Our last week in Egypt
Brent went out of town on Monday, January 24th in the evening. He was going to be gone until Saturday, 29th. It was like any other trip that he has taken, except I sent him with a Target list since he was going to America
We had heard some rumors that there was Facebook messages going around trying to gather Egyptians to protest at Tahir Square on the following day, Police Day, January 25th. I wasn’t worried really at all for myself or our family. I did/do agree that the people of Egypt are repressed, burdened by corruption and inequality. They don’t have free elections, they don’t have any recourse for justice and they are required to accept the corruption and even be part of it in order to survive. Even the Egyptian children at CAC, who come from wealthy families, have already learned about alliances, enemies and to manipulate their way around rules. There are so many very, very poor people and they have lived for many years just trying to survive day by day. No plans for the future, no savings, no thought of tomorrow….only of today and how to get through it.
Tuesday, January 25th came and went. We went and played at the school with friends and we played at home with games, wii and riding the scooters all over the house. We all heard about the protests, but no one was really concerned as they were fairly peaceful and they were far away from us. Wednesday, 26th and Thursday, 27th I was teaching High School World Cultures. It was very interesting to discuss with the students their views of the protests and what they thought. I tried to help the Egyptians in the classes see that they were their countries’ future leaders and they had to open their minds through education and make changes in Egypt that would be for the best of the people. We discussed many different points of view. One student was adamant that Egypt did not need to change. Some of the other Egyptian kids in the class were afraid to say their honest opinions after that because he was so forceful. I can only assume that they must be taught to be very careful about what they say out loud to anyone in case of repercussions outside of school.
Thursday 27th ended in a typical manner, with me and kids getting ready for our Sabbath the next day. We got up Friday morning and went to church in the villa that is directly behind our apartment. We were told when we got there that church would be shorter than usual and that we would have a special meeting after church for the adults. The vice-ambassador of the American Embassy (Deputy chief of Mission) is a member of our church branch and he had more information to give us than the average person had. At the meeting we discussed how on Friday, after the noon call to prayer, the protests were supposed to get much more heated and possibly violent. We were told to be ready to stay inside for a few days and to get things in order to prepare for any possible problems. For about a week before this, I had been having strong feelings that I needed to make sure our evacuation stuff was in order. I had already made a list of things I needed to prepare, I had already changed our 72-hour kits from survival-type kits to evacuation-type kits and I was thinking a lot about the process. The best preparation that I made was keeping money in both US and Egyptian currencies in our safe at our home. When the time to evacuate came, I was one of the few that had money to leave for the housekeeper, boab and to travel with because the banks had closed by that point. Even though I had made these preparations, I was still very surprised at the speed with which the situation went from normal to scary.
Friday, 28th, after church, we all went home and stayed inside. We were put on a curfew of 6pm, with message that if we chose to go outside we would risk being shot. That night we could hear shooting and the news was terrible, as the protests turned to riots. I explained to my kids what that different was (the use of violence) and we turned out the lights and went to sleep best we could. Josh and I both slept with knives near our beds and I had a big mag light flashlight to use as a weapon and light source as we braved the night. Outside our building, all of the police had mysteriously disappeared. It was weird to see after almost 2 years of seeing them outside on the road unfailingly. After the police left, the boabs of the street armed themselves with sticks, homemade spears and shovels. They banded together, forming a network that would whistle if someone unknown was coming into the area, and protected our buildings and streets. I couldn’t believe their courage and bravery and willingness to stand watch in spite of the gun fire and fear going around. Friday night a lot of people had planning meetings with the other residents of their buildings and worked out a way to keep their buildings safe if need be. One of our friends had a watch system going, where someone stood on the rood and had a whistle so they could alert if any intruders tried to come in. The residents were armed with rocks and bricks and a bb gun so they could try to ward off the intruders. Other buildings made homemade bombs (seriously) to protect their buildings. It was a long night, but nothing compared to what was coming!
We found out early Saturday morning (29th) that we would be put on a daily curfew by the Egyptian government. We could go outside without the risk of being shot after 8am and we needed to be inside before 4pm now. The cell phones and internet had stopped working around 5am and they were not back on. This was a shock for all of us…to feel so cut off and isolated. Luckily we had our land line phones and the emergency radios that all Embassy folks had in their possession were working and we were getting updates from the Embassy on regular basis. They cancelled school for 3 days, though all of us were pretty sure it was going to get worse before it got better, after what we saw on the limited news coverage we had.
