly fine and seems to understand and appreciate my engagement for her. She wants to cuddle with me more than ever. My money was well spent! My biggest treasure and joy are our feral children, but they also bring sadness and tears. Quite unexpectedly our lovely, lively, all black honey, Coco passed away one morning, it happened quickly before I had a chance to take her to the vet. Our sweet, gentle tomcat, Malek, my very special habibi, has kidney problems. His values are worrying. He stopped eating for 2 days, so I took him for a check up, hoping and praying for his recovery. The result of the blood test came as a real shock. As a human he would need dialysis, but not surprisingly something like this does not exit here for pets. Apart from special food, rather expensive croquettes (glad they are at least available), my little darling has to put up with various injections and I need to give him twice a day an infusion under the skin (not into a vein or into muscle), at present without time limit, and he receives antibiotics. My fear Malek would hate me for this "tuture" were unjustified. He cuddles with me. But another worry, he doesn't eat much, hopefully this will improve. A couple of days ago, when my husband went to the toilet early in the morning, Malek ran into the bedroom and started to cuddle with me. What a great way to wake up! He is so adorable, even while in a poor state of health. And he understands my efforts to save him. The summer this year is really tough and with a high amount of moisture in the air it is worse, already at 5 a. m. I feel like I am melting. Various cats are sneezing, in view of this I wonder what winter will bring. - When Mr. Putin recently visited Mongolia, some folks in Europe and US aked why didn't he get arrested there (he was invited) , after all the ICC issued an international arrest warrant last year...... Other citizens wonder how much longer will it take ICC to issue an international arrest warrant for PM Netanyahu, his defence minister, Y. Galant, and leaders of Hamas. The International Criminal Court prosecuter, Karim Khan, urges judges to quickly do so, the court's juristriction is after all well established. Strange, countries like US, Germany, UK (the previous government, unlike the present one, Hamdullah, Labour Party) questioned and delayed it - but not reference Mr. Putin. "All are equal, but some are more equal than others." (George Orwell, Animal Farm). Thousands march in London and other places to demand a cease - fire in Gaza and suspension of all arms sales to Israel. Demanding the end of a war and at the same time sell arms to one of the conflict parties, isn't it like pooring fluel into the fire? Haven't we seen enough of  "self-defence"? While the weapon industry gets richer, people get poorer. -  World literature day, let me talk about James Baldwin, born 100 years ago in Harlem, sadly passed away much too early, already in 1987, a great writer and activist for human rights. I was fortunate to discover him as a writer, a child looking for an English book. I think it was "Go and tell it on the Mountain." I was fascinated and decided to save as much money as possible, (e. g. walk 5 km to grammar school and thus not have to pay the bus  fare)  for more paperbacks from him. Eventually I discovered that this brilliant poet not only writes novels (his first one at the age of 26) but also short stories and plays, main subject black lifes, humanity and rasism. James Baldwin spend several years in Paris, where he enjoyed more freedom and was seen as an American, yet in America "as a nigger". He became one of my favourite writers. James Baldwin said: "People will always hate what they can't understand and they hate so much because they understand so little." Doesn't this explain a lot about the new, brave world we are living in? More and more weapons and destruction instead of diplomacy and honest negotiations.