Saturday 5th of February 2011
As soon as my eyelids open flicker open, my second reflex is to grab my phone.
Did everything remain peaceful while I slept? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let things have remained peaceful, please, please, pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Did the thugs attempt and succeed in ruining the peaceful ambiance?
I click on my twitter application on my phone and scroll down through the posts. All seems to well. Thugs had attempted to cause havoc but were dispersed, due to warning shots fired by the army. (YES! PHEW! Could this mean that things will start returning to normal?)
I get up have breakfast and glue myself to lap top and continue typing …
Bec’s heads to Tahrir while Meeza and I go to Makani again, this time with her friends. I take my diary with me to write key notes for the days I haven’t filled in.
One of Mezza’s friends that has joined us is quite an interesting young man, with great intellect and a wicked sense of humor. He and Meeza have me in stitches. It feels good to laugh. I haven’t laughed like this in what seems a long time.
We talk about random things, but as always the conversation returns to the crisis at hand…
As much as I admire the people in Tahrir for their determination and bravery for standing up and defying the police, the crack down and curfew that has been put in place, and as much as I want to be apart of the movement, I can see how all those people being there are slowly bringing the country to a halt.
The situation is turning in to a double edge sword, if they leave they lose their ground and risk being persecuted and have everything go back to the way it was and all of this will be swept under the rug and make all of this disappear.
If, they don’t leave, then the people who run factories, business, the majority of the people in Egypt earns less than 2$ a day. The majority earn their money on a day-to-day basis by selling fruit and vegetables off of donkey carts, cigarettes from kiosks, news paper stands, taxi fares …etc. If these people don’t earn money and they along with their families starve, this revolution might take a 180 degree turn.
As you can see, there is a big dilemma. Do the protesters stay or do they go? It’s a tough call, a very tough call.
I look up and find that the café is looking more and more like a familiar scene of the past. It is full to busting. It has reached its full capacity but the people still keep on coming. The staff is finding it hard to keep up with the orders, there are only 2 waiters in the whole place and the staff is being over worked. The Sushi rolls are loose and not looking as put together as they should.
For a brief moment you forget about the crisis that is going on just kilometers away, the buzz of conversation and clinking of cutlery is entrancing and it makes it very easy for you to forget. A glimpse at the TV screen serves as a constant reminder and brings you back from the brief moment of déjà vu of times past.
More of Meeza’s friends join us and my friend Heba does too. Heba and I seem to be growing closer and bonding more these past couple of days than we have in the past couple of years. I enjoy her company, insight and the fact that we can agree to disagree.
I hope this friendship doesn’t die out any time soon.
I get two international calls. One from Ang calling to check up on me from Canada and asking what the situation is like here. I fill her in on all the details that I know and I give her my insight on the situation and re-assure her that I am fine. I miss her…
The Second call is from Nal in D.C, from the tone of her voice I can tell that she is not in the best of moods and that something is bothering her. She eventually tells me and I find out that she just received news that another friend of hers died this week during the protests due to injuries. I talk to her to try to change mood a little bit by making her laugh and smile. It works her voice is a little more chipper. Before we hang up she makes me promise to stay out of harms way. She has lost two friends already and doesn’t want to lose another. She says she will come and kill me herself if I go to Tahrir.
I give her my word…
It is so humbling to know that there are people who genuinely care for you and worry about your well-being. When friends from abroad take the time to call and check up on you almost daily, you can’t help but feel blessed.
The weather has turned, black clouds are now over Cairo. It begins to drizzle the bite of the window is harp and cold.
Is this a sign of what is to come?
3 comments
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February 14, 2011 at 17:35
irishalexandrian3109
My Irish cousin’s husband sent me an e-mail that i wanted to share.
(comments like these, motivate me to continue to write about the experience even though, I don’t think that I have much of a story to tell in comparison to others.
Dear Nadia
Thank you very much for your fascinating diary and photos. You are a brave
but a wise girl.
While I have twice been to Egypt on business my few days were spent driving
cars, once from Aqaba to Sinai and on another occasion from Cairo to Israel
under the Suez Canal and down to an Israeli resort. Another time we drove
from Aswan to the Sudanese border. But apart from a few antiquities we had
zero contact with Egypt or Egyptians.
Consequently I am almost totally illiterate about Egypt.
I am anxious about Egypt at this time. I don’t like armies and I hope and
pray that wise counsel and wise leaders come out of this upheaval. I do not
trust western or eastern interference in the Middle East but unfortunately I
do not trust the indigenous leaders either. The region seems to be at the
mercy of all manner of extremists. Mind you I don’t care for our own
either!!
I would love to see Egypt emerge as a stable state that cares for all its
people and gives them a sensible standard of living.
I was pleased to know that the Irish embassy was able to contact you and was
upset that you experienced the terror of those days and nights. I find it
amazing that the authorities kept the phone lines open, had I been dictator
I think I would have shut them down!
N, your parents must be very proud of you. You are someone they can
really be proud of. God bless and keep you safe.
Thanks again for your very honest account of these days in Cairo.
J and N
February 16, 2011 at 02:24
Charles Laramie, Fair Haven, VT
I have enjoyed reading some of your diary entries an plan to read all of them. You have had some scary moments. You are a courageous person. Stay safe and keep writing.
February 16, 2011 at 18:56
irishalexandrian3109
Thank you Charles