We were all a bit shaken, but we needed to get out of the house and it was a beautiful day, so we went to our friend’s house, just a few blocks away, for lunch. We left there at 2:55pm and headed back to our house. Right when we pulled into our driveway, there was a barrage of gunshots right up the street. I pulled the van into the farthest place inside the parking garage under the building and hustled the kids inside. Saturday night was one of the scariest experiences of my life. I was alone with the kids, gunfire and yelling was going on all around, the army had come in late in the night to try to protect the people from the looters that were drifting down from Tahir Square. This was not about the protests at all---a whole new problem began when a gang of really poor decided to use the riots as an excuse to rob and plunder the “rich”. They had robbed a police building and were now armed. Also, the prison in the Maadi area had a prison break and some of the people escaped. I don’t know if they were part of the looting, shooting gangs on the street or not. The boabs were on high alert and shouting to each other whenever someone unknown approached the area. The tanks from the military were driving all around the streets, shooting tear gas and cannon fire. There were sounds of machine gun fire and at one point the shooting was right outside, on the corner of our building. I prayer A LOT that night and didn’t sleep, as I was standing guard on my own inside my apartment. Josh and I took all our big furniture and barricaded both of the doors. We got out more knives and kept covertly checking out the windows to see what was happening. Finally the kids fell asleep and I stayed awake until the sun rose, then fell asleep for a few hours. All this time I was praying that Brent would stay in the US so he wouldn’t be in danger….and all the while he was desperately trying to get back to us so he could help protect us. I am sure he was living in a hellish situation mentally, knowing we were in harm’s way and he wasn’t with us. It was pretty stressful.
Because of the riots of Friday, Delta had cancelled flights coming into Cairo, indefinitely and Brent had to wait and try to get on another flight. He ended up in Paris and was waiting there for an Air France/Egypt Air flight. He arrived at the Cairo Airport on Saturday night, but AFTER the curfew had already gone into effect, so he had to sit in the airport for about 12 hours until someone could come and get him. On Sunday, 31st, he finally got a ride and after 5 hours of travel (to go what usually took 45 minutes) he arrived back to our apartment in safety. The dependent evacuation had already been announced, so when Brent arrived home we only got to see him from 6pm until 12:45 the next day when they picked us up to evacuate.
Sunday morning, 31st, we all tried to deal with shock of the situation, kept the radio on and I made a fun breakfast so the kids could try to relax. Some neighbors called and asked if we wanted to go play at the church yard, right behind our house. We went and tried to let the kids gets some energy out. We played from about 11 until 12:30 and then we heard the gunfire pick up again and decided to head back inside. I was preparing all our bags to take for the evacuation, but also waiting for Brent to get back from airport so we could make some plans together. We could each bring 1 checked bag weighing 44lbs or less and one carry on. I packed, re-packed and struggled to fit all the important documents, computers, external hard drives and a few clothes in. I sacrificed clothing in order to get the critical documents and food and water. I am SO glad I brought food, water and money.
Once Brent had arrived, we had dinner, finished packing, and played family games together so the kids would have some time with Brent. He was not going to evacuate with us, as it was only the dependents at that point. I didn’t sleep much and Brent didn’t sleep at all. He hadn’t gone through Saturday night, which was absolutely terrible, and so he was worried to hear the little bit of gunfire and cannons that we heard on Sunday night. I was worried about what the next day would bring.
I got up at 4am and finished cleaning out some files and packing the kids together. We were told to be ready to go at 8am. We were ready, but no one came to pick us up until 12:45pm. Rere, our wonderful friend and housekeeper was there with us and she was so sad. She felt like she was losing a family, as well as her whole livelihood. How would she take care of, feed, or cloth her children? She was crying, but knew that we had to go. We left her with 3 months of pay (about 6,000 LE) and asked her to keep the house key and please to keep coming and checking on everything. I hope that she eats our food and uses what she needs….I also hope that she protects and takes care of our house. I am not sure what will happen, and I won’t blame her if she takes all our stuff in order to provide for her family. I am hoping we will get back to Egypt before she gets to that desperate point and is forced to make that decision.
