The following email was sent to me by a friend, Reinderd Visser, who is also teaching in Taiwan, in a small town near Yuanlin:

Have to comment on your latest topic.

How do I put it? I am a cat person. I was born one of 13 cats (Mom kept 12 cats well fed at the time of my birth). I grew up amongst them and come to think of it, I might have "inherited" some of their characteristics/personality dysfunctions. If I therefore say - I am a cat person - it means more than just loving cats (with the karakul being my all time favorite).

Yes, I think of you as an honorable man, or did you say honest? Point is, you did a great thing in a country where the "kids" (especially those on the streets) don't mean much (although I think there is a definite move towards becoming aware of what is happening outside the concete walls of home). I lift my hat . . .

Will you keep the cut, eh, cat? Then I end this letter with the all too wise words of Ron Dittinger, as a warning?: "To a dog, you're family. To a cat, you're staff."

Reinderd
(Visit his website at www.reinderd.virafrikaans.com/index.html - it's a wonderfully optimistic and positive view of Taiwan's many, but often overlooked, jewels. Unfortunately, for my non-South African friends, it's all in Afrikaans!)

18 November 2003

Dion Marc Delport

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