Early life of Habib Bourguiba food caused by deprivation on the initiative of the school headmaster who supported a War effort, worsened the boy's health. In addition, Bourguiba was hospitalized because of a primary infection, which led him to abandon high school and remain at the hospital. During the 1973 conference he held, he described that illness he had saying: "The sixth year was the final one, the diploma year of deliverance. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Tunisia, I fall ill in the last two months". To heal and get better, Bourguiba's family sent young Habib to his brother Mohamed in Kef and therefore, enjoy natural
Habib Bourguiba the campus and settled with Mathilde. With this new way of life, Bourguiba distanced himself from the other students but also the Tunisian struggle, as a strong repression started back at the country. During the summer of 1926, Bourguiba returned to Monastir but did not show any interest in political issues in his country. His father died in September and he received a telegram from Mathilde, announcing that she was pregnant. This situation and the parenting responsibility that lay ahead, worried him. Thus, he decided to raise the child, despite his friend's advice to abandon the baby and break up