I also went and thanked the boab, Said, for protecting us so well with his homemade spear and endless courage. We left him with 6 months pay and asked him to protect our van and house if possible. He started crying when I said goodbye to him. I hugged him, though that isn’t usually something you do to a Muslim man. I told him thanks again and then I walked upstairs and started to cry myself. The very worst thing for me about this whole experience -- worse than being without Brent and worse than walking away from all of our possessions and worse than the trauma and the displacement of our family – is leaving some people without the monthly income that their families rely on to live. I also have a rented piano in my house there, hadn’t paid the cell phone or phone bill yet. I feel that there are soo many loose ends that may not ever be tied up. I feel the burden of Rere and Said every day and it weighs me down. I also wish that I could go back to complete our time there….but at the same time am afraid of that option. I was trying to think of the best-case scenario this morning, but I just don’t know what it would be. I want to go back, but I am a bit afraid to. I want to move on, but I am afraid to.
Anyway, back to the story….the armored van picked me and the kids up at 12:45pm on Monday, Feb. 1st. We drove with an exhausted driver to the commissary. I asked him why he was so tired. He had been driving since 3 am through tons of homemade roadblocks. What was happening was that people were trying to protect their homes, so all the men and boys were coming out of their apartments to set up obstacles and barricades. In order to drive down the road, you had weave in and out of all the barricades and be stopped every few blocks by a checkpoint. Since there were no police to be seen, the people, with NO traffic control experience whatsoever, were running their own checkpoints. It was a bit ridiculous and very frustrating. When we finally arrived at the commissary (took 40 minutes to drive there—usually took 15) we met others and got onto a bigger bus to head to the airport. We arrived to airport about 2 pm and we were the LAST people in the line. There we were at the VIP area of the airport with all the other evacuating diplomats, along with all the American citizens in their own line. We had to share the chartered planes 50/50 with diplomats/American citizens. We stood in that line, OUTSIDE the airport, from 2 until 10pm. There was no food, but there was a restroom (it was gross, but better than nothing). I had packed lunch and snacks and water, so luckily we had something to eat. At 10pm we finally entered the airport and then sat there for another 2 ½ hours.
We finally took off on a plane out of Cairo headed to Athens, Greece at 2am. It was literally the beginning of an exhausting journey. We were in line and on the plane with the same people, so we had some fun traveling companions. We were the last out of 4 planes to land in Greece in that “day”, though technically it was the next day. The people from the American embassy in Greece totally helped us and by 6:30am we were at the downtown Hilton, with a room overlooking the Acropolis It was a nice hotel, with an amazing breakfast and we all stuffed ourselves, since it was the first real food we had in that last 12 hours. Then we all crashed into bed and slept until 2pm. I got the kids up and dressed so we could go explore a bit, but we didn’t get far. It was cold and we didn’t have coats. I wanted to walk to the Pantheon stadium, where they held the first Olympics. We didn’t make it, but we did find a nice place to eat some yummy dinner. I had a greek dish called Mousaka. It is like shepard’s pie, but different flavors.
After dinner, we went back to hotel and all showered and prepared for our early departure. We had to leave at 3am, but we were with our traveling buddies, so it was fun. We all had some hot chocolate on the roof of the hotel (it cost $10 PER cup!!!!!!) and then we went to bed. Early the next morning we were at the Athens airport waiting for our flight to take us to Paris. We said goodbye to our friends and got on our plane and made it to Paris, in spite of terrible fog, with enough time to literally RUN through the airport to catch our connecting flight to Salt Lake City, Utah. We made it and traveled for 10 hours, reaching SLC on Wednesday, February 2nd, around 3pm. It was clear and very cold in SLC. We boarded our last plane and arrived at 6:30 pm in Idaho Falls. It was 0 degrees when we landed! Needless to say, we went out right away and bought coats, boots and snow pants.
Now we are in Idaho Falls with family. Brent got evacuated 2 days after us and finally arrived in Maryland, where he will be working while we all wait to see what will happen next. I am happy here and the kids are having fun and are now in school, but still not sure what will happen next.
Brent comes in tonight for a visit---we haven't seen him since that one day on Jan. 31st. I feel a little guilty that I get to see Brent while some of my friends' husbands are still in Egypt and they won't get to see them for awhile still.
Thanks for all the love and support from all of you. We feel your prayers for us and know that we have been very blessed and taken care of by a loving Heavenly Father.
