Tunisia is a strange country - in fact it's more like two countries. Many people might wonder what SPANA is doing there at all, but that's because they go there as holiday makers in search of the sun, and rarely stray out of the coastal beach resorts. There they see slick tourist resorts and villages along with the wealth and prosperity that brings to local people.

But move inland, and only a few miles at that, and you come across a totally diferent Tunisia,

Here life is hard. Many of the people struggle to get a living as semi-itinerant farm workers, for instance, picking olives from the thousands and thousands of acres of graceful olive trees, or moving flocks of sheep to graze on the northern stubbles after the grain harvest.And of course, life couldn't go on without horses, mules and donkeys. Not only does almost all the water in the countryside come home on the back of a donkey, but they are still essential for agriculture. For instance, in the north-west where the tail end of the Atlas mountains trickles into the sea, there are vast cork-oak forests where mules are essential for getting in amongst the trees and carting home the slabs of cork on their backs.

So we have a veterinary hospital there, and a mobile clinic for getting up into the hills. You can probably imagine the problems we find - harness sores, abscesses along the spine - 'fistulous withers', and crupper rope sores. They even believe that slitting the poor things' nostrils helps them to breathe better. Not cruelty - just blind, blooming ignorance !

But at least they get rain up there.

Our second clinic is in a place called Kasserine.

It's a pretty god-forsaken place - probably the poorest part of Tunisia. It's dry, poor soil, semi desert - and the people and their animals struggle to find a living. During the winte, and what a winter - freezing cold for a good six months - the local people gather wild grass or 'Halpha' from the steppe. They tie it into bundles and stack it onto donkeys that carry it upto ten miles to one of twelve 'depots'. There it's weighed.and credited to the family that sent it in.

It's a unique opportunity for us to see just what these little titans of donkeys can actually achieve. We've seen loads of one hundred and eighty kilos or more, being carried ten miles on a donkey weighing less than that. How do they do it ?, you can imagine the wounds and problems we have to deal with there -and of course in the pitiless heat of the summer drought, there is starvation as well.

Kasserine is also infamous as the first place where the Americans came up against the German Army - and were ambushed and almost destroyed by the hard-bitten veterans of Rommel's Africa Korps. Because of course this area was the cauldron of the fighting in North Africa, that was eventually to drive the Germans and Italians out of Africa. But at what a cost.

All along the roads, especially in the north are little cemeteries, tucked in below the rocky hills. Many of them are British, immaculately cared for by Tunisian gardeners employed by the War-Graves Commission.
It's always moving to visit these sad little gardens, with their rows of white headstones - some bearing pathetic tragic, inscriptions. " April 23rd, 1943. Alan Thomas, Royal West Kents, Aged 19. To the World he was just a Soldier, but to us, he was our World"

So it was especially sad to go into the clinic at Kasserine, already feeling down, and see a lovely little chestnut mare standing forlornly in front of the pharmacy, surrounded by anxious faces. Our vet explained to me " she kicked a disc-plough and cut through all the tendons and nerves on her back fetlock. There's nothing we can do, we'll have to put her down - she's suffering badly". The farmer owner looked at me, with tears in his eyes "What are we going to do. She's everything we have. And she's so young".

Another awful waste. Had a job to hide my tears.

Views: 54

Comment

You need to be a member of Barnmice Equestrian Social Community to add comments!

Join Barnmice Equestrian Social Community

Comment by Susan on June 9, 2009 at 10:08am
What can we do to help you with your work?

The Rider Marketplace

International Horse News

Click Here for Barnmice Horse News

© 2024   Created by Barnmice Admin.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service